Tell us about your company and the problem it solves, or its benefit to learners or educators.
A high school teacher in New York City founded DonorsChoose because he experienced what too many public school teachers experience: not enough resources to meet their students’ needs and interests. I’m talking about basic stuff that every classroom needs, like paper and pens, and more specific resources like 3-D printers. At DonorsChoose, we believe a teacher in the Bronx or rural Mississippi should have the same ability to bring powerful learning experiences to their students as a teacher in an affluent suburb. Since 2000, we’ve funded $1.9 billion in classroom resources, reaching 90% of U.S. public schools. We are, in many ways, a living map of what teachers actually need.
What that map consistently shows is that teachers everywhere want their classrooms to be vibrant and engaging. They want to provide welcoming spaces where every student can thrive.
Teachers’ requests evolve, but their focus never moves. It is always the student, always the classroom, always the belief that every child deserves a rich learning environment.
What we consistently see on DonorsChoose is teachers who know their students and what they need to grow and thrive—whether that means requesting winter coats and snacks for kids who come to school cold and hungry or AI-powered translation pens that help a multilingual student follow along in class for the first time. Teachers don’t see a distinction between essentials and innovation; they see children, and they ask for whatever those children need.
DonorsChoose offers a feedback loop between teacher ingenuity and public generosity—one that ensures innovation isn’t exclusive to well-resourced schools. When a donor funds a classroom robotics project in rural Appalachia, they’re not just buying hardware. They’re making a statement about who deserves access to the future.
What is the challenge educators face today that is fixable?
The gap between AI awareness and readiness is enormous, but it is entirely closable.
Teachers know AI is here. Our data makes that clear: 96% believe AI will be central to education within the next decade. But 97% say they lack the tools and training to act on that belief today. It’s a huge, daunting number. However, we can make significant progress by funding teachers to do what they’re already trying to do: experiment, iterate, and share what works.
I’ve spent my career at the intersection of education and innovation—as a classroom teacher, as a founder of LearnZillion, and now as CEO of DonorsChoose. Each chapter has reinforced the same conviction: the most durable solutions in education begin with teachers. When a teacher requests an AI-powered reading tool for her students with dyslexia, she’s diagnosing a need and proposing a solution. We do the most for kids when we provide what’s needed to make that happen.
What is the challenge educators face today that will persist?
The persistent challenge in education—the one that outlasts every reform cycle and every technological wave—is ensuring that progress reaches every student, not just the ones whose zip codes already confer advantage. AI is not exempt from this pattern. In fact, without deliberate intervention, it’s likely to accelerate it.
What gives me both concern and hope is what teachers are already signaling. Eighty-six percent of AI-related requests on DonorsChoose focus on accessibility. For example, tools for students with dyslexia, translation devices for English Language Learners and adaptive platforms for students with IEPs. Teachers working in the highest-need classrooms are among the most motivated early adopters of AI, precisely because they see its potential to do what traditional tools couldn’t: personalize learning at scale, bridge language gaps in real time, and give every student an entry point.
Where AI is being used to promote equity, that’s really exciting. On the other hand, I can imagine a two-tiered AI future: one where affluent students receive human mentorship enhanced by sophisticated AI tools, and under-resourced students receive a generic chatbot as a substitute for both. That outcome isn’t inevitable. It is, however, the default if we don’t act with intention.
What are the areas of education or training and workforce development that are being overlooked?
A few years ago, I might have put the spotlight on vocational education in K12 as being an area that deserved more attention. I still think that’s true today, except that I would dramatically broaden the definition of what we count as “vocational.”
We’re at a point in technological and societal development where we might bring a vocational lens to every subject, including the core subjects like math and English. I don’t mean that we should rigidly define what we teach in these subjects according to specific jobs, but I do think we are facing a more existential question: what is useful for students to learn? This question is forced upon us by rapid development of AI and related technologies, but we can turn this into an opportunity to think creatively about new learning pathways. For example, I was a high school math teacher, and taught AP Calculus. My journey into teaching was inspired by Jaime Escalante—I love calculus! But, even I am willing to ask whether that’s the most valuable form of advanced math to teach kids, or whether we might look to data science, statistics, financial mathematics, or other branches to be the standard path for advanced students.
What do you foresee will be a challenge in education in three to five years?
One future challenge I anticipate is linked to a current challenge: unless we work with intention to avoid it, the digital divide will become more stark in the coming years. The natural course is that wealthier communities and schools are better positioned to take advantage of the benefits of new technologies, while those with fewer resources may struggle to keep up.
Beyond that challenge—and tied to it—we risk a loss in confidence in our school systems, which could lead to less investment, in a self-reinforcing downward loop. It is important that we not allow this to happen, especially when the critical need is for us to do the opposite: to think creatively, be ambitious, and work to strengthen the systems that support our kids’ learning. Luckily, we know about a source of optimism here—the work that teachers do every day to meet the needs of students, even in the toughest situations. When we choose to rally around educators and, by doing so, choose to rally around our own kids, we position ourselves to ensure that this long-term challenge doesn’t become our destiny.