We are excited to announce the 24 finalists named in the Accelerating K-12 Learning track of the 2026 Tools Competition!
In this track, over 900 teams sought to accelerate K-12 learning outcomes and strengthen educational environments, while advancing learning engineering as a whole.
Tools in this track push the frontiers of how students learn and how teachers teach — with many leveraging advanced AI to deliver more personalized, responsive, and inclusive experiences. We saw innovative proposals spanning rigorous instruction and assessment, teacher effectiveness and professional growth, and data-driven decision-making at both the classroom and system level. This year’s finalists also reflect notable strength in two areas: tools designed with accessibility at the core, and approaches that harness AI to spark and sustain students’ curiosity and learning in science.
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.
- EveryLesson: Co-Teaching AI | Blue Engine (USA)
EveryLesson is an AI-powered planning and reflection tool that helps co-teachers and instructional coaches design, adapt, and optimize inclusive co-teaching models using real classroom context and data.
- FUNKE SENSE LAB | FunKe Science (Kenya)
FunKe Sense Lab is a multisensory AR learning platform that reduces reading barriers to improve science comprehension and engagement for neurodiverse and text-constrained learners.
- Guide2Think (United Kingdom)
Guide2Think is an AI tutor designed to teach high school students how to reason through problems.
- KIVA (Knowledge Integration and Vocabulary Accelerator) | MIT (USA)
KIVA (Knowledge Integration and Vocabulary Accelerator) is an open-source, web-based, avatar-driven AI reading companion that uses child-optimized speech recognition and an empirically validated tutoring system to deliver interactive read-alouds with explicit vocabulary instruction, adaptive scaffolding, and integrated learning analytics to support equitable literacy development.
- Lab-on-a-Book | Teachers College, Columbia University (USA, Brazil)
Lab-on-a-Book is a pocket-sized, hands-on science platform that embeds real experiments into ultra-low-cost book pages, paired with a specially trained AI (Lab-on-a-Bot) that scaffolds student-driven, evidence-based inquiry in classrooms, homes, and low-resource learning environments.
- Latom | Latom Limited (United Kingdom, USA)
Latom is a Generative AI platform for Visual Learning Design that enables educators to create interactive, accessible learning materials.
- ORCHAReD: AI-Powered Feedback | Project ARC, PBC (USA)
ORCHAReD AI manages authentic formative assessment at scale for teachers, providing personalized, actionable feedback to improve student outcomes.
- Signaria AI | InclusiVR (Brazil)
Signaria AI is a video-based platform that teaches sign language in a gamified way, using computer vision and AI.
Finalists at the Growth Prize Level ($150,000)
Growth prizes are tools with traction that are ready to expand their reach.
- ¡A Leer en Vivo! | Ticmas (Argentina, Mexico, Colombia, and Ecuador)
¡A Leer en Vivo! is an AI-powered platform for improving reading fluency and comprehension in Spanish through oral reading and adaptive learning.
- Chalk Tutor | Chalk Learning (United Kingdom)
Chalk Tutor is an AI-powered tutor that combines Direct Instruction with multimedia design to improve concept mastery for students with special educational needs.
- EngagED, AI for STEM Curiosity | Scoutlier by Aecern (USA, Italy)
EngagED helps teachers recognize and respond to student curiosity in real time to deepen inquiry-based science learning.
- PAL for Early Math Learning | Learnology (USA)
PAL facilitates research-informed math interactions between caregivers and children through personalized activity recommendations that accelerate early math learning.
- Pathlitics Prompt | Pathlitics (USA)
Pathlitics Prompt uses AI-powered self-advocacy and navigation tools to put high school students who learn differently in command of their future paths.
- SLAM Labs: Remove fear of Math (India)
SLAM Labs uses AI to make Math visual and interactive, helping underprivileged students overcome fear and build real understanding.
- SmartCoach Assess | Inspiring Teachers (Ghana, South Africa, Uganda, and the United Kingdom)
SmartCoach Assess enables teachers to check and track every child’s reading progress.
- YouQuantified / NeuroAI Youth Academy | New York University & Neuromatch (USA)
YouQuantified turns learners’ curiosity about themselves into curiosity about AI, data, and STEM—using playful, hands-on explorations of their own brain, body, and voice data.
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.
- A11y: Discover Access with PhET Sims for STEM Education | PhET Interactive Simulations, University of Colorado Boulder (USA)
A11y is an AI-powered, accessibility discovery tool for interactive simulations that makes PhET’s inclusive features salient and actionable, guiding all STEM learners to discover features that meet their needs and providing teachers with suggested classroom strategies.
- Adaptive Assessment for Africa | Siyavula Foundation (South Africa)
“Adaptive Assessment for Africa” uses adaptive practice assessment data and concept maps to develop diagnostic tools for learners, teachers, researchers, and government within a pan-African mathematics and science platform.
- Amira Inclusive Reading Coach | Amira Learning (USA)
The Amira Inclusive Reading Coach (AIRC) is a next-generation extension of the Amira Reading Suite—an AI-powered literacy platform used by nearly 4 million students to improve reading outcomes.
- Code Editor for Education | Raspberry Pi Foundation (USA, United Kingdom, India, Kenya, South Africa, Ireland, and Canada)
The Code Editor is a free, open-source coding tool built for young people and classrooms; our project will introduce AI features that empower students and educators with simplified error messaging and code feedback support.
- Creative Learning Assistant | Scratch Foundation (USA)
The Creative Learning Assistant (CLA) is an AI-powered tool integrated into Scratch that supports curiosity-driven scientific inquiry through open-ended exploration and creative self-expression.
- Letrus Literacy Program | Letrus (Brazil)
Letrus Literacy Program is an AI-powered literacy platform adapted for Spanish-speaking students that delivers structured reading and writing practice with real-time feedback to improve writing proficiency, reading comprehension, and reduce teacher workload at scale across Latin America.
- NoRILLA: AI-enhanced Hands-on Science Learning | Carnegie Mellon University & NoRILLA (USA)
NoRILLA is an AI-enhanced mixed-reality system that adds an interactive AI layer to hands-on experimentation to improve children’s inquiry-based science learning and critical thinking skills, while also fostering curiosity, collaboration, and persistence.
- Sciency | Sciency (Zimbabwe)
Sciency is an AI-powered STEM learning platform that integrates coding, robotics, and engineering kits with adaptive analytics to capture how students build, experiment, and persist, making hands-on learning visible, measurable, and actionable for teachers.
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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