Teach X

Teach X crowdsources training and support  for underserved teachers from a community of professionals through Near-Peer Teaching Networks

According to the 2016 ACT Annual Score Report, only 10% of African American students were considered college and career ready. Economic isolation and concentrated poverty has left many students of color in underperforming, racially segregated schools, unprepared for college and career opportunities. Unfortunately, schools in high poverty and high minority communities are less likely to have the resources and access to professional relationships to prepare these students for future in-demand professions, which ultimately leaves them stuck in poverty and struggling in the job market. Consequently, labor market predictions suggests by 2020 in Georgia alone, over 500,000 highly skilled and technical jobs will go unfilled due to this gap in education and future workforce development  

Consequently, teachers struggle with understanding the real-world implications of student learning within relevant context such as how do “Invisible numbers” show up in engineering or data modeling in English without guidance from experts. However, expert human capital is usually not a community staple in low-income areas and seldom neither teachers or experts know how to connect with each other when they are needed. Additionally, the process to connect takes a very long time through strings of social media posts or Google searches and takes even longer to schedule via email with “schedule gatekeepers.” Currently, no singular tool is designed just for teachers to efficiently identify, screen, schedule and communicate with in-person support from volunteers or industry professionals in one seamless platform.  

This is why we have created Teach X. The issue Teach X solves is two-fold for high minority and low-income schools and encompasses both  (1) limited teacher access to timely support and expertise AND (2) limited student access to relevant learning experiences that have meaning and context beyond the classroom.  Research suggests students must practice and learn the outcomes that are expected of them under realistic conditions to prepare them for the real-world. Through strategic partnerships, we connect in-demand professionals  to schools to offer students live and virtual practice with in-demand skills in real-world activities. Schools such as Iowa Big and Junior Achievement’s Academy have built this praxis through a unique “Near-Peer Teaching” model that leverages community stakeholders to curate real-world learning experiences. Similarly, we believe teachers, especially in disadvantaged communities, need a community of support to design learning opportunities that stretch beyond classrooms. In short, preparing students for the real-world, requires the real-world and that is why we have created this community through Teach X. With more streamlined access into our high schools, we believe that our community can be activated faster to support the “human” needs of our teachers and in turn our teachers in underserved high schools can be better equipped to prepare all students for success.

Teach X leverages existing marketplace app’s tools and technology, to enable educators to connect in real-time with a community of professionals and volunteers through our seamless platform. Our solution is unique because teachers can quickly crowdsource support  from a community of industry experts for professional development and curate unique learning experiences for students with the click of a button.  We infuse our dynamic technology with community to support teachers in creating these learning experiences with professionals from around the world.

Teach X combines on-demand scheduling options and real-time communication tools in order to provide easier access for teachers and “Helpers” ( community of professionals) to quickly coordinate the logistics for them to work together. Fixing this logistics issue is integral to building an ecosystem of support for our teachers and schools. With Teach X,  teachers can find, screen, communicate and schedule live and virtual support without the time consuming hassle of dealing with multiple communication mediums like email and social media. Through our technology, we connect our community’s greatest assets, the people, back to teachers.

Teach X’s goal is the develop a sustainable ecosystem of innovators and industry professionals that support and enrich K-12 education, by sharing their skills, talent and time, to better prepare our teachers and students for future success. Within the next 12 months, we expect to connect 100 teachers to over 250 tech professionals and volunteers to develop 25 unique and meaningful learning experiences and teacher training opportunities.  As a result, we project that we will engage and equip 30,000 students, from disadvantaged communities, with in-demand skills that will prepare them for college and career opportunities.

Teachers in disadvantaged communities need a hyper-local community of professionals and partners to build learning experiences that develop in-demand skills. Therefore, within 5 years we will partner with regional industry corporations and teachers, across the country, to develop over 20 Near-Peer Teaching Ecosystems, serving 2000 teachers and over half a million students. Similar to Medical school, near-peer teaching provides a supportive network of nearby professionals  who can teach discipline-specific skills. By leveraging our platform to quickly create these networks, Teach X will enable more teachers to learn new skills, design more learning experiences and share ideas with more teachers.  

We reach teachers and corporations by partnering with community organizations such as Teach for America or Technology Association of Georgia to connect to local schools, teachers and progressive-minded corporations within their network. Both teachers and our corporate partners download our Teach X app and our technology connects and facilitates near-peer teaching opportunities between teachers and professionals where they can design unique learning experiences for students.  We believe our corporate partners can leverage these learning experiences to engage with their local community and develop industry talent pipelines within K-12 education and promotes them to sustain their partnership with Teach X

During our mini-pilot, this past school year, we served 18 students and 2 teachers. Through Teach X, underserved teachers were able to learn and work with a CNN videographer and volunteers, to help students on a journalistic video project and provide students exposure and guidance for college and career options. As a result teachers were able to expose underserved students to new skill sets and career opportunities and students in turn learned how to design a commercial video and seek film and video editing career opportunities.

Within the next 12 months, we expect to connect 100 high school teachers to 250 tech professionals and volunteers to develop 25 unique learning experiences and teacher training opportunities.  Research suggests teachers must create spaces for students to practice and learn the outcomes that are expected of them under realistic conditions to better prepare them for college and career. As a result, we intend to engage and equip 30,000 students, from disadvantaged communities, with in-demand skills by creating a space with authentic professionals for more realistic learning experiences that will prepare students for college and career opportunities.

As an educator and with 5+ years of resource development experience, contributing to $3 million in funding for local organizations, I can garner needed support from customers and resources to sustain Teach X. Our CTO  has developed tech solutions, with over $40 million in startup valuations attributed to his work. Our two developers are passionate about our mission and possess extensive experience with startups and technical knowledge in developing mobile applications. With advisors from Chick-Fil-A Corporation and Georgia State University, our team encompasses a myriad of perspectives to inform the design, development and implementation strategy TeachX.  

Teach X earns revenue through education-specific advertisements hosted within the mobile application. Future revenue generation will come from offering a freemium model of out-of-the box Near-Peer Teaching Curriculum for schools and district leaders. Teachers will also be able to share and sell their own custom made content in which we will charge a modest intermediary fee for transactions on the Teach X platform.

Similar to the Solve Community, Teach X is also looking to build an ecosystem of community leaders that will support schools and communities and that is why this program is so vital in the nascency of our organization. Through Solve’s extensive network and global platform, we believe this program, can elevate our work and share our narrative within circles of influence that can garner additional support and investment. Furthermore, Teach X will gain influential relationships in the education and corporate community to spearhead our future growth of Near-Peer Teaching networks and provide invaluable knowledge to support our long-term sustainability.

Barriers are finding quality industry professionals, traditional teachers resistant to change and overall government bureaucracy with a focus on over-testing students and slowing down progress with too much paperwork. Our greatest asset is the marketplace of human capital. Therefore, we will need quality industry experts and corporate partners on the platform along with progressive teachers willing to experiment. Lastly, schools are inundated with bureaucracy of permission slips, waivers, background checks etc. However, we believe that all of these factors can be overcome with the support of Solve’s community, global influence and educational opportunities for our community to continue to grow.