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Pencil Spaces gives organizations that teach at scale two teams. That includes tutoring programs, school districts, online schools and training teams. Forward-deployed engineers learn how your organization teaches and build what it needs into the product. Our professional services team sets it up and trains your staff.
Most large programs use both. The engineers and the services team work from the same plan and launch date.
Builds it
Forward-Deployed Engineering
Engineers who learn your program and build what it needs.
A named engineering team works on your program. They sit in on your planning calls and real lessons, then build what your teachers and admins need into Pencil Spaces itself.
A named engineering lead and team for your program
In your planning calls and a shared Slack channel
A design document with mockups before any code
Scope and date agreed up front, with tests the build must pass
Working demos as we build, then a pilot with your teachers
Each of these started as one program’s request. Many are now part of Pencil Spaces for everyone.
How an engagement runs
1
See how your program runs
Our engineers and services team talk with your staff and sit in on real lessons. They map every role in the program, including the people who sign off on attendance.
2
Write it down before we build
You get a design document with mockups. It spells out how each part works for each role, including the edge cases, with your team’s questions answered in the document.
3
Agree on scope and date
A statement of work sets what we’ll deliver and when it’s live. It also lists the tests the build has to pass before you accept it.
4
Build, set up and train
Engineers share working demos as they build. Meanwhile our services team sets up your sites and lessons and trains your staff. A small group of your teachers tries it first.
5
Roll out and keep building
We roll out across your program, then review the results with you and plan the next phase.
Built into the product
Your build stays current
We build your features into Pencil Spaces itself, so they update along with everything else. There is no separate version to patch or upgrade, and every improvement we make to the platform reaches your program too.
Child Mode began as a build for one literacy program. Today any organization on Pencil Spaces can turn it on.
Partners for the long run
Working together over the years
Most of our partners started with one problem and kept building with us. A first build might get every learner into the right Space on time. A year later it’s scheduling a full term in one step, then coaching every teacher against the organization’s own standards.
We meet with your team regularly to review what’s working and agree on what to build next.
Results
Results at ALP Charlotte
The Augustine Literacy Project in Charlotte runs its volunteer literacy tutoring on Pencil Spaces. In an independent UNC Charlotte evaluation (Dec 2025), first graders’ gain in at-or-above grade level on DIBELS was 46.1 points vs 23.7 for matched peers.
“These results would not have been possible without our partnership with Pencil Spaces.”
Gain in first graders at or above grade level on DIBELS
Percentage points, one school year
ALP Charlotte on Pencil Spaces46.1
Matched peers23.7
Source: independent evaluation by UNC Charlotte, December 2025
Questions people ask
What is forward-deployed engineering?
It means engineers who work on your program rather than behind a support desk. A named Pencil Spaces engineering team learns how your program runs and joins your planning calls. They build what you need into Pencil Spaces, with a design document, an agreed date and tests the build must pass.
How is it different from professional services?
Forward-deployed engineering builds what Pencil Spaces doesn’t do yet. Professional services gets everything working for your people: setup, sign-in, migration, lesson content, training, reporting and compliance reviews. Most large programs use both, and the two teams work from one plan.
What counts as a custom build?
Anything your program needs that Pencil Spaces doesn’t do today: a new setting, a connection to your systems, a report, a workflow for your admins or a new tool in the classroom. If a setting or our API already covers it, we’ll tell you, and there’s nothing to build.
How long does a custom build take?
It depends on the scope. A new setting can be live in about five weeks, and a larger piece of work, like scheduling a full term with its own API, runs over a few months. Your statement of work sets the date, and you see working demos along the way.
How is a custom build priced?
Every build is scoped and priced up front in its own statement of work, with a fixed delivery date. Because what we build becomes part of Pencil Spaces, you never pay to maintain it, and it keeps improving after launch.
Will other organizations get the features we ask for?
Often, yes, and it works in your favor. You get the build first, shaped around your program, and it keeps improving as more teachers use it and tell us what they need. Your content, your data and your brand stay yours and are never shared.
Tell us what your program needs
Tell us the problem and when it needs to be live. We’ll reply with what Pencil Spaces already does and what we would build.
