The Learning Variability Network Exchange (LEVANTE) brings together researchers from around the world aiming to capture the richness and diversity of child development and learning.
Only by conducting open-access, cutting-edge research can we enhance our knowledge on learning and developmental variability.
Delve into the science of learning variability, explore cutting-edge research, and discover practical insights to enhance learning for all.
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Whatever their background, all young people should have access to a high-quality education. Yet all too often, programs and interventions designed to improve a child’s learning and education provide one-size-fits-all instruction and are not rooted in evidence. Founded by Klaus J. Jacobs in 1989, the Jacobs Foundation’s vision is a world in which every child is given the evidence-based learning opportunities they need to thrive. To move closer to this vision, our flagship Strategy 2030 has pledged CHF 500 million to improve children’s learning and education by promoting the generation and translation of evidence into policy and practice. We accomplish this by funding research to understand how children learn, promoting the use of evidence in teaching and learning, and supporting four focus countries (Switzerland, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, and Colombia) to integrate evidence into education policy and implementation.
Only significant advances in fundamental knowledge of variability will give rise to more research-based, variability-focused innovations; these, in turn, can lead to scaled interventions, environments, and ecosystems that can help all children to fulfill their potential. The Jacobs Foundation is committed to supporting research on learning variability in healthy, typically developing children between the ages of 2 and 12 in high-, middle- and low-income countries, through grantmaking and other research programming. These efforts are guided by the Jacobs Foundation Research Agenda.
The Learning Variability Network Exchange was conceptualised as the research mechanism that enables scientists around the world to address the transformative questions posed by the Research Agenda. This ambitious project has successfully been launched thanks to the close collaboration between the conceptualisation team at the Jacobs Foundation headquarters and the Data Coordinating Center at Stanford University.
At the core
Michael C. Frank (Stanford University) and Ana Cubillo (Jacobs Foundation) have been working closely and intensively since July 2023. Their shared goal is to ensure LEVANTE becomes a reality that allows scientists around the globe to address questions around how and why learning outcomes are affected by learning and developmental variability, across the different dimensions of variability described in the Research Agenda.