12 institutions join cohort to unlock student potential in calculus through AI-enabled courseware, faculty-centered design, and evidence-informed improvement
BOULDER, CO, UNITED STATES, July 21, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Every Learner Everywhere is pleased to announce the launch of the Courseware Lighthouse Implementation Program, a bold initiative to help college and university mathematics departments fundamentally rethink how gateway mathematics courses, specifically Calculus I and II, are designed, delivered, and continuously improved. The program brings together 12 participating institutions, four organizational partners, and a cutting-edge AI-enabled courseware provider to drive student success in introductory math.
Gateway mathematics courses are among the most consequential courses in higher education, as foundational experiences that shape students’ academic trajectories and open doors to careers in STEM, business, healthcare, and beyond. The Courseware Lighthouse Implementation Program is designed to ensure these courses deliver on that promise, through deep, sustained collaboration with mathematics departments and a commitment to continuous, evidence-informed improvement.
“Calculus is where too many students’ STEM journeys end before they’ve really begun,” says Laura DaVinci, Director, Every Learner Everywhere. “This program is about changing that, not by layering technology on top of broken systems, but by helping departments build something fundamentally better together.”
A Department-Wide Approach, Not a Pilot Program
Unlike traditional technology implementation efforts that focus on individual instructors or one-off pilots, the Courseware Lighthouse Implementation Program operates at the faculty, department and institution level. Faculty are treated as designers and decision-makers and institutions are supported in building lasting structures for continuous improvement.
The program is organized around the BEACON Framework, a six-phase model that guides departments through the full arc of implementation:
B — Build the Team & Governance
E — Establish Outcomes & Design Considerations
A — Analyze Baseline & Course Fit
C — Co-Design the Teaching & Learning Experience
O — Operate at Scale (Not Just Pilot)
N — Normalize Continuous Improvement
Central to the model is the foundational integration of Measurement, Learning, and Evaluation, ensuring that every decision is grounded in data and evidence, and that departments are equipped to sustain and improve results long after the program concludes.
12 Institutions. One Shared Commitment.
The inaugural cohort beginning this Fall includes a diverse group of two- and four-year public institutions serving students across the country:
Miami Dade Community College
San Antonio College (Alamo System)
Georgia State University
SUNY University at Buffalo
California State University, Los Angeles
Dallas College
University of Texas Arlington
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
CUNY Queensborough Community College
Houston Community College
California State University, Fresno
University of North Texas
Partners Bringing Complementary Expertise
The program is anchored by a coalition of organizations with deep roots in higher education improvement, mathematics, and learning science, whose expertise spans the full spectrum of what it takes to make lasting change in higher education, from institutional transformation and faculty development to rigorous research, mathematics education reform, and learning technology.
Every Learner leads the initiative, coordinating partner activity, and providing direct institutional support to participating departments. The Gardner Institute contributes its decades of experience helping institutions build the governance structures, faculty cultures, and accountability frameworks that make large-scale course redesign stick. Transforming Postsecondary Education in Mathematics (TPSE Math) ensures the work remains grounded in the disciplinary priorities and professional values of the mathematics community, engaging faculty as genuine partners in design rather than recipients of top-down mandates. WestEd brings rigorous research and evaluation capacity, helping institutions collect and interpret evidence about student outcomes and make data-informed decisions throughout the BEACON process.
Together, these partners work alongside participating institutions rather than delivering prescriptive solutions from the outside. Each organization plays a distinct role, and the collaboration is designed so that institutional support, faculty engagement, disciplinary credibility, and evidence-based inquiry reinforce one another at every phase, from building initial team governance through normalizing continuous improvement.
AI-Enabled Courseware That Puts Learning Science First
Participating institutions will integrate courseware from Learnvia, a nonprofit learning collaborative launched by Carnegie Mellon University. Learnvia pairs free, AI-enabled courseware with established principles from cognitive science, learning science, and human-computer interaction to the design of every lesson and activity. By translating research into practical tools, Learnvia helps students stay engaged, build mastery, and persist in their learning while giving faculty evidence-based support for effective teaching.
About the Courseware Lighthouse Implementation Program
The Courseware Lighthouse Implementation Program is an Every Learner Everywhere initiative, supported by the Gates Foundation, that partners with cohorts of mathematics departments to optimize and operate gateway mathematics courses using AI-enabled courseware and robust faculty supports. The program adapts to local context, policy, and student populations while maintaining a common framework for continuous, evidence-informed improvement.
To learn more about Every Learner Everywhere and its collaborative approach to improve student outcomes in higher education through digital learning, visit everylearnereverywhere.org. To contact Every Learner Everywhere, email everylearner@wiche.edu, or call (303) 541-0208. Follow Every Learner on LinkedIn at Every Learner Everywhere.
Emilie Cook
Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education
+1 3035410213
email us here
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