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Research · Education

Research support for education professionals who don't have time to do it all

By Zack Pennington, CEO Updated

Whether you're a school administrator hunting for grant opportunities, an edtech founder benchmarking competitors, or a curriculum director tracking state standards updates, the research load never stops. Nacho's US-based fractional EAs and specialists handle the digging so you can focus on decisions, not data collection. They work inside the tools and databases your team already uses, no ramp-up guesswork.

Tools we work with: LinkedIn Sales Navigator Apollo.io SEMrush SimilarWeb

Can a Virtual Assistant handle research for education companies?

Yes. Nacho matches education companies with a vetted, 100% US-based Specialist who owns research week after week, not a one-off task. You start with a $300 Delegation Strategy Plan, set a monthly Talent Budget from $1,000, and we match you in about a week.

See how the match works What a Talent Budget costs Book a discovery call

How it works

How your Specialist owns research for education companies

When you bring on a Nacho EA for research support in education, they start by working through a Delegation Strategy Plan with your Client Success Manager, so the first task isn't figuring out what to hand off, it's actually doing it. Day-to-day, your EA might be scanning Grants.gov and foundation databases for funding aligned to your program focus, compiling competitor analyses of other edtech platforms using tools like Crunchbase or SimilarWeb, or pulling together literature reviews from ERIC and Google Scholar for a curriculum proposal. They document findings in whatever format works for your team: a shared Google Doc, a Notion database, an Airtable tracker, and flag anything that needs your direct judgment rather than burying you in raw data. Your role is to set the research question and review the output; their role is everything in between.

Off your plate

What your Specialist takes off your plate

Before your first research task, write down the actual question you're trying to answer, not just the topic, but the decision it's meant to inform. The most common mistake is handing off 'research on SEL programs' when what you actually need is 'three evidence-based SEL curricula that are approved for Title IV funding and designed for middle school.' The more specific the research question, the faster your EA can return something you can actually use.

  1. Grant Opportunity Prospecting

    EA searches Grants.gov, foundation directories, and state education agency portals to identify funding opportunities that match your program eligibility criteria and deadlines.

  2. Curriculum and Standards Benchmarking

    EA reviews competing curricula, Common Core or state-specific standards documents, and published scope-and-sequence frameworks to inform your program development decisions.

  3. Vendor and EdTech Platform Comparison

    EA builds side-by-side comparison matrices of LMS platforms, assessment tools, or instructional software using G2, Capterra, and direct vendor documentation.

  4. Academic and Policy Literature Review

    EA pulls and summarizes peer-reviewed sources from ERIC, JSTOR, or Google Scholar to support grant narratives, board presentations, or program evaluation reports.

  5. Accreditation and Compliance Research

    EA tracks requirements from regional accreditors (e.g., AdvancED, WASC) or state licensing boards and compiles checklists relevant to your institution type and renewal timeline.

Your stack

Tools our team works with

We adapt to your existing stack, no forced migrations.

Apollo.io
Gemini
Statista
G2
Claude
ChatGPT

...and many more!

Client proof

Trusted by education companies

Nacho supports education companies including Devorah Heitner, PhD, Educational Testing Services (ETS), Proximity Learning, and 1 others, handling everything from research to broader operational support.

The model

What delegating to Nacho actually looks like

This is ongoing delegation to one vetted, US-based person, not a task posted to a marketplace.

  1. Start with a Delegation Strategy Plan

    A one-time $300 onboarding fee pairs you with a Client Success Manager who maps what to hand off first. See the full process.

  2. Get matched in about a week

    We match you with a vetted, 100% US-based Specialist in your time zone. If the fit is not right, the Nacho Guarantee re-matches you free.

  3. Set a monthly Talent Budget

    Budgets start at $1,000 a month and draw across Executive Assistants from $40/hr, Specialists from $65/hr, and Fractional Executives from $125/hr. Up to $200 of unused budget rolls over each month. See pricing in detail.

  4. Three months, then month to month

    The initial term is three months so the working relationship has time to compound, then it rolls month to month. Book a discovery call to size yours.

Talent Budget

What delegating research costs for education companies

Drag the sliders to build a monthly plan that fits your workload.

Executive Assistants
from $40/hour
10 hours $400
Specialists
from $65/hour
20 hours $1,300
Fractional Executives
from $125/hour
0 hours $0
Your monthly budget
$1,700

Starting at $1,000/month. One-time $300 onboarding fee includes your Delegation Strategy Plan.

Good questions

Frequently asked questions

Can an EA access the academic databases my institution subscribes to?
Yes, if you share credentials or grant guest access, your EA can work directly inside databases like JSTOR, ERIC, or ProQuest. For sources behind hard paywalls without institutional access, they'll flag those gaps and identify open-access alternatives where available.
How does Nacho handle research that involves sensitive student or program data?
Nacho EAs are US-based professionals who sign confidentiality agreements as part of the engagement. If your research involves internal data: enrollment figures, program outcomes, budget details, your Client Success Manager can walk you through appropriate access boundaries during onboarding.
Is 36 time entries enough to know this actually works for education research?
It's a real number and we're not going to oversell it, 36 entries across all industries means this is a service category with genuine traction, not a specialty we've built a deep bench around. What we can say is that the underlying skills (database research, synthesis, documentation) are core to what Nacho EAs do across many verticals, and your Client Success Manager will match you with someone whose background fits the education context.

Ready when you are

Let's build your research delegation plan

Start with a $1,000/month talent budget and a one-time $300 onboarding fee, your Client Success Manager will map out exactly which research tasks to hand off first. Up to $200 of unused budget rolls over each month, so your team stays focused on work that actually moves the needle.

Not sure yet? See how it works, compare the Executive Assistant, Specialist, and Fractional Executive roles, or read why we stayed 100% US-based.