We are excited to announce the 16 finalists named in the Building Pathways to Postsecondary Success track of the 2026 Tools Competition! In this track, over 360 teams sought to advance postsecondary learning and workforce development outcomes, expanding pathways to meaningful careers.
Tools in this track focus on making postsecondary education more accessible, relevant, and effective — helping learners identify and navigate clear pathways to economic mobility. We saw innovative proposals that bridge education and employment, strengthen advising and support systems, build employability skills, and improve how learners develop and demonstrate competencies. Many teams are designing solutions that better serve learners at community colleges and other broad-access institutions, as well as those entering or transitioning within the workforce.
This track is run in partnership with Axim Collaborative.
Finalists at the Catalyst Prize Level ($50,000)
Catalyst prizes are for early-stage ideas and tools that show strong potential but are not yet widely adopted.
- ARISE (Augmented Reality for IT & Security Education) | George Mason University
ARISE is a browser-based augmented reality platform that democratizes hands-on IT and cybersecurity education on any device.
- Causeway: Scaling Experiential Learning | Tech4Good, UC Santa Cruz
Causeway is an educational platform that organizes learning content around micro-roles to scale experiential learning, letting students contribute to complex, real-world projects as they upskill.
- MentorMap | Education Northwest
MentorMap is an AI-powered, conversational tool that helps learners capture and understand their social capital and relationships in education and workforce development settings.
- Quality Talk Amplified Online | Arizona State University, Penn State University, and WisdomEDU
Quality Talk Amplified Online (QTAO) is an AI-powered approach to facilitating small-group discussion in online postsecondary courses, designed to support learners’ critical-analytic thinking about, around, and with text and disciplinary content.
- SoL2LBot: AI Study Coach | The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
SoL2LBot is an AI study coach that helps undergraduates who understand how to self-regulate their learning to actually engage that knowledge through adaptive feedback on how to enact their study plans.
- Syllabus2Skills Navigator | Chapman University
Syllabus2Skills Navigator maps course syllabi to standardized workforce tasks and scores each for LLM exposure, giving faculty specific, actionable insight into which parts of their curriculum are most affected by AI.
Finalists at the Growth Prize Level ($150,000)
Growth prizes are tools with traction that are ready to expand their reach.
- AI-Supported Career Mentorship | Mentor Spaces
Mentor Spaces delivers science-backed mentorship infrastructure connecting underrepresented students to industry professionals to close the network gap that blocks economic mobility.
- ChipMango | ChipMango
ChipMango is an AI-enabled, gamified chip design platform empowering the next generation of chip designers.
- Multimodal AI-Resilient System (MARS) | LearningClues
MARS enables AI-resilient assessment by engaging students in adaptive, multimodal dialogues that require them to explain and apply their reasoning in real time.
- SkillFlix for Autistic Young Adults + SocialWise | dfusion, Inc
SkillFlix+SocialWise provides customized personal support to autistic young adults to build communication skills to successfully navigate difficult situations.
- Skriba | Polis
Skriba gives advisors real-time insight into how students are experiencing advising conversations to improve guidance and follow-through.
- Spark | UCI MUST Project
Spark is a mobile-first, Canvas-embedded guidance platform that integrates institutional, LMS, Handshake, and CampusGroups data to deliver personalized dashboards helping students connect their academic engagement, extracurricular involvement, and career development.
Finalists at the Transform Prize Level ($300,000)
Transform prizes are for established platforms with more than 10,000 users that are poised to drive large-scale change.
- JAX Biomedical Pathways | The Jackson Laboratory
JAX Biomedical Pathways is a career-connected curriculum, enhanced with stackable credentials and faculty supports, to prepare community college students for high-growth biotechnology careers.
- Navvy | Student Basic Needs Coalition
Navvy leverages AI to connect college students to SNAP and Medicaid so that basic needs are not a barrier to college completion.
- Skillfully: Unlocking Scalable Work-Integrated Learning | Skillfully
Skillfully supports learners and jobseekers by preparing them for the workforce through realistic workplace simulations.
- ViewPoint | ViewPoint Simulations
Role-based, multi-stakeholder simulations that build career-ready skills: experiential learning for every student, anywhere, anytime.
See finalists for all tracks here.
The Tools Competition has three phases of evaluation and multiple prize levels to help winners create or enhance their tools at all phases of development. As they enter the third and final phase, track finalists will pitch their tool before a panel of judges who will nominate winners of the competition.
The Tools Competition has previously named 150 winners from 48 countries, reaching nearly 50 million learners and educators worldwide, from early childhood to adulthood. Winners for all tracks in the 2026 competition cycle will be announced in summer 2026.
The 2026 Tools Competition is a program of Renaissance Philanthropy, organized by The Learning Agency, and is supported by: the Walton Family Foundation, Griffin Catalyst, Axim Collaborative, Oak Foundation, Cinelli Family Foundation, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.
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