EIC Newsletter - February 2026

Windy City EdTech
Monthly notes from The Ed Tech Institute of Chicago

Welcome to the EdTech Institute of Chicago’s monthly newsletter! EIC is a 100% volunteer-led organization, founded by Peter Pelizzarri in 2023 with a mission of elevating Chicago and the Midwest as a world-class hub for edtech innovation.

• Partner Spotlight: LEAP Innovations

• Community snapshot: Info about our membership based on recent survey

• Upcoming Events & Opportunities

• Celebrations & Milestones

Partner Spotlight

Meet Scott Frauenheim, CEO of LEAP Innovations

To kick off our 2026 Edtech Institute of Chicago partner spotlight series, we sat down with Scott Frauenheim, CEO of LEAP Innovations. LEAP isn’t just any venture in our community, it is a cornerstone of it.

Founded in 2014 by Chicago trailblazer Phyllis Lockett, the organization was born from a deep partnership with Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and a mission to ensure that our city’s students, particularly those in underserved communities, weren’t left behind by the digital revolution.

“Chicago is where our values were shaped,” says Scott, who stepped into the CEO role two years ago after leading a network of Chicago charter schools. Scott himself is a product of the LEAP ecosystem, having piloted and implemented the LEAP school transformation work and frameworks during his time as a principal and charter network leader.

LEAP was founded to solve a specific local problem: great edtech ideas weren’t making it into Chicago classrooms, and schools weren’t innovating traditional sit and get school models fast enough, especially schools serving marginalized communities. Today, LEAP has taken its “Chicago-proven” model national, operating in nine states, but their heart remains in the Loop. “We are reminding the country that Chicago has a lot of innovative stuff going on,” Scott notes. “We operationalize equity and access here so we can scale it everywhere.”

At the core of their work is the LEAP Learning Framework and aligned LEAP Engagement Survey, a research-backed model that moves away from “one-size-fits-all” instruction toward a paradigm that is:

• Learner Focused: Tailored to individual needs and strengths.

• Learner Led: Entrusting students to take ownership of their path.

• Learner Demonstrated: Progressing based on mastery, not seat time.

• Learner Connected: Linking classroom work to real-world career ambitions.

Scott and the LEAP team have organized LEAP’s current work into three high-impact networks that sit at the intersection of instruction, innovation, and implementation:

1. The Pilot Network: LEAP’s legacy program. It matches school design teams and their opportunities of practice in their schools, with edtech partners for year-long design thinking cohorts, supporting embedded professional development and coaching to test tools with “implementation fidelity.”
   

2. Modern Learning Network: Focused on consulting and school transformation to improve engagement and outcomes through personalized learning grounded in the LEAP learning frameworks.

3. The AI Education Network (New!): Launched this summer to help schools and districts navigate the “paralysis” of AI. They focus on policy, coalition building, data protection, professional learning, instructional integration of AI and human-centered design before a single tool is adopted.

We asked Scott what Chicago edtech founders need to know to succeed in a post-pandemic landscape. Here’s what he had to say:

• Solve, Don’t Add: “Make sure your tool aligns with a school’s existing strategic plan. If you can show a principal how your tool improves their specific goals, things move much faster.”
  

• Human-Centered AI: “Students are clear: they don’t want AI to replace teachers. They want structure and usage expectations, much like we did with the 1:1 rollout years ago.”
  

• Listen to the Kids: Scott’s best R&D advice? Use student panels and other strategies to elevate student voice more than ever. “When the kids talk, the teachers listen. Use empathy interviews to understand who you are ultimately building for.”

For founders, the gateway to this ecosystem is the Ed Innovator Collective. Membership provides:

• Pilot Network: Matching opportunities between EdTech partners and school teams for guided pilots with a focus on scale.

• Vetting & Validation: Being “endorsed by LEAP” as a professional personalized learning partner. Access to LEAP frameworks, evidence and research.

• Implementation Support: LEAP acts as the “intermediary bridge,” providing the coaching and fidelity monitoring that startups often lack the bandwidth to do themselves.

EIC Community SnapshotHere is a snapshot of active members in our community, based on responses to our recent member survey.

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Announcements & Events
(submit for next month here)

Girls Who Code (Feb 23 - in person)
​Join Code Your Dreams, CS4IL, and local community partners for an informal evening of networking, learning, and support for students working on creative coding projects.

CodeYourself Competition for Girls Grades 3-12 (Feb 24 Deadline)
This international coded self-portrait competition for girls in grades 3-12 combines creativity, art and coding to inspire more girls to pursue computer science while also helping change society’s view of what a coder looks like.

From Presence to Prototype: A Design Lab for Educators (Feb. 24 - virtual)
A free virtual workshop to help mindful educators unlock innovative ideas so they can design their next chapter with intention. Presented by two Chicago founders.

Let’s Redesign the Future of Education Together (Feb 24 - in person)
Co-hosted by the Future of Higher Education (FOHE) and the Edtech Institute of Chicago, this convening brings together leaders across K–12, higher education, workforce, and education technology to confront a shared challenge: fragmented services, disconnected platforms, and outcomes that are not improving at the pace students and families need.

Pilot to Paid: How Founders Cross the Revenue Bridge Without Discounting or Over-Customization (March 6 - virtual)
This hands-on working session for founders focuses on the strategic design and scoping of pilots to ensure they move beyond mere “learning” to become clear, scalable pathways for paid customer conversion. Presented by Chicago Startups.

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Milestones & Celebrations
(submit for next month here)

Chicago Founders Secure Camelback Fellowship: Huge shoutout to EIC members Ayesha Kazi (ASL Aspire) and Clement Townsend (Video Pro Learning) for being selected for the Camelback Ventures 2026 Fellowship. They join Cohort 16 as part of a national effort to resource underrepresented founders, receiving $50,000 in capital and customized coaching to accelerate their impact in the K-12 space.

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How to join and participate in EIC

• Know someone who would be interested in our community? Those interested in joining may apply here

• Once members are approved, they will be invited to join our What’s App chat group, where members can interact freely any time!

Got something the community should know? Share a win, an event or an opportunity — we’ll amplify it next month.