Policy & advocacy

We support and advocate for policies that truly enable schools to meet the unique strengths and needs of each student.

We’re actively engaged in building capacity for innovative learning models, supporting demand, and creating space for new approaches to teaching and learning.

Policy makers and education leaders in a panel discussion for New Classrooms hosted event

Advancing a vision

For more than 100 years schooling has consisted of one teacher and 30 or so same-aged students all learning the same thing at the same time. Efforts to improve student outcomes, whether based on the adoption of standards, improved teacher quality, the use assessment and accountability, or other approaches, have left the current educational delivery model largely untouched.

We believe it is time for new learning models to emerge that break free of the inherent constraints of the traditional educational delivery model. This requires the design and widespread adoption of new learning products and models that thoughtfully integrate the talents of teachers and the power of modern technologies so each and every student can thrive.

Photo of a person speaking into a microphone

New Classrooms CEO Joel Rose speaking to Iceberg Problem event attendee

Building capacity

While transformative research and development (R&D) is what drives progress in industries such as healthcare, energy, and defense, it is notably absent in the K-12 sector.

That’s why bold, new approaches to teaching and learning require thoughtful R&D focused on the design of innovative learning models that replace the use of traditional textbooks in schools. These models reimagine the use of classroom time, talent, and technology so teachers can meet the unique strengths and needs of each student.

How can Congress allocate R&D investment to reimagine school?
Find out.

Supporting demand

The mindsets, expectations, and norms that undergird the current delivery model have built up over decades and are difficult to change. School communities looking to challenge these structures by adopting innovative learning models need policies that give them the freedom, flexibility, and support to do so.

What can policymakers do to support school communities in their adoption of innovative learning models?
Learn about Math Innovation Zones.

Creating space in policy

Long-standing policies around grade-level focused summative assessments and grade-level instructional materials are examples of key barriers that discourage schools from embracing more innovative approaches to instruction.

We advocate for federal and state policies that create the conditions for forward-leaning schools to challenge existing norms and embrace the emergence of innovative solutions.

2024 Policy Agenda

2023 Federal and State Policy Agenda thumbnail

Accelerating the growth of the model provider sector
Shaping the future of innovative assessments
Strengthening accountability to enable innovation

Priorities for the 118th Congress

Invest in sustainable R&D for education
Create the space to reimagine education at the state and local level

Too many of our classrooms operate instructionally in ways that are materially indistinguishable from how they worked in the 20th century. New Classrooms is at the forefront of transforming our schools in ways that better enable all children to fulfill their potential.

Shavar Jefferies

CEO of KIPP Foundation
This is my 29th year in education in some way, shape or form, and we needed to have this conversation for a long time. I appreciate the momentum and how The Iceberg Problem paper is elevating this conversation to a national level.

Kirsten Baesler

Superintendent of Public Instruction, North Dakota
Our partnership with New Classrooms’ Teach to One Roadmaps will leverage MAP Growth results so teachers can quickly and effectively tailor learning experiences for students so that they can achieve grade-level proficiency.

Chris Minnich

CEO of NWEA
By focusing much-needed R&D into how we educate our children, New Classrooms is showing that it is possible to innovate and improve one of our nation’s most essential institutions.

Mike Bezos

Emeritus, Founding Board Member
The Teach to One approach stands in stark contrast to many education technology implementations that ignore a student’s individual needs and the operations of the classroom. Too often the technology leads.

Michael B. Horn

Speaker & Author
I want to compliment your organization for moving from its sole focus on teaching and learning into the policy sphere. And thank you very much for having the courage to do this, because I think you have added to the policy debate in a very constructive way.

Jim Blew

Assistant Secretary for Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development (OPEPD)
New Classrooms is a leader in pushing the thinking across the education sector around how to ensure students leave school with the mathematics skills needed to thrive in life, not just to succeed on a test.

Andrew Rotherham

Co-Founder & Partner, Bellwether Education