$23 million commitment from leading foundations affirms confidence in EdReports’ strategic direction and vision for the future of instructional materials.
RALEIGH, N.C., August 11, 2026 — EdReports, the independent nonprofit that provides free reviews of instructional materials, today announced a combined $23 million philanthropic investment from five leading foundations to support its next phase of growth and innovation.
The investment includes expanded support from the Gates Foundation and the Walton Family Foundation, continued support from the Hewlett Foundation, and new investments from the LEGO Foundation and the Valhalla Foundation. The funding accelerates the implementation of EdReports’ 2026-2029 strategic plan, Trusted Signals at the Speed of the Market, helping the organization strengthen reviews, modernize infrastructure, expand early learning efforts, and provide educators with stronger signals about instructional quality, implementation, usability, and evidence of impact.
“For more than a decade, EdReports has helped educators and system leaders make confident decisions about instructional materials,” said Dr. Lewis Ferebee, CEO of EdReports. “As the curriculum landscape evolves, our responsibility is to ensure educators have access to timely, independent, and actionable evidence about the tools they use every day. This investment strengthens our ability to serve the field while remaining grounded in what has always made EdReports valuable: educator expertise, independence, and a commitment to student success.”
What will the investment make possible?
Specifically, the investments will help EdReports strengthen, scale, and modernize the information educators rely on to make thoughtful curriculum decisions. Planned investments include enhancing review infrastructure, increasing the speed and responsiveness of reviews while maintaining rigor and independence, exploring new signals of instructional quality, and providing deeper insight into how curricular products support coherent instructional systems, educator implementation, and student learning.
“EdReports has become a trusted source of information for educators making high-stakes instructional decisions,” said Joe Savage, Vice President at the LEGO Foundation. “We believe its strategic vision, educator-driven approach, and commitment to independent evidence can help more educators identify and implement high-quality instructional solutions that support meaningful learning and stronger outcomes for children.”
As one example of its broader strategy to strengthen and expand the signals educators rely on when making instructional materials decisions, EdReports is growing its work in early childhood education. These efforts will include continued reviews of pre-kindergarten instructional materials, a new initiative focused on early mathematics, and exploration of how educators can better identify and implement high-quality instructional resources during the foundational years of learning.
“Improving kindergarten readiness requires better tools, stronger information, and greater capacity across the early childhood field,” said Sara Allen, President of the Valhalla Foundation. “We are proud to support EdReports’ expansion into pre-K instructional materials because this work can help educators and decision-makers identify high-quality learning experiences that give more children a strong start.”
What remains unchanged?
While the investment will accelerate innovation and growth, EdReports emphasized that its core commitments remain unchanged. Educator expertise and organizational independence will continue to anchor every review and resource the organization produces. Philanthropic support enables EdReports’ work, but it does not influence the organization’s review criteria, methodologies, findings, or ratings. Those safeguards ensure educators can continue to rely on trusted, independent information when making instructional materials decisions.
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With the firm belief that what is taught matters and that all students deserve standards-aligned, research-based materials tailored to diverse needs, including multilingual learners, EdReports publishes free, evidence-rich reviews of instructional materials. Since its launch in 2015, EdReports has trained over 1,000 educators to conduct rigorous reviews of instructional materials and has released over 1,300 reviews of math, ELA, science, and pre-K curricula. The organization’s work has been instrumental in helping educators across the country make informed decisions about the materials they use in their classrooms.
Media Contact: Tom Green
tgreen@edreports.org
617-960-7982
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