Tequity in Learning — The Defining Equity Challenge of the AI Era

Technology has long been heralded as a great equalizer in education and learning. Yet history tells a different story. For every breakthrough that expands access, there are stark reminders of persistent inequities: digital divides, environmental costs of data centers, and surveillance tools that disproportionately burden marginalized communities. At the same time, AI reveals glimpses of a different future. Emerging evidence shows that AI can reduce bias in hiring and educational assessments, democratize tutoring support, and expand access to health and educational resources. These contradictions bring us to the defining question of our time: will AI and digital innovation entrench historical inequities, or can they be harnessed as catalysts for equity and justice in learning? Or perhaps they will meet somewhere in the middle.  

We call this challenge—and opportunity—tequity: technology in service of equity. Tequity is not inevitable. It requires intentional design and governance to ensure technology fosters inclusion rather than exclusion. In the AI era, tequity represents nothing less than a race between technology’s potential to perpetuate inequities and our collective ability to imagine it as a force for justice.

The Stanford Accelerator for Learning’s Equity in Learning Initiative seeks to confront this challenge head-on by funding daring ideas and research at the intersection of technology, equity, and learning. We emphasize the importance of addressing the social determinants of learning—including health (physical and mental), physical and social environments, economic stability, and self-motivation—that fundamentally shape educational opportunity.

Guiding questions include:

• How can digital tools and AI strengthen human connection and community as a foundation for equitable learning?
• How can we design technologies that not only innovate, but also repair and dismantle inequities entrenched by past systems?
• How can interdisciplinary research and community partnerships reimagine both design processes and intended audiences to uncover new pathways for equity in learning?

This seed grant program will fund projects at all stages—exploratory studies, prototypes, interventions, and extant research ready to scale—that push the boundaries of tequity in learning.

Proposals may include (but are not limited to):

• Partnering with communities to co-create solutions that bridge divides.
• Anticipating unintended consequences and developing concrete strategies to mitigate harm.
• Designing prototypes or interventions that advance tequity while fostering community.
• Combining design and empirical work to generate actionable insights.
• Investigating hypotheses about AI and digital tools as drivers of or barriers to tequity in learning.

Proposals aligned with the Accelerator’s areas of concentration are especially encouraged:

• Equity in learning
• Digital learning and artificial intelligence
• Learning differences and the future of special education
• Early childhood learning and development
• Education policy and systems change in K-12
• Adult and workforce learning

Collaboration with community members, such as schools, non-profit groups, and edtech organizations is highly encouraged.

ELIGIBILITY & AWARD AMOUNTS

Faculty Seed Grants 

• Up to $75,000: For cross-disciplinary collaborative proposals that include either (a) two or more Stanford PI-eligible faculty from different departments, schools, or other academic units or (b) one Stanford PI-eligible faculty member plus an external partner (e.g. school, community-based organization, ed tech firm, non-profit, etc.)
• Up to $50,000: for projects run by Stanford PI-eligible faculty that do not include cross-disciplinary collaboration (as outlined above).
• See guidelines on PI Eligibility in the Stanford Research Policy Handbook Chapter 2.1.

Academic Staff Seed Grants 

• Up to $10,000 for full-time academic staff, including lecturers
• Staff will need approval from their supervisors

Student and Postdoc Grants

• Up to $5,000 for current postdocs, graduate students, undergraduate students
• Post-docs will need approval from their faculty supervisors
• Students should not apply if they will graduate before summer quarter of 2026

Accelerator Studio Support Services

The Stanford Accelerator for Learning offers additional support through the Accelerator Studio. Staff at the Accelerator Studio offer consultations and light-touch support services in the following areas

• Technology support. Ideation, storyboarding, prototyping, interface design, instructional design, app development and testing, cloud services, and media production.
• Research support.  Research conceptualization and measure design, execution of quantitative and/or qualitative research in the lab or field, data use agreements and storage, guidance for working with Stanford’s Institutional Review Board.
• Science and design of learning. Evidence-based strategies for improving learning experiences.
• Partnership support. Guidance for working with partner organizations and populations outside of Stanford (e.g., middle school students, community garden partners, tech companies, etc.). 

Accelerator Studio support is available to all grantees upon request, allocated separately from grant funding. Do not include these services in your proposed budget.

  TIMELINE

• Proposals Due: November 21, 2025, 11:59 pm PT
• Awards Announced: Jan 5, 2025 - Jan 15, 2026
• Grant Period: Feb 1, 2026 - Jan 31, 2027 (12 months or until graduation for student-led grants)

REQUIREMENTS

• IRB approval required before fund release, for applicable projects
• Participation in 3-4 seed grant recipient meetings
• A final report

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Proposal format:

• Max 4 pages (including proposal narrative, references, and budget plan)
• Single-spaced, 11-point font, 1-inch margins
• PDF format. Name your PDF: LastName_FirstName_LevelofGrant_DateofSubmission 

Please note that the PDF proposal (and only the PDF proposal) will be shared with the grant reviewers. Ensure that your project title and roles/contributions are included in your narrative.

Pages 1-2: Proposal narrative

• Proposal title
• Key project personnel (name, school, role/title)
• Project abstract
• Background and problem statement
• Design and/or research plan with timeline
• Potential for intellectual contributions and broader impact
• Contributions & roles of all project personnel, including any external partners.

 Page 3: References 

• Citations for works referenced in the proposal narrative

Page 4: Budget plan

• Include total requested award and budget items (e.g., 25% RA for 2 qtrs, travel $3K, equipment $4K).
• Must include an 8% infrastructure charge
• Capital equipment ($5k+) and faculty effort/salary will not be funded
• Support for student RAs is encouraged
• See budget templates for faculty and students/postdocs/staff applicants

Proposals may be submitted via the Stanford Seed Funding website. 

SELECTION CRITERIA

Proposals will be evaluated on:

• Potential for impact on marginalized, underserved, or neurodiverse learners
• Potential for positive and broad impact on learners and/or education
• Alignment with RFP
• Novelty/innovation of approach, method, or design
• Intellectual merit
• Interdisciplinarity
• Team credentials & qualifications

MORE INFORMATION

General questions? Contact Christina Hewko (chewko@stanford.edu), postdoctoral fellow at the Stanford Accelerator for Learning’s Equity in Learning Initiative and Dr. Maisha Winn’s Futuring for Equity Lab.