Quill.org Awarded Google AI Impact Grant to Develop Open-Source Writing Tools for Low-Income Students

Quill.org will apply natural language processing software to provide students with immediate feedback on their writing, enabling students to quickly become stronger writers.

NEW YORK, NY

5/07/2019

Google announced today that Quill.org is being awarded a $1.3 million grant as one of 20 organizations selected from 2,600 applicants for the Google AI Impact Challenge. Google’s challenge was an open call to nonprofits, social enterprises, and research institutions from around the world to submit their ideas to use AI to help address societal challenges, with the winners sharing $25 million in grants from Google.org, credit and consulting from Google Cloud, and coaching by Google’s AI experts.

Quill.org’s mission is to help every low-income student in the United States become a strong writer and critical thinker, and the nonprofit organization’s free online tools now support more than one million students. Quill.org’s tools help teachers by using artificial intelligence to automatically grade and provide feedback on student writing, and this immediate feedback loop enables students to continually revise their writing and quickly build their skills.

Teachers are provided with free access to a research-based curriculum, including diagnostic assessments that generate personalized learning plans for their students. Quill.org is committed to closing the achievement gap in education, and a recent research study by WestEd, a national research nonprofit, found that Quill.org’s personalized learning plans increase students’ writing skills, with the lowest-performing students showing the greatest gains after using Quill.org.

“There are 27 million low-income students in the United States who struggle with basic writing and find themselves disadvantaged in school and in the workforce,” says Peter Gault, Quill.org’s Executive Director. “And teachers struggle to help them, too. By using natural language processing to provide students with immediate feedback on their writing, we can help teachers support millions of students on the path to becoming stronger writers, critical thinkers, and active members of our democracy.”

Jacquelline Fuller, President of Google.org, writes, “We received thousands of applications to the Google AI Impact Challenge and are excited that Quill.org was selected to receive funding and expertise from Google. AI is at a nascent stage when it comes to the value it can have for the social impact sector, and we look forward to seeing the outcomes of this work and considering where there is potential for us to do even more.”

Next week, executives from Quill.org will travel to San Francisco to participate in Google’s Launchpad Accelerator, a six-month program that, from May to November 2019, will provide Quill.org with access to Google AI experts, project managers, and startup specialists. Quill.org will be paired with a Google expert who will meet with them regularly for coaching sessions. Quill.org will also have access to other Google resources and expert mentorship. This partnership will help Quill develop new AI-powered writing tools that help students develop reading, writing, and critical thinking skills.

About Quill.org:

Quill.org is a nonprofit education technology organization dedicated to helping low-income students become strong writers and critical thinkers. Since launching in September 2014, Quill.org has impacted more than 1.6 million K-12 students from 10,000 schools across all 50 states, with 64% of its students attending Title-1 eligible schools. Quilll.org has received support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, NewSchools Venture Fund, and the Edwin Gould Foundation, among others, and in 2018, Fast Company recognized Quill.org as one of the Top 10 Most Innovative Education Companies of 2018.

About Google.org:

Google.org, Google’s philanthropy, supports nonprofits that address humanitarian issues worldwide and apply radical, data-driven innovation to solving the world’s biggest challenges.

Press Contact

If you would like more information about this grant, please call Maddy Maher at Quill.org at 646–442–1095 or email Quill at hello@quill.org.