Research

At Teach For All, we understand that data, research, and evaluation are critical to making possible our vision for impact in communities around the world.

Validating Our Approach Through Research and Evaluation

Teach For All is a learning organization focused on creating, acquiring, and transferring knowledge around developing leadership for expanding opportunity for children. As such, we need a clear strategy for assessing our immediate, medium and long-term impact and for supporting continuous improvement, while balancing the need for both research and evaluation. Our research aims to provide new knowledge to the network with an emphasis on key areas of our approach and test hypotheses about the drivers of impact in a controlled setting and allows us to publish results.

We pursue research questions that examine our full theory of change, particularly focused on:

Short-term impact: Support the assessment of partners’ impact on students whom we aim to see demonstrate growth in individual leadership through increased proficiency, strengthened dispositions, and growth in individual awareness and agency. Ensure research is culturally and linguistically sensitive to diverse contexts

Medium-term impact: Assess the impact of Teach For All partners on developing a significant number of extraordinary leaders, through assessing the impact of Teach For All partners on participants and alumni, mindsets, values, leadership skills, and career paths

Long-term impact: Explore how communities across the globe are enabling their children to have the education, support, and opportunity to shape a better future for themselves and us all.

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Short-term Impact

Student Outcomes

ENSEÑA CHILE

Estimating the Impact of Placing Top University Graduates in Vulnerable Schools in Chile
A 2010 Inter-American Development Bank study suggests a positive correlation between students being taught by Enseña Chile teachers and those students’ results on Spanish and math tests, as well as students’ non-cognitive abilities, such as self-esteem, self-efficacy, and intellectual and meta-cognitive abilities.
Mariana Alfonso, Ana Santiago, and Mariana Bassi (2010). Inter-American Development Bank

ENSEÑA POR MÉXICO

Impact Evaluation of Enseña por México on Students’ Non-Cognitive Skills
A pioneering impact evaluation of Enseña por México finds participants have a positive impact on the development of students’ socioemotional skills such as self-efficacy, self-management, growth mindset, and social awareness, in addition to creating positive classroom environments for their students. Furthermore, the study shows that students with greater exposure to participants of Enseña por México are more likely to improve in socioemotional skills. Microanalitica, a Mexico City based research firm, used a quasi-experimental evaluation to assess Enseña por México’s participants’ impact on the development of student socioemotional skills over the course of the 2016-17 academic year. The robust sample includes over 25,000 students across four states in Mexico. At the time of publication, the study is the first large-scale impact evaluation of any program on the development of student socioemotional skills in Mexico, and is the first of its kind in the Teach For All network. The findings provide evidence that socioemotional skills are malleable, laying a path of further research to understand how socioemotional learning can be fostered.
Pablo Peña and Armando Chacón (2017). Microanalitica

TEACH FIRST

Department of Quantitative Social Science: Matched panel data estimates of the impact of Teach First on school and departmental performance
In this most recent study, researchers found that General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) students benefited from the presence of a Teach First teacher in their school. The research demonstrated that in years two and three after a Teach First teacher’s introduction into a school there were school-wide gains of approximately 5% of a standard deviation, or a boost of one grade in one of a pupil’s eight best subjects.
Rebecca Allen and Jay Allnutt (2013). Department of Quantitative Social Science, Institute of Education, University of London

TEACH FOR AMERICA

Impacts of Teach For America on Early Grade Student Academic Achievement in Reading
This randomized control trial provides the first rigorous evidence of the impact of Teach For America teachers on early grade student achievement. The study found that, on average, TFA corps members in lower elementary grades (prekindergarten through grade 2) had a positive, statistically significant effect on students’ reading achievement, equivalent to 1.3 additional months of learning, when compared to other teachers in the same schools.
Melissa A. Clark, Eric Isenberg, Albert Y. Liu, Libby Makowsky, and Marykate Zukiewicz (2017). Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.

The Effectiveness of Secondary Math Teachers from Teach For America and the Teaching Fellows Programs
In September, 2013, the U.S. Department of Education released the largest and most rigorous study on Teach For America in nearly a decade which concluded that students randomly assigned to corps members’ middle and high school math classrooms advanced an additional 2.6 months per year compared to those assigned to other classrooms—whether they were taught by novices or veterans, and by traditionally or alternatively prepared teachers.
Melissa A. Clark, Hanley S. Chiang, Tim Silva, Sheena McConnell, Kathy Sonnenfeld, and Anastasia Erbe (2013). Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.

