Teaching for Change
Building social justice, starting in the classroom.
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Teaching for Change operates from the belief that schools can provide students the skills, knowledge and inspiration to be citizens and architects of a better world — or they can fortify the status quo.
By drawing direct connections to real world issues, Teaching for Change encourages teachers and students to question and re-think the world inside and outside their classrooms, build a more equitable, multicultural society, and become active global citizens.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Professional Development
Through our professional development program, we provide workshops and courses on Teaching for Change publications, including, "Putting the Movement Back into Civil Rights Teaching."
We also partner with Rethinking Schools to implement the Zinn Education Project, a collaborative effort that offers resources and support for teaching people's history in K-12.
Social Justice Books
Teaching for Change developed SocialJusticeBooks.org in 2017 to identify and promote the best multicultural and social justice children’s books, as well as articles and books for educators. SocialJusticeBooks.org offers more than 50 lists of recommended books for children, young adults, and educators on a variety of themes.
SocialJusticeBooks.org also hosts a database of children’s book reviews for the See What We See coalition of writers, scholars, educators, librarians, and activists who believe that books reflect what is valued in society and can therefore shape people’s attitudes and actions towards one another.
D.C. Area Educators for Social Justice
D.C. Area Educators for Social Justice is a network of educators who seek to strengthen and deepen social justice teaching. We are community of mutual support for educators to collaborate on curriculum, professional learning, and activism. We challenge systems of oppression through anti-bias, anti-racist, and multicultural education. We work with students, families, and other educators in and outside of our classrooms to create a more just and equitable world.
Zinn Education Project
Teaching for Change partners with Rethinking Schools to implement the Zinn Education Project, http://zinnedproject.org, a collaborative effort that offers resources and support for teaching people's history in K-12.
Teaching Central America
More than four million Central Americans reside in the United States today, yet the lack of resources on Central American heritage in most schools make the rich history and literature of the region invisible. Teaching for Change has launched a campaign to help fill that gap with resources for teaching about Central America.
Our goal is to encourage and support teaching about Central America in K-12 schools so that students can learn about this region, which has many ties to the United States through foreign policy, immigration, commerce, and culture.
Civil Rights Teaching
The Civil Rights Movement is celebrated in our national narrative as a people’s struggle for social justice. However, the powerful stories of everyday people organizing and working together for social change are lost in the teaching of a few major heroes and dates. The effect is disempowering for our current and future generations that hope to make the world a better place.
Putting the Movement Back into Civil Rights Teaching and the companion website civilrightsteaching.org offer teaching resources that emphasize the power of people through a diversity of stories, perspectives, essays, photographs, graphics, interviews, and interactive and interdisciplinary lessons.
Teach the Beat: Go-Go
Teaching for Change is honored to work with D.C. area schools and the authors of The Beat! Go-Go Music from Washington, D.C. to develop lessons and share teaching ideas for infusing the history and music of go-go in middle and high school social studies, language arts, math, music, and/or D.C. history classes, and to bring renowned go-go performers into D.C. classrooms.
Where we work
Awards
One of the Best Charities in Greater Washington 2021
Catalgoue for Philanthropy
# 25947 2019
Combined Federal Campaign
External reviews
Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of members from priority population attending training
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Related Program
Professional Development
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
This includes workshops and teacher institutes hosted by Teaching for Change and the Zinn Education Project.
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Teaching for Change helps young people uncover the truth about history and their vital role as informed and active citizens.
We provide teachers and parents with tools to help students question and re-think the world inside and outside their classrooms, become active participants in building a more equitable, multicultural society, and become active global citizens.
Educators turn to Teaching for Change for our carefully curated reading lists, trainings, gatherings, and lessons.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Teaching for Change provides:
• Free, downloadable classroom lessons on a wide range of topics including U.S. history, Central America, the Civil Rights Movement, and much more
• Carefully curated lists of recommended teaching resources, including multicultural and social justice booklists and resources for preschool-high school age students
• Workshops and trainings for educators
• Training and support to educators to build strong schools with grassroots multiracial parent power
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Teaching for Change has twelve experienced staff members, an active board that meets regularly, and a more than 30 year history.
In 2020, Teaching for Change engaged more than 4,000 teachers in over 60 events, both in person and online. More than 139,000 people have signed up to receive resources through our email lists. On Facebook, more than 282,000 follow our Zinn Education Project and more than 48,000 follow Teaching for Change. In 2020 we reached the milestone of 125,000 teachers who have signed up to access people's history lessons from the Zinn Education Project website. In the D.C. area, our network of educators has grown to more than 6,000. Each year we develop and post new lessons for teachers to download.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Each year Teaching for Change reaches more teachers with the tools to help students learn to read, write, and change the world. We offer resources for the classroom that address respectful school environments, times in history when advances by people of color have faced a brutal roll back, and times when people have made progress against all odds.
Despite this, we have a long way to go. Textbook versions of U.S. history continue to omit the powerful stories of everyday people organizing and working together for social change, which get lost in the teaching of a few major heroes and dates.
Financials
Unlock nonprofit financial insights that will help you make more informed decisions. Try our monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights?
Learn more
about GuideStar Pro.
Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Teaching for Change
Board of directorsas of 06/07/2023
Nzinga Tull
Jackson and Tull
Term: 2020 -
Darryl McDuffie
Thomas W. Pyle Middle School
Timothy Jenkins
Unlimited Visions, Inc
Gita Rao
Independent Consultant, Investment Management
Sylvia Sanchez
Sheldon Scott
Eaton Workshop
Lauren Khouri
Correia & Puth, PLLC
Fouzia Bencheikh
Malala Fund
Nancy Raquel Mirabal
University of Maryland, College Park
Satara Charlson
Brandman University
Tiffany Mitchell Patterson
D.C. Public School
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
-
Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? No -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? No
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
The organization's co-leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
Equity strategies
Last updated: 04/14/2021GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
- We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We measure and then disaggregate job satisfaction and retention data by race, function, level, and/or team.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.