The organization: The Learning Engineering Virtual Institute (LEVI) is a first-of-its-kind, large-scale independent institute established by Renaissance Philanthropy and The Learning Agency with a mission to develop, implement, and scale AI-based tools to transform teaching and learning.
The program identifies high-need areas in education and sets ambitious goals to tackle them. LEVI selects impressive grantees and empowers them to develop cost-effective solutions through multi-year funding via hands-on programmatic support. LEVI grantees also gain access to a custom network of support Hubs, expert organizations and individuals funded through grants to provide essential resources both to LEVI teams and to the broader field of learning engineering.
In 2022, LEVI launched its flagship five-year initiative focused on doubling the rate of middle school math progress. Since then, the LEVI Math program has demonstrated significant growth and impact, charting a clear course for future LEVI projects.
The need: Traditional educational interventions too often fall short in meeting the diverse needs of today’s learners, and the market lacks incentive structures to drive coordinated efforts for our toughest problems. However, rapid progress in AI and digital technologies over the past few years has created a unique opportunity to close educational gaps. AI-powered tools can now offer personalized, cost-effective learning experiences for students of all backgrounds and particularly those from marginalized communities. In its flagship initiative, LEVI is rethinking current approaches and challenging developers to leverage emerging technologies to reduce gaps in math learning.
Our role: LEVI Math supports seven grantees developing interventions towards the program’s moonshot goal of doubling the rate of math learning progress in middle school.
Within just three years, LEVI Math has seen tremendous progress towards the program’s doubling goal. Key successes have included:
- Interventions have already reached a cumulative total of 1.1 million students.
- Carnegie Mellon University’s PLUS program increased math skills proficiency by 1.8x for students with disabilities.
- Over six months, Rising Academies more than doubled learning gains with about 500 students in Ghana using Rori, its free, WhatsApp-based virtual math tutor.
Key components that supported these successes include:
- Developing a first-of-its kind program. We custom built the scaffolding that grantees need to advance promising research, conduct rigorous evaluations, and concentrate expertise and resources to solve complex educational challenges.
- Recruiting cutting-edge teams from around the globe. As a part of LEVI’’s recruitment process, the team conducted significant outreach that connected with leading researchers, universities, platforms, and engineers in an effort to refine the program’s moonshot goal while identifying novel, ambitious solutions. A select group was then invited to submit grant proposals, from which seven teams were ultimately chosen to join LEVI Math.
- Building LEVI’s specialized Hub network. As a part of the support team behind the LEVI program, we equip LEVI participants with the resources and guidance they need for success. This includes the development and maintenance of LEVI’s world-class Hubs, which mitigate risks, ensure consistent evaluation across teams, and accelerate impact.
- Providing project oversight and fostering collaboration. Working with the greater LEVI team, we manage the infrastructure that facilitates collaboration between LEVI Math participants and Hubs. Through monthly calls, in-person convenings, and shared tools, our staff fosters meaningful communication and joint problem-solving across the program.
- A commitment to advancing innovation and providing public goods. To enable maximum impact, we support grantees with implementing a public good strategy, ensuring that key aspects of their work are open and accessible for the benefit of both students and the broader field of learning engineering. All strategies address (1) accessibility and affordability of the intervention for target beneficiaries; (2) access to funded infrastructure and algorithmic innovations for researchers and practitioners; and (3) broader implementation of innovations.