A highly selective, two-year fellowship for established school teams ready to design, test, and refine new models of teaching and learning.

NEW YORK, Sept. 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — With support from Relay Graduate School of Education, Teaching Lab Studio is launching the Robbins Fellowship for School Innovation, a highly selective, two-year fellowship that empowers established school teams to redesign the structures shaping students’ daily learning. Through whole-team participation, protected pilot sites, rapid evidence-based iteration, and multidisciplinary support—including coaching, design, engineering, and targeted AI infrastructure—the fellowship enables schools to build and test integrated models in live school environments.

Strong schools don’t stop evolving. Even those with proven systems and strong student outcomes benefit from dedicated time, expertise, and the space to rethink how teaching and learning happen every day. Rather than adding a stand-alone tool or developing one educator in isolation, the Robbins Fellowship helps an entire school-based team build, test, and refine an integrated model in live classrooms.

For Teaching Lab Studio, the Robbins Fellowship reflects a broader belief that meaningful innovation begins with educators closest to students.

Leslie Kim, Entrepreneur in Residence at Teaching Lab Studio, said:

“Public education has always been powered by educators willing to believe in what’s possible and build toward it. We’re now living through the most transformative technological shift education has seen.. This is a moment to lean into the expertise of great educators and strong schools and combine that experience with what is newly possible to make learning more enriching and joyful for students

That’s what the Robbins Fellowship is for. Our inaugural cohort isn’t just piloting new approaches in their own buildings, but rather they’re generating the proof points and learnings the rest of the field can build on. The future of schools must be anchored in the expertise, knowledge, and heart of the educators doing this work and we are excited and grateful for this opportunity.”

Each participating school team is led by a Robbins Fellow and designates one or two grade levels as a pilot site throughout the fellowship. Over the two years, fellows and their teams engage in coaching, strategy sessions, technical skill-building, school visits, cohort learning, and four in-person convenings. Along the way, they receive ongoing support in co-design, professional learning, engineering and product support, AI infrastructure, and measurement support. The work produces a schedule, staffing model, instructional model, iteration notes, and codified practices reflecting the strongest evidence.

Meet the inaugural Robbins Fellows

The inaugural Robbins Fellowship cohort brings together 12 educators who will lead their school teams through two years of designing, testing, and refining new models of teaching and learning. Each Fellow will work alongside colleagues at a designated pilot site to explore new approaches, learn from evidence, and build practices that can inform the broader field.

Adam Feiler-Ware
Dream Charter Schools | Deputy Chief Of Learning | Bronx, NY

Michael Scott, Jr.
Uncommon Schools | Principal | Brooklyn, NY

Amanda Martinez
KIPP NYC Freedom Middle School | Principal | Bronx, NY

Kate Baughman
KIPP NYC All Middle School | Founding Principal | Bronx, NY

Jessie George
Uncommon Schools | Principal | Brooklyn, NY

Mike Taubman
North Star Academy Uncommon Schools | Teacher, Program Director, And Ai Innovation Lead | Newark, NJ

Heather Johnson
Vista College Preparatory Schools | Chief Innovation Officer | Phoenix, Az

Casey Rowe
Rocketship Public Schools | Director Of Innovation | San Jose, Ca

Kyle Brillante
Highbridge Green School (Nyc Ps) | Principal | Bronx, NY

Ben Schumacher
Horizon Academies (Launching Summer 2028) | Founder | Nashville, TN

Michael Johnson, Jr.
Fordham High School For The Arts (NYC PS) | Principal | Bronx, NY

Dayna Chisholm
Longwood Academy | Head Of Academics | Palm Beach Gardens, FL

“The Robbins Fellowship reflects a conviction we share across Relay and Teaching Lab: the future of teaching and learning should be shaped with educators, not handed to them. Real innovation requires more than introducing a new tool or idea. It means giving whole school teams the time, support, and space to test new approaches in real classrooms, learn from evidence, and refine what they’re building alongside their students.

That’s how we develop approaches that work in practice—and ensure educators are leading transformational change in schools rather than simply being the recipients of top-down change.”

— Dr. Sarah Johnson, CEO of Relay Graduate School of Education

By the end of the fellowship, each team will have developed a school model that includes an instructional framework, staffing and scheduling structures, documented iteration cycles, and codified practices informed by what proved most effective in their classrooms.

“I believe that education is the most powerful force in the world, and that we have a responsibility to come together to collaborate, innovate, and co-create the best approaches to instruction, curriculum, and culture.

After three decades investing in education innovation, Sarahmay and I are honored to partner with Teaching Lab Studio and some of the brightest and most committed minds in the field through this fellowship. We’re confident the Robbins Fellowship will cultivate ideas that help modernize instruction, curriculum design, and the responsible use of technology to support teachers and students. Together, we build.”

— Larry Robbins

In the days following this announcement, Teaching Lab Studio will introduce each inaugural fellow and their school-based teams through a “Meet the Fellows” series, accompanied by a social media kit built for fellows and their schools to share the announcement across their own communities and networks.

Learn more about the inaugural cohort and connect with Teaching Lab Studio to explore opportunities to support the work at teachinglabstudio.com/projects/school-model-fellowship.

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SOURCE Relay Graduate School of Education