| Tax ID No. | 52-1616482 |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1989 December |
| Location | Washington, DC |
| Mission | Teaching for Change provides teachers and parents with the tools to transform schools into centers of justice where students learn to read, write and change the world. |
| Method | parent organizing, professional development, and publications |
| Employees | 21 |
| Motto | "Building social justice, starting in the classroom." |
| Formerly called | Network of Educators on Central America |
| Website | http://www.teachingforchange.org |
Teaching for Change is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization based in Washington D.C. that has the goal of encouraging social justice through classrooms, by building alliances between parents, community members and teachers interested in promoting social justice, and also through through publications, professional development, and parent organizing programs.[1]
Contents |
Programs include:
In the 1980s, with a growing Central American population and U.S. involvement in the region, 11 committees of educators and community leaders formed across the country to assess how to address the needs of Central American students and increase public awareness about U.S. foreign policy in Central America. These committees convened in Los Angeles to form a national organization, the Network of Educator’s Committees on Central America (NECCA) that became incorporated in December 1989[10]
Through the early 90s they produced teaching resources on Nicaragua and El Salvador and hosted teacher workshops around the country based on the book Rethinking Columbus. In 1993, NECCA won the Humanities award from the DC Humanities Council and in 1994 they launched a mail order catalog for progressive teaching resources.
As the organization expanded its focus, NECCA changed its name to Teaching for Change. Through the 1990s, Teaching for Change organized seminars for educators on social justice education topics and published their own teaching guide, Beyond Heroes and Holidays: A Practical Guide to K-12 Anti-Racist, Multicultural Education and Staff Development.[11]
In 1999, Teaching for Change hosted a seminar for educators in the DC area focusing on "putting the movement back into Civil Rights" history teaching at Howard University. That seminar led to the production of a teaching guide with the same name, in collaboration with the Poverty and Race Resource Action Council (PRRAC).
Putting the Movement Back into Civil Rights Teaching[12] won the Phillip C. Chinn book of the year award and Teaching for Change won the National Association for Multicultural Education[13] Organization of the Year in 2004.
In 2005, Teaching for Change was invited by former board member and restauranteur Andy Shallal to open a bookstore in Busboys and Poets.
In 2008, in partnership with Rethinking Schools, they launched the Zinn Education Project to provide middle and high school teachers with free access to lessons for Howard Zinn’s A People's History of the United States and other people's history resources.