Accelerate recently marked an exciting milestone: the launch of our newest grant opportunity, the Call for Effective Technology (CET). This program represents the natural evolution of our grantmaking journey and our commitment to driving meaningful change in education by operating at the nexus of research, policy, and practice. We know that rigorous research reveals what education interventions and tools work—and our role is to create the conditions necessary for the rapid and widespread adoption of proven strategies that provide all students with effective, sustainable personalized instruction.
Our Journey to CET
Through our Call to Effective Action (CEA) and States Leading Recovery (SLR) grants, Accelerate has established itself as a leader in funding programs that build evidence and drive the field toward what works. Through our partners, we have leveraged over $300 million of federal and state public funding for proven personalized learning interventions, and since 2022, our grantees have provided access to individualized instruction to over 500,000 students in 29 states. We don’t just give grants—we invest in creating the knowledge base that transforms educational practice.
Our experience with CEA grants has shown us that a variety of programs can have significant impact on student outcomes—not every student needs the same type or intensity of intervention. This spectrum ranges from high-intensity interventions delivered by trained and experienced humans to fully digital, asynchronous solutions, with numerous options in between that vary significantly in price and resource demands. The explosion of AI and educational technology tools has created an ideal moment to apply our rigorous methodology to this emerging field.
Entering the EdTech Space with Purpose
The Call for Effective Technology represents our strategic expansion into educational technology and AI-powered learning solutions. This isn’t just about following trends—it’s about bringing our proven approach to impact measurement and evidence-based evaluation to a nascent field that needs quality markers and standards.
CET bolsters our commitment to high-dosage tutoring by expanding our reach. Many of the most promising AI and educational technology tools share DNA with high-dosage tutoring: they provide personalized, responsive instruction that meets students where they are. The additional opportunity is increased scale and accessibility. Where traditional tutoring might reach hundreds of students, well-designed educational technology has the potential to reach thousands while maintaining the personalization that makes tutoring so effective.
Driving the Field Toward Quality
The educational technology landscape is crowded with solutions that promise transformational results but lack the evidence to back up their claims. CET is designed to change that. Our program offers grants of up to $250,000 to support implementation and evaluation of AI-powered and educational technology tools that support high-dosage tutoring, personalized learning, and instructional effectiveness during the 2025-26 school year. But funding is just one part of the equation. Every CET grantee will work with external research partners to conduct rigorous evaluation studies that examine usability, feasibility, and initial evidence of effectiveness. Rigorous research ensures ongoing learning to support the more efficient use of resource allocation, and through our grant programs we have launched over 25 randomized control trials, plus dozens of additional quasi-experimental designs and qualitative analyses. This research component isn’t an afterthought—it’s central to our mission of establishing quality benchmarks for the field.
Looking Forward
CET represents our commitment to bringing the same rigor and focus on student outcomes that has made our grant programs successful to the field of ed tech and AI-powered solutions. We’re looking for organizations with existing tools ready for real-world implementation, clear theories of action, and the willingness to subject their solutions to external evaluation.
Through CET, we aim to identify and support the tools that don’t just promise to improve student outcomes, but can deliver on that promise. In doing so, we’re not just funding individual solutions—we’re shaping evidence-based policies and quality standards that will benefit the entire field.
As we launch our inaugural CET program, we’re excited about the potential to drive meaningful change in education while maintaining our unwavering focus on what matters most: improving outcomes for students, especially those furthest from opportunity. This is the next chapter in Accelerate’s story, and we couldn’t be more excited about where it leads.
Jennifer Bronson is Managing Director of Programs at Accelerate.
