NewSchools: GenAI Math Tutoring Funding Opportunity

GenAI Math Tutoring Funding Opportunity

GenAI has significant potential to support student success in math, but there are barriers to its widespread usage given issues with accuracy, cost, and alignment with pedagogical best practices. There is an opportunity to catalyze innovations built on specialized foundation models that are trained and fine-tuned for math instructional use cases as a powerful lever for addressing these issues.

Targeted product development and research support can help unlock generative AI’s potential to revolutionize education by making high-quality, personalized math tutoring accessible to all students.

We seek to invest in new GenAI math tutoring solutions that are:

• Aligned with NewSchools’ investment criteria.
• Creating a tutoring approach focused on 1-1 or small group math interventions aligned to core math instruction and individualized to meet diverse student needs. For example, this may include tutoring solutions that directly support students, facilitate collaborative learning between a tutor and small groups of students, or support educators or tutors directly.
• Leveraging evidence-based best practices in tutoring and math instruction, including aligning to state and district standards and providing just-in time scaffolds to help students access and succeed in grade-level material.
• Developing GenAI math tutoring solutions built on specialized foundation models that are trained and fine-tuned for math instructional use cases. This may include models such as Microsoft’s Phi-3, Google’s LearnLM, Meta’s Llama 3.2, OpenAI’s o1, Anthropic’s Claude 3, or Mistral’s Mathstral, understanding that this is a fast changing sector and perspectives on the best models might shift.
• Capable of piloting their solutions in U.S. K-12 classrooms by early 2026.
• Willing to participate in a research evaluation project with an external partner.

Eligibility

_You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website._

• Non-profits, for-profits, and universities.
• Teams developing a new GenAI math tutoring solution built on specialized foundation models.
• Teams with an established approach to math tutoring that are interested in exploring the benefits of specialized foundation models. These teams may be using AI for the first time or testing a new foundation model.