Jacobs Foundation

Whatever their background, all young people should have access to a high-quality education. Yet all too often, programs and interventions designed to improve a child’s learning and education provide one-size-fits-all instruction and are not rooted in evidence. Founded by Klaus J. Jacobs in 1989, the Jacobs Foundation’s vision is a world in which every child is given the evidence-based learning opportunities they need to thrive. To move closer to this vision, our flagship Strategy 2030 has pledged 500 million Swiss Francs to improve children’s learning and education by promoting the generation and translation of evidence into policy and practice. We accomplish this by funding research to understand how children learn, promoting the use of evidence in school practice and EdTech, and supporting countries to integrate evidence into education policy and implementation. Strategy 2030 is underpinned by an ambitious Research Agenda designed to advance our scientific understanding of childhood variability – how children vary day-to-day in their skills and behaviors, how they differ from their peers, and how they live and learn in different environments. By furthering the science of how children vary over time and contexts, we aim to support policymakers and educators in embracing variability and providing evidence-based learning opportunities that serve more children, more often.