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Gates Foundation Pushes Technology for College Preparedness

The foundation announced this week that $20 million is up for grabs for innovators in tech for education.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced this week that $20 million is up for grabs for education innovations in a new push to prepare high school students for college. The Gates Foundation announced a request for proposals for its “Next Generation Learning Challenges” from innovative programs that have a working technological or online component and a sound educational intervention to put the technologies to use in the service of preparing high school students for college. The foundation has previously focused on education in low-income, marginalized communities, but this is the first time the foundation is focused explicitly on educational technologies for college preparation.

“We’re really excited about technology in education,” Gates Foundation Senior Program Officer, Josh Jarrett, tells Fast Company. A former software entrepreneur and former McKinsey consultant with a Harvard MBA, Jarrett has a thing or two to say about innovation in technology and education.

With 63% of jobs at the end of the decade requiring a higher degree, says Jarrett, there is an urgent need for innovation in college preparedness programs.

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