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2025: Turning Data into Decisions
We turned evidence and AI into decision-support tools within public systems—reducing information barriers and helping students and families make better decisions and access real opportunities.
Melo Creo
Education Impact: Strengthening Pathways to Higher Education
Colombia
Projects / Education Impact: Strengthening Pathways to Higher Education
Melo Creo
Colombia
MELO CREO is a AI-digital learning and guidance program designed to support high school students in making informed postsecondary decisions.
The program combines diagnostic tools and educational content to both guide students and track changes in knowledge, perceptions, and confidence throughout the learning journey.
After completing MELO CREO’s personalized digital learning journey, students reported a higher perceived likelihood of accessing higher education, alongside a marked reduction in financial uncertainty. Through an interactive digital platform combining diagnostic surveys, personalized learning modules, and tailored information on educational pathways and financial aid, MELO CREO reduced by 48.7% the share of students who reported not knowing how to finance their postsecondary education.
Projects / Education Impact: Strengthening Pathways to Higher Education
Melo Creo
Colombia
I have some ideas, but I’m not sure yet
I am looking for information and options to be able to pay for them
I already know how I could pay for them
I don’t know how I could pay for them
I think there is no option for me
Baseline
Endline
Projects / Education Impact: Strengthening Pathways to Higher Education
Melo Creo
Colombia
After completing MELO CREO, students reported a higher perceived likelihood of accessing higher education:
Before
After
Projects / Education Impact: Strengthening Pathways to Higher Education
Melo Creo
Colombia
After completing MELO CREO, students reported higher confidence in their ability to access scholarships:
Understanding of Sapiencia—Medellín’s public postsecondary education agency that provides scholarships, forgivable loans, and workforce-aligned training—increased substantially after MELO CREO.
Before
After
Projects / Education Impact: Strengthening Pathways to Higher Education
Melo Creo
Colombia
“MELO CREO helped me clarify what I want to do after high school and understand that there are many more opportunities than I thought (...) I learned that anyone can apply for scholarships and that there are many ways to continue studying after high school.”
— Participating student
Projects / Education Impact: Strengthening Pathways to Higher Education
Melo Creo
Colombia

“There are two ways of making public policy: repeating what has always been done, or making difficult decisions grounded in technical and scientific rigor. MELO CREO represents this second path, using technology as a scalable tool for transformation.”

“Technology has become a key tool for democratizing access to information and knowledge.”

Secretary of Youth
Ricardo Jaramillo
Principal
Gloria Cañas 
IE Pedro Claver Aguirre
Innovation Project
AI-Powered Admissions: Personalized Guidance for High-Stakes Decisions
Chile
Innovation Project / AI-Powered Admissions: Personalized Guidance for High-Stakes Decisions
Chile
Public school admission systems are complex and highly consequential for families. Applicants must navigate probabilistic outcomes, multiple options, and administrative rules—often with limited access to clear, personalized guidance.
To address this, we developed a personalized, AI-powered admissions assistant that combines:
Probability models
Real-time administrative data
School-level information
⟶ to help families make informed application decisions within complex public education systems.
Innovation Project / AI-Powered Admissions: Personalized Guidance for High-Stakes Decisions
Chile

“This project allows us to establish a baseline and understand how artificial intelligence is currently being used across our school communities.”

Executive Director, SLEP Del Pino
Pablo Araya

Nearly 10,000 real interactions
Innovation focused on deploying AI-powered tools that support access, decision-making, and follow-up across the education journey, highlighting strong demand for technology-enabled decision support.

The project also included hands-on AI workshops, where students learned how AI systems work and directly contributed to training their school’s AI assistant.
SAE Tutorials
Supporting Students at a Critical School Choice Moment
Chile
SAE Tutorials is an orientation and guidance program designed to support lower secondary students as they navigate the transition to upper secondary education through the national school assignment system (SAE).
Through structured orientation and guidance within Chile’s national school assignment system (SAE), SAE Tutorials supported lower secondary students as they prepared for the transition to upper secondary education.
While most students kept their original school preferences, participation was associated with higher academic effort and motivation: 70%+ reported they would try harder academically after completing the program.

Expected GPA increased from ~5.9 to ~6.1–6.2

“The platform helped me discover schools and options I didn’t know about before.”

— Participating student

“The platform helped me plan my path to higher education and clarify what I want to study.”

— Participating student
Research
Generative Artificial Intelligence In Educational Institutions: Institutional Preparedness And Digital Competencies In ICILS 2023
15 Countries
Generative Artificial Intelligence In Educational Institutions
15 Countries
GenAI readiness analyzed using responses from 20,000+ school principalsUsing ICILS 2023 data from 15 countries, this study examines how prepared schools are to adopt generative AI. ICILS assesses students’ digital competencies and collects detailed information on school-level ICT policies and practices through questionnaires administered to school principals.
The findings highlight a key risk: while AI can boost productivity, schools that are less institutionally prepared are significantly less able to benefit, potentially widening existing educational gaps.The results reinforce the importance of institutional readiness and guided AI literacy, especially in schools serving more vulnerable communities.
Co-authored by our founder, Christopher Neilson, and ConsiliumBots researcher Ignacio Lepe.

“Schools serving more vulnerable students are systematically less prepared to adopt AI, which could exacerbate educational inequalities if the technology improves productivity”

— Christopher Neilson
Yale University
Recognizing Academic Achievement
We congratulate Ignacio Lepe on completing a Master’s degree in Economics at the University of Chile with highest distinction, earning the maximum grade in his thesis defense. His thesis, Designing Smart School Choice Recommendations: Heuristics for Sure Alternatives, was later published as a Consilium Working Paper. This year, Ignacio also began a predoctoral program at YaleWe also congratulate Martín Sielfeld, who began a PhD in Economics at the University of Pennsylvania in August 2025.
Partners
AI & Technology

Gained access to advanced AI capabilities and technical support to integrate generative AI into decision-support tools, improving personalization and scalability.
Local Governments

Established new partnerships with local governments in cities such as Medellín to support the deployment of AI-enabled educational tools at the local level.
Public Education Systems

Collaborated with public education authorities to implement digital platforms that reduce access barriers and support evidence-informed education policy.
The coming year will be key to scaling our work. We aim to expand our solutions to new contexts and continue developing tools that are more personalized, inclusive, and responsive to real needs. Together with our partners, we will keep reducing information barriers that limit access to opportunities, using evidence and technology to support better decisions.