New York, NY – Quill.org and Fishtank Learning today announced a multi-year HQIM+AI partnership where both nonprofits will collaboratively develop AI-powered literacy tools designed and embedded in Fishtank’s high-quality instructional materials (HQIM), enabling 6th-8th grade students to strengthen reading, writing, and critical-thinking skills. Innovation funding provided by the Robertson Foundation will enable the partners to work closely together over the next three years, with the resulting AI-powered learning activities provided for free to the millions of educators and students served by Fishtank Learning and Quill.org.  

What “HQIM+AI” means–and why it matters

HQIM+AI combines the best of both worlds: high-quality instructional materials that are knowledge-rich and standards-aligned, plus AI tools that give every student immediate, targeted feedback during daily writing practice. The result is a coherent classroom experience where teachers teach the curriculum they trust, and students get the frequent, individualized coaching they need, without adding hours of grading to a teacher’s day. For school districts, AI+HQIM delivers measurable, equitable gains by embedding AI where it creates the most value: inside proven curricula.

The nonprofits have committed to developing new writing-focused learning activities that are intentionally embedded into Fishtank’s instructional units so that students are provided with more opportunities to write and receive feedback. Quill.org and Fishtank are building AI that carefully assess both knowledge development and skill development in each student's writing. 

“Teachers have the right materials but rarely the time to give feedback on hundreds of student responses each week,” said Peter Gault, Founder & Executive Director, Quill.org. “By building AI-powered writing and feedback directly into Fishtank’s ELA units, we’re turning daily writing into a powerful engine for literacy growth.”

"With Robertson's support, Fishtank Learning is aligning writing instruction with the latest research and further enhancing our core ELA materials that have been recognized by EdReports and The Reading League for alignment to standards and the Science of Reading. By combining the strong daily writing instruction in our updated lessons and units with more frequent opportunities for practice and feedback, we are building a program that can achieve real gains in student writing," said Claire Kaplan, CEO, Fishtank Learning.  

Richard Barth, President of the Robertson Foundation, shared in their fundraising announcement: “While our current literacy rates are sobering, the opportunity to improve them is extraordinary. Thanks to the work and investments of so many, we are far better positioned to help kids learn to read now than just 10 years ago: we have access to dramatically improved curricula, a rich community of exceptional organizations working with leaders and teachers to ensure excellence in practice, evidence of how to drive progress at scale.”

What the partnership delivers

• Curriculum-centered AI writing activities are built into Fishtank’s ELA novel units, so students learn to marshal evidence from complex texts and strengthen sentence-to-essay writing skills.
• Weekly, high-yield practice that fits any classroom routine in 15 minutes, giving students immediate feedback while teachers stay focused on instruction.
• Teacher-in-the-loop quality: The curriculum development teams will review tens of thousands of authentic student responses to develop a “knowledge bank” of exemplar responses for the AI, ensuring the AI aligns with instructional intent and equity goals.
• Centers equity by prioritizing Title-1 schools and designing learning activities based on these classroom needs.

How Fishtank and Quill.org will collaborate

• Co-development with schools to design, test, and iterate AI-powered student writing activities embedded in novel units (e.g., Animal Farm, The House on Mango Street, Night).
• Full middle-school coverage across grades 6-8 with a growing library of prompts and activities designed for easy classroom adoption.
• District and charter pilots followed by multi-site implementation and a third-year impact study.

Quill.org and Fishtank Learning are inviting partners to help accelerate AI+HQIM development, school-based pilots, and impact research–starting with NYC-area districts and charters and expanding nationally. Partners can support product development, educator professional learning, implementation coaching, and the independent evaluation that will guide the field.