Overview
Through evaluation of educational technology tools in school settings, the CET grant program shapes evidence-based policies and quality standards for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and tech integration in education. All of Accelerate’s grantmaking is in service of policy and scale; while we fund individual organizations, our ultimate goal is to generate evidence that informs meaningful policy changes and drives rapid adoption of effective solutions for students across the country. CET seeks applications from organizations with existing tools or solutions ready to be deployed in schools in the 2026-27 school year that are grounded in established learning science and evidence-based practices.
Ideal candidates are beyond initial field testing, being used with students in real classrooms during the school day, and can articulate a clear theory of action for how their technology addresses a significant, well-defined challenge in education. Successful applicants will demonstrate full readiness for research evaluation, including collection of student-level data and publication of evaluation findings and final reports that name the specific tool or program. Proposed implementation must serve a minimum of 500 students across at least two schools (schools may be within the same district). Grantees must share student-level product data and obtain linked, student-level demographic and assessment data from district partners (see Accelerate’s DATA standard dictionary).
Grant funding of between $150,000-$250,000 is available to support implementation of the grantee’s technology solutions during the 2026-27 school year. Selected grantees will have the opportunity to work with an external research partner focused on conducting practical evaluation studies that examine usability, feasibility, and evidence of effectiveness. Through this research, grantees will gain practical insights to strengthen their tools, while helping to establish quality benchmarks that shape both practice and policy. CET aims to identify technology models best positioned to improve outcomes for students furthest from opportunity.
CET specifically seeks AI-powered and educational technology tools that enable personalized learning and individualized instruction. Eligible solutions must demonstrate how they adapt content, pacing, or instructional approaches to meet individual student needs. Tools that provide standardized experiences for all users or that are disconnected from student learning and outcomes do not align with CET’s funding priorities.
Grant Details & Requirements
Call for Effective Technology (CET)
The 2026-27 Call for Effective Technology (CET) program offers grants of $150,000-$250,000 to support AI-driven and educational technology tools grounded in learning science and evidence-based practices. Eligibility is open to organizations with tools that are currently in use with real students during the school day and that support personalized learning and instructional effectiveness, whether used directly by students or by teachers and other instructional personnel. Grantees will participate in research and evaluation focused on (at a minimum) usability, implementation conditions, and early evidence of impact on learning. Grantees and their evaluation findings will be named publicly in evaluation and/or summary reports, regardless of results.
$150,000 – $250,000
Grant amounts are determined by the methodological rigor of the evaluation:
- $250,000 – ESSA Tier 1 (strong evidence) study design
- $200,000 – ESSA Tier 2 (moderate evidence) study design
- $150,000 – ESSA Tier 3 (promising evidence) study design
Note: Grantees are not required to achieve ESSA-qualifying outcomes; grant amounts are based on the level of rigor in the study design, not the results. In other words, funding is based on study design; positive outcomes are not required. Applicants will be asked to select their preferred level in the application, but this may be adjusted during the grantmaking process and after being matched with a research partner.
Funds can be flexibly used to support:
- Program implementation
- Technology development and adaptation
- Costs related to evaluation activities
The research study will be funded by Accelerate separately from the grant award; matched research partners will be paid directly by Accelerate.
This grant supports promising educational technology tools that are ready for implementation and evaluation in authentic learning environments. Accelerate’s grantmaking serves the larger purpose of generating actionable evidence to inform state policy and accelerate the adoption of effective tools at scale. By funding both implementation and research, the program will:
- Support the development of effective ed-tech and AI solutions through evidence-based iteration
- Identify implementation factors that maximize impact in diverse educational settings
- Build an initial evidence base for promising tools with potential to improve student outcomes
- Establish quality benchmarks and evidence-informed best practices (e.g., minimum usage) for effective educational technology and AI integration in classrooms
- Educational technology developers and tutoring providers (both nonprofit and for-profit) with AI-powered or tech-enabled learning solutions in all content areas, especially for mathematics and reading
- Curriculum developers seeking to deploy AI or ed-tech tools that supplement or enhance their high-quality instructional materials (HQIM)
- EdTech accelerators, incubators, and support organizations that partner directly with learning technology providers
- School districts, charter management organizations, and traditional and public charter schools that have developed their own technology or AI solutions or have access to student-level product data from the tool they are implementing.
- Districts without access to product data should coordinate with the tool provider to submit a joint application, with the provider as lead applicant.
- One application per registered organization will be accepted and reviewed (separate legal entities [e.g., a nonprofit and its for-profit subsidiary] may each submit one application)
Prior evidence of impact on student outcomes is not required, but applicants must demonstrate:
- A functioning tool currently in use with real students during the school day that provides personalized learning experiences or individualized instruction (concepts, prototypes, or tools tested only outside school settings are not eligible)
- Theory of action grounded in scientific research and accepted evidence-based practices
- Clear definition of the educational challenge being addressed
- Minimum of 500 students across at least two schools for implementation
If selected as a grantee, Accelerate will require your organization to meet the following requirements:
District Commitments
- Secure letter(s) of commitment from partner schools/districts within 60 days of award notification. District commitment letters are required before the grant agreement is signed and the first payment is disbursed. Letters must confirm:
- Support for implementation during the 2026-27 school year
- Agreement to participate in research/evaluation activities and share student-level data, including demographics (i.e., race/ethnicity, FRL an/or economic status, IEP status, EL status) and normed assessments (e.g., MAP, STAR, iReady)
- A common identifier or linking mechanism (e.g., student ID) to connect district-provided data to student-level data from your product
- Sign final grant agreement within 90 days of award notification
Implementation
- Implement the educational technology solution in traditional or public charter schools in grades PK-12 during the school day in SY 2026-27
- Track implementation, including student and teacher engagement, usage, and design iteration, over the course of the grant term
Data Sharing and Research
- Partner with Accelerate’s external, matched research partner
- Secure data sharing agreements with partnering school district(s) in collaboration with Accelerate’s matched research partner
- Ensure a common identifier or linking mechanism exists to connect student-level product data to district-provided demographic and assessment data
- Share student-level product data with an Accelerate-matched research partner at regular intervals throughout the grant period (see “session_dictionary” of the DATA standard dictionary)
- Obtain student-level demographic and assessment data from partnering school district(s), linked via common identifier to product data (see “student_dictionary” of the DATA standard dictionary)
- Share access to implementation data, internal metrics, reports, and dashboards already in use by your organization
- Participate in regular check-ins with Accelerate and research partner about implementation
- Allow access to internal team and district partners for research activities (e.g., interviews, observations, surveys)
- Share insights regarding program cost with Accelerate
- Be publicly named alongside evaluation findings, regardless of results
Cohort Participation
- Participate in quarterly virtual sessions with the full CET grantee cohort
- Participate in Accelerate’s annual in-person convening
Application Process
All applicants must complete both the Eligibility Form and the full application (PDF preview) to be considered for funding.
