College of Education (COE)
COE’s Lara Condon Awarded Second EdLight Research Contract
Wednesday, 04 March 2026 - MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Dr. Lara Condon, assistant professor in the Department of Instruction and Curriculum Leadership (ICL) in the University of Memphis College of Education (COE), has been awarded a $60,000 research contract with EdLight to continue her work exploring how artificial intelligence can support teaching and learning in mathematics classrooms. The project runs from January 2026 through April 2028.
EdLight is a digital learning platform that automatically analyzes handwritten student math work. The platform is designed to identify student understanding and misconceptions to help inform mathematics teachers’ instructional decision-making and provides math leaders with school and district level analysis of student progress.
In this next phase, Condon will build on previous work with EdLight, which focused on how teachers use assessment tools to guide instruction and help shape a research agenda to guide future studies using EdLight’s digital learning platform. She will also conduct research analyses using student work data and support early career and practitioner researchers as they explore how students learn and how teachers make instructional decisions by partnering with early career and practitioner researchers to study patterns in student thinking, instructional strategies and classroom outcomes
The project comes at a time when schools are navigating the growing role of digital technologies and AI in K–12 classrooms. EdLight’s system is built on more than 300,000 annotated, de-identified student work samples from over 30,000 students across three states, including strong representation from historically underserved populations.
“This work is about expanding what we know about how AI can strengthen teachers’ use of formative assessment,” Condon said. “When educators can better understand how students are thinking, they can make more informed decisions that support engagement, persistence and deeper understanding.”
“I am grateful and honored to continue working in partnership with EdLight,” Condon said. “Our goal is to help both researchers and practitioners better recognize and support students’ mathematical strengths.”
This work reflects COE’s commitment to innovative, equity-focused research that connects technology, teaching and student success in schools.