Frequently Asked Questions

Here are answers to the questions we receive most frequently.  

You’re a foundation. Does that mean you offer grants?

We are an operating foundation and do not offer grants through Edutopia. Lucas Education Research identifies strategic partnerships and awards grants to researchers to design and study innovative pre-K–12 educational models. Lucas Education Research does not accept unsolicited proposals.

What’s the difference between Edutopia, Lucas Education Research, and the George Lucas Educational Foundation? Are they the same thing?

The George Lucas Educational Foundation is a nonprofit foundation dedicated to improving the pre-K–12 learning process through innovative, replicable, and evidence-based programs and practices that prepare students to thrive in their studies, careers, and adult lives.  We do this work through two main divisions:

Edutopia is a comprehensive website and online community that increases knowledge, sharing, and adoption of what works in pre-K–12 education. We emphasize several core strategies that educate the whole child: project-based learning, comprehensive assessment, integrated studies, social and emotional learning, teacher development, and technology integration. 

Lucas Education Research is a division of the Foundation dedicated to building evidence for what works in K–12 education. We conduct and fund rigorous research with university partners, research firms, and leading educators to identify and test effective, innovative K–12 educational models that can be replicated and taken to scale.

What is Schools That Work, and how do you decide which schools to cover?

Schools That Work is a series that shares success stories from schools around the nation. In choosing which schools to cover, we review at least three years’ worth of academic and behavioral data to see if the school is outperforming others in the state or showing strong growth. Then we talk to teachers, administrators, parents, and students to discover schoolwide practices that promote exceptional learning and have the potential to be adapted in other schools. Think we should cover your school? Let us know at info@edutopia.org. You can also share a video about your school or classroom.

What does the trending number next to an article or video mean and how is it calculated?

The trending number on the lower right-hand corner of a story is a proprietary score based on the story’s audience engagement. The score is determined by how much a story has been read or watched, discussed, shared, and liked on the website or on social media channels. The higher a story’s score, the more our audience has engaged with it. We update scores several times a day.

I see orange check marks next to some articles and videos. What do they mean?

If you’re signed in to Edutopia, you may see orange check marks in the lower left-hand corner of some articles and videos. These check marks are used to highlight stories we think will be especially relevant to you, based on your profile. Your profile may include your role, grade level preferences, and, for middle- and high-school educators, subject areas of expertise—if you have shared this information with us. We know that educators’ time is limited and precious, so our goal is to make it easy for you to find the content that will serve you best. (If you’re not signed in or haven’t created an account yet, you will not see check marks. Create your free account here.)  

May I use something I found on Edutopia in my classroom or presentation?

Yes! Please feel free to use anything you find on Edutopia in your classroom teaching, professional-development trainings, PTA meetings, or other venues dedicated to helping pre-K–12 students learn. We just ask that you please give us credit—and let us know how it goes. If you’d like specific details, please check our Terms of Use.

Can I make an excerpt from a video?

We are an educational nonprofit and allow our videos to be shared and presented in their entirety for noncommercial and educational purposes. Our policy, though, does not allow our videos to be excerpted, used as stock footage, or re-edited into other projects.

Not only are we not resourced to provide clips for others to edit into their own videos, but we would need to do due diligence on your organization and your project before we could comfortably allow our footage to be used in something we’re not creating. We simply don’t have the person-power to do that at this time. On rare occasions, we'll approve the use of a certain clip for an educational documentary film or another nonprofit organization's needs, but we typically don't grant this kind of permission, as we then have no control over the output and the context the clips are used in.

You can always refer to our Terms of Use for more information about content usage.

I’d like to write for Edutopia. How can I get involved?

Thanks for your interest in writing for Edutopia. You can propose a post by following these submission guidelines. We welcome pitches on all academic subjects and all grades from pre-K through 12th.

Will Edutopia promote my blog, website, contest, or app?

Sorry, we receive so many worthy requests to share, our social media channels would be swamped by them if we did.

I’m looking for information about a specific topic, strategy, issue, or subject. How do I find it?

You can always try Edutopia's search. Find the search icon located in the upper right of the page, just under the navigation bar, and enter what you’re looking for.

Where can I post questions or comments?

If you have a question or comment about anything you see in one of our articles, you can post it on our Facebook page. Edutopia’s community will see it there and respond.