The full application includes sections on:
- Organizational information and background
- Problem-solution overview
- Upload a link to a product demo
- Equitable access
- Implementation plan
- Data collection and evaluation
- Additional information
Application Timeline
- Application opens: February 5, 2026
- Application period: February 5 – 20, 2026
- Application deadline: February 20, 2026
- Application review: February – March 2026
- Interviews with select applicants*: March 2026
- Grantee notifications: By May 2026
- Public announcement: May 2026
- Contracting + research partner matching: Spring – Summer 2026
- District letters of commitment obtained within 60 days of grant award notification
- Final grant agreement signed within 90 days of grant award notification
- First payment distributed
- Implementation begins: Fall 2026
- Full-year implementations are preferred, but flexible implementation periods are acceptable (e.g., 6-week design sprints, semester-long pilots)
- Final reports due: June 2027
*Applicants selected for an interview are encouraged to invite a representative from their district partner(s) to participate in the interview process.
Select CET grantees will have the opportunity to participate in an Outcomes Based Contracting (OBC) cohort during the 2026-27 school year hosted by the Center for Outcomes Based Contracting. Grantees who are selected and choose to participate may allocate up to $25,000 of their grant award to support participation. This cohort will help organizations develop contracts where a portion of payment is tied to achieving agreed-upon student outcomes. Participation is optional and intended as an investment in organizational capacity building. Applicants will be asked about their interest in OBC in the application.
Learn more about Outcomes Based Contracting here:
What is OBC?
OBCs: Turning Impact into Advantage
The Center for Outcomes Based Contracting will be hosting office hours for prospective applicants interested in learning more about the OBC cohort:
Feb 12th, 2–3 PM EST
Feb 18th, 12–1 PM EST
CET Research Focus Areas
- User Interaction Patterns | Analyze when (and in what ways) teachers and students engage with the tool and when they do not
- High-Value Features | Identify which aspects of the tool are most valued and utilized by different user groups
- Instructional Alignment | Determine how effectively the tool complements existing teaching pedagogy and instructional materials
- Classroom Integration | Understand when and how tools are effectively integrated into real classroom settings
- Adoption Conditions | Identify environmental factors (school, classroom) that support or constrain effective implementation
- Resource Requirements | Document the personnel, time, and infrastructure needed for successful and ongoing implementation
- Student Achievement | Measure impact on students’ learning outcomes (e.g., on standardized assessments, state and national benchmarks)
- Equity Considerations (subgroup/heterogeneity analysis) | Evaluate differential effects across diverse student populations, including by race/ethnicity, gender and for those students with IEPs, multilingual learners, and economically disadvantaged students
- Longitudinal Outcomes | Track the persistence of learning gains over time to assess long-term educational value
- Feedback Mechanisms | Evaluate the impact and effectiveness of AI-driven instructional feedback for tutors
- Rapid-Cycle Evaluation | Utilize methodologies that provide evidence on faster timelines while accommodating iterative design
- Impact Evidence | Prioritize studies that focus on policy-relevant student outcomes
- User Feedback Systems | Support tools with mechanisms for collecting and analyzing teacher and student experiences and use those experiences to iterate
- Comprehensive Costing | Collect detailed, itemized data on all implementation costs to schools/districts in order to facilitate a comparison to other modalities of individualized instruction
- Scaling Factors | Identify the key factors that support and constrain successful expansion to new settings
- Program Design and Usability | Compare the design of and engagement with fully AI-enabled vs. AI-enhanced vs. human-only tutoring models
- Implementation | Assess whether AI tools successfully address common implementation and scaling barriers present in human-powered tutoring programs
- Impact | Assess the impact on student achievement of fully AI-enabled vs. AI-enhanced vs. human-only tutoring models
Accelerate's CET research partner(s) will:
- Partner with grantees to design the research study (e.g., implementation or impact evaluation)
- Identify evaluation approaches, leveraging data that are already available or being used internally by grantee organizations
- Conduct data analysis and re-analysis, offering a second layer of technical support to grantee organizations
- Provide regular thought partnership and feedback to grantees as it relates to their educational technology solution
- Participate in Accelerate’s Research Learning Community to share individual and cross-cohort insights
- Create grantee final report and findings to be shared publicly, including naming the grantee and their tool alongside results
Contact and Support
For more details about the Call for Effective Technology grant program, including eligibility requirements, funding priorities, and additional information, please check the FAQs.
Questions may be emailed to [email protected] at any time. Our team will be closely monitoring the inbox and will provide support as needed.
