MATIQ Labs

Rooted in People, Built for the Future

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A teacher leading a classroom discussion with four students, three wearing blue uniforms and one in a gray hoodie, seated around a table in a colorful classroom with international flags and learning posters.
A classroom filled with adult students seated at tables, some engaging in conversation, others looking at papers or devices. A man in a white shirt is standing and leaning over to speak with seated students. The classroom has a bulletin board on the
A classroom scene with a male teacher wearing a blue cap and patterned shirt, sitting at a round table with three young girls with braided hair, one in a pink shirt, one in black, and one in pink, engaging in a lesson or activity. There are education
A group of diverse people attending a discussion in a conference room with a woman speaking at the front.

  • The Mission:

    Matiq Labs builds the capacity of educators to investigate and change the conditions inside their own schools. We run year-long Learning & Design Labs rooted in Participatory Action Research — structured spaces where teachers examine real data, name what's actually happening, and design responses from the inside out.

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  • The Vision:

    A public education system where the people closest to the problem have the power and the tools to solve it. Where educators don't wait for permission to act, and schools are built by the communities they're supposed to serve.

    Golden Gate Bridge spanning blue water with green hills in the background under a clear sky.

Matiq Labs runs Learning & Design Labs — year-long, school-embedded spaces where educators investigate what's broken, design what should exist, and build the collective power to make it real.

What People Are Saying

"Seeing the data through a liberatory lens changes how I think about what's possible."

— Administrator

"We are disconnected, and that makes planning hard. But the Lab helps us talk across roles."

— Session 3 Participant

"I don't have to wait for permission to start small changes that center students."

— Teacher, Session 1

"I forgot what it feels like to be asked how I'm doing and actually mean it."

— Middle School Educator

How We Work

Every Matiq Labs engagement starts with the people doing the work. We embed directly inside schools and districts — sitting alongside teachers, counselors, administrators, and students — to understand what’s actually happening before we touch anything.

From there, we co-design alongside those same people. Not delivering professional development. Not handing down a framework from outside. Running structured, relational spaces where educators lead — and systems begin to shift.

A typical engagement includes:

  • A listening and discovery phase: site visits, administrator interviews, and educator surveys to understand the current system from the inside

  • Facilitated Lab convenings: structured, cross-role collaborative sessions where educators design, reflect, and build collective agency

  • Iterative design practice: educators learn to redesign the conditions closest to them — policies, relationships, culture, and norms

  • Data cycles: regular survey and qualitative data reviewed together, so participants see and shape their own progress

  • Documentation: findings codified into frameworks and artifacts that live beyond the engagement

Work With Us
See how we work

Who we work with

Matiq Labs works directly with the people and organizations doing the hard work of reimagining education from within. Our current and past partners include:

  • K–12 public school districts seeking to redesign professional learning and educator support

  • Charter management organizations building new models for teacher leadership and school culture

  • Institutions of higher education (IHEs) preparing the next generation of educators

  • Pre-service and in-service teacher preparation programs

  • Community organizations partnering with schools on student and family engagement

If you’re working to build more people-centered systems — and you want a partner who will work alongside you, not above you — we’d like to talk.