Teaching for Change is a non-profit organization founded in 1989 and based in Washington, D.C., with the motto of "building social justice, starting in the classroom." Teaching for Change provides teachers and parents with the tools to create schools where students learn to read, write, and change the world. 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. Their professional development, publications, and parent organizing programs serve teachers, other school staff, and parents. Their main focus is national and they have dedicated programs in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.
Since its founding, Teaching for Change has vetted and promoted social justice books for children and adults in response to the wide diversity gap in children’s books and the publishing industry. They curate SocialJusticeBooks.org to identify and promote the best multicultural and social justice children’s books, as well as articles and books for educators. On the SocialJusticeBooks.org website, they provide K-12 booklists on a range of themes and book reviews. They also engage in campaigns to hold publishers accountable in response to specific titles or collections. Their own publications include Beyond Heroes and Holidays, Putting the Movement Back into Civil Rights Teaching, and the Caribbean Connections series.
Teaching for Change designed a nationally recognized approach to family engagement, called Tellin’ Stories based on the concepts of racial equity, popular education, community organizing, and research on family engagement. School-based meetings and activities provide families, teachers, and school administrators with unique forums to bridge differences and achieve shared goals. By building relationships and capacity between parents and educators, the Tellin’ Stories approach increases families’ access to schools and broadens their school-based roles as supporters, educators, advocates, decision-makers, and ambassadors.
Teaching for Change has won organizational awards from the D.C. Humanities Council, the National Multicultural Institute, and the National Association for Multicultural Education.
