EXPLORING EMERGING MODELS AND NONTRADITIONAL LEARNING PATHWAYS
Join us to anticipate, test, and shape the needs of the future educator.
The Reinvention Lab is Teach For America's research and development engine for the future of learning.
FEATURED IN + AT
Building for the Future Educator.
New technologies and the evolving needs of young people are reshaping education in real time. But innovation in learning is adopted unequally, constrained by systems and structures that make meaningful change difficult.
In alignment with Teach For America’s One Day vision that all children will have the opportunity to attain an excellent education, the Reinvention Lab exists to ensure that innovation in learning is not reserved for a few but becomes accessible to all educators and young people.
Helping educators and the systems that support them learn faster.
The future of learning will not arrive fully formed. It is discovered through collaboration and disciplined experimentation grounded in real learning experiences.
That is why we focus on rapid cycle research and development, testing ideas early, learning quickly, and sharing evidence before scale to reduce risk and expand access to what works.
Our current work.
Working on a trimester review cadence, our researchers and designers use our adapted 'Four R Framework' to ensure each initiative advances Teach For America’s mission while generating accountable insights for the broader education sector.
• Relevance: We prioritize work that addresses real problems facing educators and young people today.
• Resilience: We design work to remain adaptable and efficient amid changing systems and forecasting.
• Revenue: We explore how ideas support long-term sustainability through models and partnerships.
• Results: We hold ourselves accountable to evidence when deciding to scale, pivot, pause, or compost.
Below is a look at our current research and development work presented in alphabetical order:
REINVENT AI
Advancing AI dexterity through educators, this development work examines how Arcade AI hackathons, extended prototype experiences, regional partnerships across Teach For America, and internal professional learning can help educators confidently and ethically integrate AI into their practice and serve the needs of young people.
REINVENT CREDIT
Reframing credit flexibility through the lens of our New Absenteeism's 'Real Life Learner' persona, this research and development work examines how learning can be recognized beyond traditional seat time, testing how educators can serve as guides for self-directed, credit-worthy experiences.
REINVENT CO-CREATION
Focusing on bridging generations and perspectives, this development work creates collaborative experiences where diverse voices, including young people, give feedback to shape educational solutions. The work fosters connection, creativity, and shared ownership of ideas across communities.
REINVENT SUMMER
Combining project-based learning, emerging AI tools, and high-quality facilitation, this research and development work examines how to reshape summer and out-of-school-time learning, including FutureShock, a two-week experience that brings together Teach For America talent to support young people in designing their futures.
REINVENT MEDIA
Exploring how emerging forms of media shape teaching and learning, this research examines how educators use platforms such as TikTok and Roblox and what media formats along with lesson plans learners find most effective.
How the Reinvention Lab serves Teach For America*.
*And the wider education sector
The Reinvention Lab helps Teach For America and the broader education sector learn faster by testing new learning models in low risk, real world conditions. We believe reinvention happens in an ecosystem, alongside young people, educators, partners, and communities, and requires deep humanity, realness, and shared responsibility.
Through rapid learning cycles, we take thoughtful risks, hold productive tension, and bridge research and practice to reduce uncertainty and ground innovation in evidence. By discovering emerging trends, testing ideas in community, and sharing insights widely, the Lab surfaces what works before scale and signals a culture of rigor and curiosity that attracts talent, partners, and funders committed to advancing the future of learning.
Reinvention doesn’t always mean new.
But it does mean a radical departure from the status quo.
The word reinvention is intentional.
Because of how we define learning innovation, we often use “innovation” and “reinvention” interchangeably.
HIGHLIGHTED PAST WORK.
We honor the ideas, teams, and collaborators who have contributed to the Reinvention Lab’s work over time. Each initiative represents a moment of risk-taking and experimentation. Collectively, all of our R&D has shaped how we advance towards the future of learning.
Examples:
- re: Zine (2024–2025, Development): A youth-created zine designed by and for young people to spark conversation about the future of learning and help expand what feels possible within it.
- Crossing the Canyon (2024, Research): An ethnographic research project examining the widening gap between high school and adulthood, offering a framework to better support youth economic mobility, self-exploration, belonging, and societal legitimacy.
- Inspiration Fellowship (2022–2023, Development): A cohort-based experience for Teach For America staff to engage with reinvented learning systems and imagine new possibilities for education in the twenty-first century.
- Enduring Ideas Awards (2022, Development): An awards program honoring leaders advancing the future of learning, with recipients selected by those most impacted by educational inequities.
- Future of Learning Challenge (2021–2023, Development): A storytelling and design accelerator developed with Ninety Nine Products and AndThem, using sneakers as a creative canvas to help future of learning leaders articulate compelling visions for change.
- GRAVITY (2021–2022, Development): A virtual accelerator evolved from the Arthur and Toni Rembe Rock Social Innovation Award, designed to support underestimated founders with credibility, connections, capacity, storytelling, and access to funding.
Enriching our soil of learning through composting.
When work is composted at the Reinvention Lab, it is not an ending but a transition. Composting means insights, relationships, and learning from completed works are intentionally reintegrated into the ecosystem, strengthening future research and enabling new work to grow from what came before.
Leadership in action.
Pulling together all-stars from across the educational sector and beyond, we are deeply grateful to the teammates, contractors, and collaborators who are actively and have contributed to this work over time.
Learning forward as the current team builds on what came before, here is our current roster presented in alphabetical order by last name:
Samanta Asante-Bio
Donnell Cannon
Sunanna Chand
Teal Dodrill
Izzy Fitzgerald
Jasmine Jiménez
Colleen Keating-Crawford
Kristin Lauenstein
Jasmine Maze
Veronica Mulhall
Seth Trudeau
Mike Yates
PARTNER WITH US
Reinvention is created in community.
Help us reach more educators and impact more young people.
THANK YOU!
The Reinvention Lab is brought to you by the
Scully Peretsman Foundation.
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