The Joan Ganz Cooney Center Sandbox for Literacy Innovations aims to help developers incorporate evidence-based research and co-design methods with kids to create more effective literacy products. With generous support from the Walton Family Foundation, we are working with teams whose products are at an early stage in the development process to strengthen their literacy pedagogy and co-design more engaging and effective edtech with children. We collaborate with developers who are creating products that address literacy skills for a diverse population of learners across age ranges, from preschool to tweens and teens.
Participating companies work with Cooney Center experts over a six-month period to infuse early-stage products with research-based approaches to literacy development, co-design with children, and designing for the whole child. We will then continue to track the uptake of design choices and product performance in the classroom or at home.
Applications are now closed.
Partnership Criteria
The Sandbox for Literacy Innovations will be open to all entities who are:
- working on an interactive technology or media supporting English literacy development;
- for an audience of children or youth (ages 3-17) for use in either school or at home; and
- with a United States market focus.
Partners must be willing and able to commit to a six-month engagement including regular virtual meetings and in-person co-design sessions in New York City, and ongoing periodic reporting/engagement for two additional years.
Learn more about the Sandbox for Literacy Innovations:
Product Partners
Learn more about our current product partners here and read what they have had to say about the Sandbox for Literacy Innovations below:
Blog posts about the Sandbox for Literacy Innovations
- Evidence, Rigor, and the Race to Market
- From AI Reading Coaches to Audio Games: Meet the Sandbox’s New Literacy Innovators
- The Cooney Center Sandbox: Embedding Literacy Expertise in Edtech Innovation
- Six Partners Join the Joan Ganz Cooney Center Sandbox for Literacy Innovations
- Experts Guide Innovations in Literacy Learning
- Sticky Notes, Clay, and Big Ideas: The Magic of Co-Designing Edtech with Kids
- Building a Sandbox for Literacy Innovation
Publications
