Wendy Kopp founded Teach For America (TFA) — which was the inspiration for Teach For India and other similar organisations across the world — in 1989, and served as its CEO until 2013. In 2007, she founded Teach For All, which is a network of non-profit organisations that follow the Teach For America model. Ms. Kopp was in India this month to visit Teach For India facilities. Excerpts from an interview:
How did you universalise the TFA concept? Did you face institutional issues while replicating the model?
The Teach For All network has grown because local social entrepreneurs took the initiative to adapt the mission and principles to their countries. They took on the challenges of building public and private sector support, and the organisational capacity to thrive. This approach can challenge traditional regulatory paradigms around teacher licensure, and philanthropic sectors aren’t fully developed in every country. We have seen that this approach magnetises allies in the government, private sector, civil society, schools and among the rising generation, and those allies have enabled local leaders overcome the challenges.
Which are the countries where TFA has made substantial impact and where can it go from here?
Teach For All now has 41 partner organisations on six continents, and we’re seeing the same broad effects across diverse contexts. To name just a few examples: our partner in Peru now has almost 90 teachers in seven regions, and more than a quarter of Ensena Peru’s 200 alumni have gone on to serve in the ministry of education, including in positions leading special education and secondary education policy; in Bulgaria, alumni of Teach For Bulgaria are founding organisations to support teacher training, re-envision schools, and help support economic development in rural communities by providing educational opportunities that are aligned to the needs of the emerging tech sector; and in some of the fastest-improving cities in the U.S., like Washington D.C., New Orleans, and Oakland and California, Teach For America alumni have been integral to the pace of progress, serving as teachers, principals, school system leaders, social entrepreneurs, and in other leadership roles inside and outside the education sector.
How would you assess the work done by Teach For India over the past six years?
I’ve been amazed by the progress. The core purpose is to develop collective leadership to ensure all children fulfil their potential. They have shown that India’s children — even those in under-privileged communities — can be extraordinary leaders when provided the educational opportunities they deserve. They have recruited, selected, and developed the leadership of thousands of Fellows and alumni who, during their two-year commitments to teach, and then afterwards, as they assume roles in education, policy, and across sectors, are doing incredible things to expand opportunity for children. They are galvanising broader engagement and energy and leadership from other stakeholders in the schools and communities in which they’re working. There is so much to be done and they are very focused on a plan to continue to grow the leadership of their students, Fellows, and alumni.
How much impact can a good teacher make over a two-year period? How is this impact measured across TFA programmes?
The most successful of our teachers are putting their students on a path towards opportunities and outcomes in the course of their two years. Our shared goal is to grow our students as leaders who can shape a better future for themselves and all of us. In this pursuit, our teachers are working to improve students’ skills and academic outcomes, developing dispositions that are crucial to success, like the ability to pursue goals, an awareness of the world, and a sense of agency to improve their own lives and our collective welfare. It’s tough to measure success across diverse contexts, and we need to rely on independent evaluations in each country. One helpful tool is a student survey, which the Gates Foundation found to be most predictive of a teachers’ impact on both academic outcomes and socio-emotional development. Our network partners use these surveys, and we use them as a tool to enable our partners to learn from each other to grow their holistic impact in children.
Teacher training in India is often divorced from practical classroom experience. Can Teach For India play a role in changing this system by pointing to strong case studies?
I was so excited to see, when I was in Pune, that Teach For India alumni were leading the way in reinventing teacher education. They founded and lead a programme called LIFT, which is investing in the development of government teachers, and iTeach, which is recruiting fresh B.Ed grads from Pune universities and investing in their pre-service and ongoing development as teachers. The online teacher development tool called Firki that Teach For India incubated is also making a difference. There is so much need and opportunity here and we’re seeing that the alumni can make a huge difference in ensuring all children have the opportunity to fulfil their potential.
What are the ways in which teaching can be made a more attractive profession in India and other lower-income countries?
We need to strengthen our schools so that teachers can more easily collaborate, learn, and grow in pursuit of providing a higher quality education. We need to recruit, select, train, develop, and compensate teachers more effectively. Based on the experience of Teach For America, where alumni of the programme are forces for positive change. I think you’ll see Teach For India alumni making a huge difference in elevating the teaching profession in India. I also think Teach For India will make a difference by showing that the most promising recent graduates and young professionals are competing to channel their energy towards teaching, and that they’re finding it to be both incredibly challenging and fulfilling.
Applications for the Teach For India’s 2017-2019 Fellowships are open till February 7: apply.teachforindia.org
