About Us
We are a mission-driven collective of experienced leaders dedicated to improving the education research & development ecosystem.
Our Vision
We envision an education ecosystem where innovation is enabled by a coherent, effective, and responsive system. We are action-oriented education R&D leaders who have shaped a wide range of R&D initiatives, including running the quick-turnaround innovation arm of the Institute of Education Sciences at the U.S. Department of Education.
We promote an education R&D system that uses the right methods at the right time for the question at hand to solve real and emerging problems in the field. Drawing from our experience as researchers, developers, and funders working both in and outside government, we are uniquely positioned to craft an innovation model that builds on other R&D initiatives but is untethered from any particular agenda or existing program.
Our Core Pillars
We envision an education ecosystem where innovation is enabled by a coherent, effective, and responsive system. Our work is dedicated to making this a reality by focusing on five core pillars:
Needs-Driven R&D
We ensure that research and development teams are focused on solving the most urgent, real-world problems. We seek to establish a dynamic, field-wide understanding of what practitioners need, so that every effort is guided by a clear “North Star.”
Grounded in How People Learn
We ensure our work is rooted in a fundamental understanding of how people learn. We support processes and approaches to ensure that tools and systems reflect relevant insights from the education sciences.
Collaborative Innovation
Innovation flourishes through partnership. We champion a culture where collaboration between practitioners and researchers is the standard, not the exception.
Aligned Systems
The current system’s failures are not due to a lack of effort, but a lack of infrastructure. We will contribute critical infrastructure, alignment, and enabling tools needed to unlock the education system’s inherent potential to support learners. Our goal is to create a seamless system where funding and policy support the most promising solutions from initial idea to widespread, equitable impact.
Accessible Evidence
We aspire to a world where every teacher is equipped with the right information at the right time. AI-powered tools could enable any stakeholder—from a teacher to a policymaker—to ask questions in natural language and receive clear, evidence-based recommendations.
Our Team
Erin Higgins, Ph.D.
PhD, Cognitive Psychology — University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
BA, Psychology/Cognitive Science — University of Richmond
Erin has dedicated her career to fostering innovation through research and development to improve education for all learners. She develops and manages new funding programs that challenge the status quo in education R&D and push towards breakthrough solutions to education's most persistent challenges. During her 12 years at the Institute of Education Sciences, she managed large-scale R&D initiatives, culminating in her leadership of the Accelerate, Transform, Scale (ATS) Initiative.
Katherine McEldoon, Ph.D.
MS & PhD, Psychology & Human Development — Vanderbilt University
BA, Brain and Cognitive Sciences — University of Rochester
Katherine is an education R&D strategist advancing the impact of learning science through scalable, evidence-based innovation. She specializes in strengthening the research-to-practice pipeline and building infrastructure to accelerate educational outcomes. As a Senior Fellow with the Federation of American Scientists, she helped shape and expand the ATS Initiative. As lead learning scientist at Pearson, she led development of Pearson's Learning Design Principles.
Alex Resch, Ph.D.
PhD, Public Policy and Economics — University of Michigan
BA/MS, Applied Economics and Finance — UC Santa Cruz
Alex works to change how education R&D is done so that it solves real problems for people. Alex focuses on blending innovation and rigor together and ensures a laser focus on solving the right problem at the right time. In her 20-year career, she developed expertise in rapid cycle learning and program development, conducting research and advising schools, nonprofits, and foundations designing evidence-based programs and policies. She previously served as a Principal Researcher at Mathematica and a Senior Program Officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.