Learning

April 16, 2026
Big Ideas, Reflections

Don’t Count Out Computer Science Just Yet

Your average computer science major seems to now be the poster child for Gen Z college grads unable to secure the sort of jobs that a decade of “top majors” features promised them. CS has until recently been assumed to be a “safe” major that guaranteed employment, often with a high starting salary in a perks-laden workplace, or equity in a fast-growing startup. A decline in demand for recent graduates has led to headlines suggesting the boom is over, and that AI poses an existential threat to all computer science occupations.

March 24, 2026
Reflections

SXSW 2026: What We Built and What We Learned

SXSW is where we take the temperature of what's happening in education and innovation and this year, the signal was clear. Across our Public House activations with the Stanford d.school, hundreds of people showed up not just to learn, but to connect, create, and act. Here's what we built, what we heard, and what it all points to.

February 4, 2026
Big Ideas, Reflections

Rural Consultation Series: Rural Innovation Is Happening. Why Don’t We Hear More About It?

In our work—with grantees, through firsthand observation, and in the stories we intentionally seek—we’ve witnessed the power of technological innovation in rural communities. It takes many forms across the country, often without a data center in sight. Yet these stories rarely break through mainstream narratives, reinforcing a persistent misconception: that meaningful innovation happens elsewhere.

December 18, 2025
News, Reflections

The Quiet Work Shaping Tomorrow

From The Siegel Times, a special edition of our Year in Review, President and Executive Director Katy Knight examines the blueprints, partnerships, and strategies behind 2025’s most under-covered success stories.

December 18, 2025
News, Reflections

Our 2025 Year in Review

Introducing The Siegel Times: our 2025 Year in Review, inspired by the look and feel of a classic news magazine and grounded in the work we’ve built together this year. More than a retrospective, this special report brings together feature stories from grantees, letters from leadership, and a clear record of what we’ve accomplished collectively—alongside playful, interactive moments designed to put the buzzwords of 2025 to rest and refocus on what actually matters. It’s a snapshot of a year defined not by hype, but by shared effort, learning, and progress.

December 9, 2025
Reflections

Computational Thinking: The Durable Skill We’re Overlooking?

Grantmaking Manager Evan Trout contributes a guest post this #CSEdWeek exploring a key gap in how we talk about “durable skills.” While communication and problem-solving often take center stage, one essential skill is still missing from the conversation: computational thinking (CT). In his piece, Evan breaks down why CT is foundational to young people’s learning today—and why it will matter even more in the future.

April 16, 2025
Q&A

A Surprising Obstacle to the Adoption of Innovative School Models

We sat down with Brent Maddin of the Next Education Workforce Initiative at ASU, and George Vinton and Kelly Anguiano of Common Group to learn more about the role that administrative systems play in whether, when, and how schools choose to adopt innovative models; the ways in which these technological systems could be redesigned to help facilitate innovation; and the opportunities for both the supply side and the demand side of the market to develop solutions for making administrative systems in K-12 education more flexible.

March 31, 2025
Reflections

2025 Q1 Events Recap

We may be a small team, but our reach is mighty. Over the past quarter, we’ve traveled across the country and around the globe to seek out new perspectives, fresh solutions, and burgeoning insights that will shape our work in 2025.

December 17, 2024
News

Siegel Family Endowment Awards Over $16.3 Million to Strengthen Workforce Innovation, Infrastructure, and Philanthropy

Our latest grants reaffirm our commitment to building a more inclusive technological future by supporting comprehensive research, shaping human-centered policies, and fostering community-driven innovation to ensure these advancements benefit everyone.

December 5, 2024
News

Announcing the Phase 2 Learning Landscape Winners

Siegel Family Endowment and the Walton Family Foundation are thrilled to announce five Phase 2 winners that will receive $200,000 each and advance to the Phase 3 incubator in the Learning Landscapes Challenge. These winners emerged from an exceptional cohort of 40 Phase 2 accelerator teams with transformative visions for K-12 educational infrastructure.

December 3, 2024
Big Ideas, Research

Black-oriented EdTech and public interest technology: a framework for accessible and ethically designed technology for K-12 students

Read new Siegel In-House Research Fellow Symon Campbell's latest publication in Journal of Integrated Global STEM analyzing three K-12 Black-oriented EdTech platforms developed by Black women—KaiXR, Reconstruction, and TunTimo—leverage public interest technology principles to address educational inequities and counter racial biases in mainstream EdTech.

August 28, 2024
Big Ideas

A strong digital infrastructure is crucial to creating jobs in rural America

Featured on Working Nation's Work in Progress podcast, Josh Elder, vice president and head of grantmaking for Siegel Family Endowment, discusses the importance of tech connectivity in creating access and opportunity to jobs in rural America and the overall impact technology is having on society, education, and the way we do our jobs.