Our Program

Before entering the classroom, Teacher-Leaders complete a rigorous foundational training phase designed to build strong habits, shared language, and professional readiness. This includes:

• Instructional practice: lesson planning, pacing, assessment, differentiation, and the fundamentals of what drives student learning.
• Classroom leadership: building culture, setting high expectations, managing behavior with dignity, and creating safe, structured learning environments.
• Child development: understanding how children learn, how trauma and stress affect learning, and how to support students academically and emotionally.
• Educational equity: recognizing systemic barriers in Armenia's education system and learning how to respond without lowering standards.
• Ethical leadership: responsibility, professionalism, and the moral clarity required when you hold influence over children's futures.

This phase is about more than preparation—it's about alignment. Teacher-Leaders enter schools with a shared commitment to excellence, discipline, and service.

The program officially begins with a high-intensity, high-expectation summer academy—a training experience that functions like leadership formation, not orientation. Teacher-Leaders engage in:

• Global best practices, adapted—not imported—drawing on what works across strong education systems while respecting Armenian context.
• Armenian public-school realities, including multi-grade classrooms, resource limitations, and the complexity of leading change inside institutions.
• Practice teaching, with real students, real classrooms, and real feedback—because confidence must be built through performance, not theory.
• Leadership formation, focused on communication, decision-making under pressure, relationship-building, and the habits of effective, values-driven leadership.

By the end, Teacher-Leaders don't just "feel ready." They've been tested, coached, and shaped into professionals prepared to deliver.

Training matters—but service is where leaders are forged. For two full years, Teacher-Leaders:

• Teach full-time in high-need public schools, carrying full responsibility for student learning and growth.
• Often serve in rural or border communities, where educational inequity is most visible and the stakes are highest.
• Work with limited resources and high responsibility, learning to execute, adapt, and lead without waiting for perfect conditions.
• Set a different standard for what public education can be, through strong instruction, high expectations, and consistent follow-through.

This is where leadership stops being theoretical—because in a real classroom, every day brings decisions that matter.

We believe in high standards—and we believe in building people up to meet them. Each Teacher-Leader receives:

• A dedicated Leadership Development Manager (LDM) who serves as a coach and accountability partner
• Regular classroom observations, both in-person and virtual
• Continuous feedback and practical support, rooted in evidence and real student outcomes
• Leadership coaching beyond teaching, including stakeholder management, resilience, professional judgment, and school-community leadership

Excellence is not left to chance. Excellence is coached. Growth is expected.