Program Performance & Delivery

TEACH FIRST

Leadership Development Programme Inspection Report
In 2016, the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted), England’s body for school inspections, rated Teach First Leadership Development Programme, outstanding in 41 of 48 categories. The inspectors highlighted the significant impact Teach First are making in collaboration with university partners, schools, headteachers and teachers. Participants were also praised for their readiness and commitment to addressing inequality in education.
Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) (2016)

TEACH FIRST NZ

Final Independent Process and Performance Evaluation of Teach First New Zealand
The final of three annual performance evaluations of Teach First New Zealand concludes that the program continues to be effectively implemented, and has achieved its overall outcomes and objectives to develop effective participants who lead , and contribute, to reducing educational inequality in New Zealand.
Jenny Whatman, Jo MacDonald, and Eliza Stevens (2017). Ministry of Education New Zealand. NZCER.

Teacher Leadership Development

TEACH FOR AUSTRIA, TEACH FOR BULGARIA, IESPEJAMA MISIJA (LATVIA), TEACH FOR ROMANIA, AND EMPIEZA POR EDUCAR (SPAIN)

NEWTT – A New Way For New Talents in Teaching – Evidence of Teach For All Participant Mindsets and Skills to be Effective Teachers
The external and independent impact evaluation of NEWTT is a collection of two-year evaluations of five Teach For All partner organizations in Europe—Empieza por Educar (Basque Country of Spain), Iespejama Misija – Mission Possible (Latvia), Teach For Austria, Teach For Bulgaria, and Teach For Romania—on teacher development. The report demonstrates that, overall, Teach For All network partner participants are as prepared as, if not more prepared than, traditionally trained teachers before entering the classroom. Furthermore, over the course of two years, the project participants developed as much self-efficacy and pedagogical knowledge as teachers trained in traditional training programs.
Prof. Hermann J. Abs, Eva Anderson-Park, and Dr. Stefanie Morgenroth. (2019) “Recruiting and Preparing Alternative Teachers: A European Policy Experiment in Education” Universitat- Duisburg Essen

TEACH FOR BULGARIA

Teach For Bulgaria Final Evaluation Report: 2018-2019
Evidence from the mixed-methods impact evaluation of Teach For Bulgaria suggests that the program effectively develops participants to implement teacher actions and behaviors related to effective teaching. This external study conducted by Research and Evaluation International investigates the unique classroom practices of Teach For Bulgaria and a comparison group of teachers, as well as measure the growth of student socioemotional skills within Teach For Bulgaria and non-Teach For Bulgaria classrooms. Overall, the report demonstrates the effectiveness of the program in developing teacher skills and abilities, complementing the results from the New Ways for New Talent into Teaching (NEWTT) study in 2019, and provides insight into the necessary conditions for student socioemotional skills development.
Kershner, K., Schmidt, E., and Angelova, R. (2019) “Teach For Bulgaria Final Evaluation Report: 2018-2019” Research and Evaluation International

Medium-term Impact

TEACH FIRST

The careers of Teach First Ambassadors who remain in teaching: job choices, promotion and school quality
A 2016 quasi-experimental study of Teach First finds that Teach First teachers are more likely to become educational leaders compared to other teachers from alternative certification programs in the UK. Teach First teachers who remain in the classroom after their second year are twice as likely to continue working in low-income communities compared to alternatively certified teachers.
Rebecca Allen, Meenakshi Parmeshwaran, and Philip Nye (2016)

TEACH FOR AMERICA

The Impact of Voluntary Youth Service on Future Outcomes: Evidence from Teach For America
A 2015 Harvard University study found that Teach For America strengthens participants’ conviction that children from low-income backgrounds can compete academically with children from more affluent backgrounds; intensifies their belief that the achievement gap is solvable; and increases the likelihood that they will pursue a career in the education sector.
Will Dobbie and Roland G. Fryer, Jr. (2015) Harvard University

