We develop leaders at every level of the system: from the classroom to the principal's office, from community grassroots to the halls of government. The Armenia Education Initiative's (AEI) ecosystem includes:
| Program / Initiative | What It Does (Focus) | Who It's For | Scale & Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Teach For Armenia | Recruits and trains committed and values-drive graduates and young professionals to teach in Armenia's underserved schools, developing them into lifelong leaders for educational equity. Through intensive training and on-the-ground experience, Teacher Leaders transform student outcomes and themselves become catalysts for change. | Passionate graduates & professionals (Armenia and diaspora); Armenia's most vulnerable schools and students | ~500 Alumni-Ambassadors · ~ 20,000+ students |
| Seroond Transformation Program (now Catalyst) | Partners with existing public schools to dramatically improve school quality through a whole-school turnaround model. Embeds leadership development at every level: students leading community projects, teachers innovating in classrooms, principals driving vision. The result is "bright spot" schools that prove what's possible and inspire replication nationwide. | Underperforming or under-resourced schools ready to transform; principals committed to bold change; existing teachers eager to grow; access to coaches trained through Teach For Armenia's flagship two-year National Leadership Program; regional education authorities and newly established educational complexes partnering with the Ministry | Two-year intensive programme per school · Launched 2020 with a single pilot school · 2025–26: five schools across Lori, Vayots Dzor, and Yerevan, reaching 1,810 students and 135 teachers · First-year schools: 22% overall academic growth, 30% in literacy, 31% in numeracy (May 2026 endline) · Second-year schools: 89% of students meeting age-appropriate literacy benchmarks, 90% meeting numeracy benchmarks · Enrolment doubled in the pilot school within one year · 21 schools in Tavush and Lori have applied to join, with 572 teachers committing to participate |
| Seroond SchoolFlagship Innovation School | A school authored from a blank page: a personalized learning environment integrating advanced technologies, including AI, embedded social-emotional learning with mastery-based progression, project-driven curriculum rooted in Armenian identity, and leadership as a graduation requirement. Fully documented so the model can be licensed and replicated. | Students and families seeking a fundamentally different school; educators who want to build rather than inherit; partners, governments, and school operators looking for a replicable model | Flagship build · Purpose-designed, human-centred, AI-native model · Core curriculum and schedules complete · Armenian language and mathematics workbooks developed in house and piloted with five- and six-year-olds, their parents, and staff · Opening September 2026 |
| SparkSocial Innovation Incubator | Armenia's first incubator dedicated to education innovation. Named “Kaits” in Armenian (meaning "spark") empowers those with on-the-ground insight (especially our own alumni) to launch initiatives that solve education's toughest challenges. Participants get mentorship, training, and seed funding to turn ideas into pilots, and pilots into scalable ventures. | Alumni from AEI's various programs who have bold ideas; educators, social entrepreneurs, innovators focused on education; partner teams driving new solutions | Three-stage incubator (i.e. Pitch, Prototype, Launch) · Dozens of education initiatives incubated (e.g. EdTech, community programs, social enterprises)· Access to seed funding and mentors, both local and global · Pioneering a culture of innovation sector-wide |
| Public Policy Lab | A six-month research-based education policy fellowship specifically designed for Alumni-Ambassadors from Teach For Armenia's flagship National Leadership Program. Fellows work alongside experts to analyze international case studies, collect local data, and engage stakeholders, producing recommendations the Armenian government can adopt to drive systemic change. Policy research is also now embedded directly into the two-year Teacher Leadership Program through a dedicated Public Policy, Research & Development pathway. | Alumni-Ambassadors of Teach For Armenia's National Leadership Program and active Teacher Leaders who are interested in policy and advocacy; future policymakers and researchers; Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports and other government partners. | Launched 2023 · First cohort of seven Alumni-Ambassadors submitted three policy proposals, all three approved: the 30-Credit Teaching Certification (Order No. 41-N), the School Performance Assessment Framework (Government Decision N 1150-N), and expanded 30% salary supplement eligibility for seconded teachers · Co-leading a joint Ministry–TFA working group on AI integration in public schools · Policy pathway piloted with 15 ninth-cohort Teacher-Leaders, now scaled to 25 tenth-cohort Teacher-Leaders · Currently researching a "Teaching as a Second Profession" policy and a reimagined national mentor school system. |
| Master's in Teacher Leadership & Teacher TrainingCredential Pathways | Great educators deserve great credentials. Master's in Teacher Leadership through a three-semester graduate program co-designed with Yerevan State University, completed by candidates without prior teaching degrees. Teacher Qualification Course (30 credits) through an accredited program enabling unlicensed professionals across Armenia to earn certification and upgrade their pedagogy. | Fellows without formal teacher education; current teachers seeking certification; the broader education sector | Master's: first cohort launched with YSU · Qualification: hundreds of teachers nationwide enrolled · Strengthening the quality and credibility of Armenia's teacher workforce |
| Education in EmergenciesRapid Response & Resilience | Leveraging extensive experience from past crisis response and a network of experts, we leverage social-emotional learning and trauma-informed teaching to reach students impacted by emergencies: coordinating basic needs with partners, deploying counselors for trauma, setting up learning centers, and integrating displaced students into new schools. We also advocate for policies that make schools safe havens during crises. | Children and families affected by emergencies; host schools and communities; government and NGO humanitarian partners | Through partnership with UNICEF Armenia, Supported ~20,000 displaced children from Artsakh with education continuity (2020–2023) · Co-led Teach For All's global Education in Emergencies efforts · Established a coalition turning public schools into hubs for education, nutrition, and mental health during crises · With the World Bank, advanced the integration of Mental Health and Psychosocial Support across selected schools in Armenia, benefiting more than 2,600 displaced students from Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh); more than 200 mentors have conducted 62,000 classroom observations to date, with 97% of teachers, 99% of principals, and 99% of school psychologists now agreeing that children's mental health matters as much as their physical health and academic performance. Through the UNICEF partnership, established a standing Education in Emergencies roster of 53 coordinators, signed a contingency agreement, and developed a Social-Emotional Learning in Emergencies toolkit of eight ready-to-deploy sessions. |
| Learning Recovery & School Readiness | Closes learning gaps for students who have fallen behind, and prepares children for the transition into first grade. Remedial classes are delivered by trained teachers with ongoing mentoring, diagnostic and summative assessment, and structured parent engagement, so that families are participants rather than observers. Delivered in partnership with UNICEF. | Students below grade level in literacy and numeracy; incoming first-graders; classroom teachers seeking a proven remedial methodology; parents; the national institutions responsible for learning recovery | Eight partner schools · 902 students enrolled in remedial classes · 64 teachers mentored · 646 students assessed, 654 parents engaged · 37% improvement in literacy and 52% in numeracy · 98% teacher satisfaction, 93% parent satisfaction, 100% principal satisfaction · 97% of teachers consider the methodology more effective than traditional after-school provision · "Hello School" readiness programme serving roughly 160 incoming students across eight schools |
| Global Platform (MindX Forum, Exchanges, Diaspora) | Convening educators, technologists, and policymakers around education innovation, AI in education, and systemic reform; building exchanges, joint research, and curriculum co-development between institutions in Armenia and abroad; mobilizing diaspora talent, mentorship, and philanthropy. | Global education leaders and researchers; Armenian-American and diaspora communities; partner universities and institutions | Signature convening: MindX Forum · Teacher and leader exchanges, joint research, technology transfer · Diaspora mentorship networks and volunteer mobilization |
For a deeper look at the insights that have shaped these programs, explore Coalesced: Ten Lessons in Education and Leadership.