Encouraging Trends in the Learning Ecosystem
What’s giving our partners hope in 2026? From rural innovation to youth civic power to the joy of reading, leaders across the learning ecosystem share the trends fueling their optimism.
What We Support
Advancing Research
We start with science to meet the needs of children, youth, and families.
Science helps us understand how young people learn and how to better support them.
Across the field, researchers are expanding what we know about how young people learn and thrive. Emerging and established scholars are deepening knowledge of youth development and creating new opportunities, including for those whose perspectives have too often been overlooked.
When research is shaped with communities and connected to practice, it is more relevant, more useful, and more likely to improve classrooms, programs, and policies that support young people.
By expanding who participates in knowledge creation, we can better ensure findings translate into real-world improvements.
From Knowledge to Impact
We invest in research that advances the field, engages communities, and informs practice and policy.
We support applied and foundational research that addresses key opportunities in positive child and youth development, helping young people and the adults around them. To continue advancing the field and fostering innovation, we also support early- and mid-career researchers.
We invest in research shaped in partnership with communities to ensure it reflects real needs and builds trust, making it more relevant and more likely to drive impact. We also expand opportunities for researchers to build skills and produce work alongside communities and decision-makers so findings drive lasting change.
We ensure research is shared in ways that practitioners, policymakers, and communities can meaningfully apply to inform decisions and improve outcomes.
Latest Learnings
Stories on advancing research and stories from the field.
Meet Our New Researchers in Residence
Introducing the inaugural Jackie Bezos Researchers in Residence — two scholars joining the Foundation to turn cutting-edge science into real impact for children, families, and communities.
What’s Energizing Our Researcher Partners in 2025
From AI tools for teachers to diverting youth from detention, 12 researchers share the breakthroughs and bold ideas driving their work and giving them hope.
See our other Focus Areas