Impacts on Mindsets/Perceptions of Teach For America Corps Members
A quasi-experimental study of Teach For America finds its program significantly impacts corps members’ perceptions of disadvantaged communities. Compared to similar applicants who did not participate in the program, Teach For Aamerica alumni exhibit less class-based and racial resentment, an increased identification with disadvantaged minorities, and higher agreement on how systemic injustice affects educational and other social outcomes. The study was published in the American Political Science Review and received the Best Paper award from the American Political Science Association in 2018.
Cecilia Mo and Katherine Conn (2018) “When Do the Advantaged See the Disadvantages of Others? A Quasi-Experimental Study of National Service.” American Political Science Review, 1-21. doi:10.1017/S0003055418000412

Impacts on Women’s Political Ambition
Teach For America female alumni are, on average, 10 percentage points more likely to be interested in running for political office and six percentage points more likely to participate in political campaigns. The effects are particularly stronger for women of color who were 22.7 percentage points more likely to pursue a political office. The researchers argue that Teach For America helps to expose women to systemic issues affecting educational equity and helps integrate women in networks that help foster continued civic participation.
Cecilia Hyunjung Mo, Katharine M. Conn & Georgia Anderson-Nilsson (2019) Youth national service and women's political ambition: the case of Teach For America, Politics, Groups, and Identities, 7:4, 864-877, DOI: 10.1080/21565503.2019.1630288

Impacts on Alumni Beliefs and Educational Policy Preferences
Teach For America alumni are significantly more likely to believe that widespread social injustices and disparities are the primary causes of income-based differences in student academic performance. When evaluating educational policies to address these differences, the study found that Teach For America alumni were no more likely, and at times less likely, than non-participants to recommend various ‘politically-charged’ policy levers—including school choice policies, Common Core standards, and teacher merit pay—as effective policy instruments. Instead, Teach For America’s former participants favored more investments in early childhood education and school-based services for low-income children, as well as increased efforts to elevate the status of the teaching profession. Moreover, Teach For America alumni were more likely to believe in the potential of teachers to affect positive change in student outcomes, and expressed more confidence in the notion that income-based educational opportunity gap is a solvable problem.
Conn, Katherine, Virginia Lovison, and Cecilia Mo. 2019. “What is the Effect of Teaching in Underserved Schools on Beliefs About Education Inequality? Evidence from Teach For America”

Long-term Impact

TEACH FIRST

Lessons from London Schools: Investigating the Success
Between 2003 and 2011 London schools moved from being the lowest performing in England, to being the highest performing, and now have the highest percentage of schools rated ‘outstanding.’ A report exploring the improvement journey suggests that Teach First was one of four enablers of London’s success.
Sam Baars, Eleanor Bernardes, Alex Elwick, Abigail Malortie, Tony McAleavy, Laura McInerney, Loic Menzies and Anna Riggall (2015) CfBT Education Trust.

TEACH FOR AMERICA

Teach For America alumni network attributed to systems progress toward improved student outcomes in the District of Columbia
A report detailing how DC Public Schools transformed teaching noted that much of the district’s leadership team came to education through Teach For America: “[Kaya] Henderson [Teach For America alumna] brought in a raft of talent to help lead reform, with many on her new team having started in public education through Teach For America.” The report provides a compelling story for how Teach For America alumni collectively led to policy shifts that helped to shape the structures of the District of Columbia Public School System that led to dramatic increases in student outcomes. This 2020 article by the same author highlights the five major factors that led to this progress, including that “many leaders started in public education in Teach For America, a reflection of that organization’s substantial contribution to school reform beyond the classroom.”
Tomas Toch (2018) “A Policymaker’s Playbook: Transforming Public School Teaching in the Nation’s Capital. FutureED at Georgetown University. (2018) (Updated on July 2020)

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Student Outcomes

ENSEÑA CHILE

ENSEÑA POR MÉXICO

TEACH FIRST

TEACH FOR AMERICA

TEACH FIRST

TEACH FIRST NZ

TEACH FOR AUSTRIA, TEACH FOR BULGARIA, IESPEJAMA MISIJA (LATVIA), TEACH FOR ROMANIA, AND EMPIEZA POR EDUCAR (SPAIN)

TEACH FOR BULGARIA

Medium-term Impact

TEACH FIRST

TEACH FOR AMERICA

Long-term Impact

TEACH FIRST

TEACH FOR AMERICA