Our Programs
At The Learning Agency, we launch transformative initiatives to amplify innovative approaches and tackle some of the most pressing challenges in education.
We’re a team of researchers, academics, educators, policy experts, and communications strategists leading ambitious programs at the forefront of education innovation. From strategic design to implementation, we lead efforts across policy, ed tech, and research to deliver measurable impact and advance progress for learners and the systems that serve them.
Get to know the programs we support below and check out our case studies to see our work in action.
Tools Competition
The Tools Competition, a program of Renaissance Philanthropy, is the largest ed tech competition in the world, awarding millions to big ideas at diverse stages of development. As organizers for the competition, we drive each phase of the opportunity, from creating dedicated tracks based on field trends and coordinating sponsor engagement to recruiting innovators and running a rigorous review process. Our goals: maximize impact, surface bold ideas, and drive educational innovation.
Learning Engineering Virtual Institute (LEVI)
A program of Renaissance Philanthropy, the Learning Engineering Virtual Institute (LEVI) is designed to harness AI in education and foster deep collaboration across disciplines in pursuit of transformative, moonshot goals. Projected to reach millions of learners, LEVI Math seeks to double the rate of middle school math progress for low-income students. As the program’s operating partner, we played a key role in shaping LEVI’s design and now oversee its full implementation, including managing multi-year grants, tracking progress, and coordinating the targeted supports participating teams need to accelerate technological breakthroughs and elevate student success.
Data Science Competitions
Data science competitions are effective levers for crowdsourcing innovative solutions to urgent education challenges. We draw on our expertise in competition design, deep field knowledge, and robust networks to carefully plan and execute successful challenges that attract top talent and yield high-quality results—like advancing tools for writing assessment. By ensuring open access to the algorithms and benchmark datasets, we’re also committed to fueling lasting impact and ongoing innovation.
Learning Engineering Community Building
Our team is made up of skilled field-builders dedicated to cultivating communities of practice that spur thoughtful knowledge exchange, encourage collaboration, and elevate cutting-edge research at the intersection of learning science and technology. We’ve helped grow a virtual network of more than 3,000 learning engineering experts and regularly organize community events that spark networking and spotlight breakthroughs in education research and innovation.
Educator Insights
We believe that evidence-based practices power innovation. Through our Teacher Insights Panel, we use surveys, focus groups, interviews, and real-time polls to solicit valuable data and insights that can inform decision making and allow for a deeper understanding of target groups in education. Whether you’re testing a message, exploring practitioner perspectives, or seeking feedback on a new idea, we know how to design and analyze tools that capture what teachers really think—and how to turn those insights into compelling stories that connect with audiences.
Policy Research and Recommendations
Federal and state policy are critical in shaping what’s possible in education. Our team is skilled in conducting policy research, formulating and articulating clear policy ideas, and collaborating with stakeholders to advance a 21st-century education system. In partnerships with coalitions such as Data Science 4 Everyone (DS4E) and the Alliance for Learning Innovation (ALI), state leaders, and other champions, we are working toward an ecosystem that can better serve all learners, and prepare the field for the rapid evolution and integration of innovations such as AI.
Communications & Media
We are creative communicators and storytellers who translate complex ideas into clear, compelling narratives that engage diverse audiences and elevate program visibility. Our team builds tailored messaging strategies to reach key education networks and designs campaigns that amplify impact. From developing promotional toolkits that mobilize partners and crafting dynamic social media content to identifying and engaging the right media outlets, we think strategically about how and where to share updates for maximum reach. We also conduct in-depth research to uncover which communications strategies resonate most, and we use those insights to help partners tell stories that drive meaningful change.