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Shaping the System from the Top

Public Policy & Research

At the Armenia Education Initiative (AEI), we tackle change bottom-up through classrooms and schools, but systemic transformation also requires going top-down: influencing policies, government programs, and the structures that govern education. We prepare our Alumni-Ambassadors, graduates from Teach For Armenia's National Leadership Program, to become future ministers, policy advisors, and thought leaders who will steer Armenia's education system for decades.

Data-Driven Culture

A cornerstone of our approach: we are data-driven in everything. You can't change what you don't measure, and you can't convince others without evidence. We track student outcomes, teacher growth, and community feedback across all programs, and report transparently in our annual reports and evaluations. This culture of evidence is unusual for nonprofit organizations in the region, and it sets us apart as a serious institution.

We partnered with the UCLA School of Education (a top-ranked education graduate school in the U.S.) for an external study of our impact on students, assessing not just academics but leadership skills and community well-being. This kind of rigorous external validation helps us learn and improve, and sends a message: we're not afraid to put ourselves under the microscope. When we advocate for policy, we come armed with data.

The Public Policy Lab Fellowship

A first-of-its-kind fellowship in Armenia: an intensive policy training experience for Teach For Armenia's most driven Alumni-Ambassadors who want to change the whole system.

  • A six-month fellowship, allowing participants to keep working while dedicating significant time to intensive training. We pay a stipend because we value their time and want the best people regardless of financial means.
  • Fellows form a cohort and undergo a curated curriculum: how education policy is made in Armenia, exemplary policies from around the world, and skills in policy analysis, research methodology, and advocacy. We bring in top local and international experts (e.g. a former minister on navigating government structures, an economist on education cost modeling).
  • Each fellow chooses a key policy challenge aligned with our mission and national priorities. How do we improve rural teacher recruitment systemically? What policies support inclusive education for students with disabilities? How do we modernize curriculum for 21st-century skills?
  • Fellows conduct research (i.e. international best practices, local data collection, stakeholder consultation) ensuring solutions are both innovative and context-appropriate.
  • They develop a concrete policy proposal or brief with recommendations and implementation roadmaps, learning to write in policymaker-friendly language: clear, concise, evidence-backed, anticipating counterarguments.
  • We facilitate presentation to actual decision-makers (e.g. ministerial leadership, parliamentary committees, and local government). Even where ideas aren't adopted immediately, these proposals serve as blueprints for future reform and position our fellows as go-to experts.

Building a Movement of Policy Advocates: Former fellows have taken roles in ministerial departments and influential nonprofit organizations, where they continue to push the recommendations they developed. They form the nucleus of an education policy brain trust we can tap whenever we need to respond to new legislative proposals or craft an advocacy campaign. Our fellows have tackled teacher compensation reform, early childhood education expansion, and education for displaced children. One fellow's proposal on digitizing rural schools drew the attention of a major tech foundation and led to a pilot project; another's research on student civic engagement fed into a proposal that influenced the national youth strategy.

Advanced Academia: Master's and Scholar-Practitioner Pathways

Influencing policy requires credibility and expertise. We support past participants in pursuing higher academic degrees that position them as experts. We aren't content with passionate practitioners; we want scholar-practitioners who bridge theory and practice.

Our Master's in Teacher Leadership with Yerevan State University strengthens ties with academia and injects fresh content into teacher education in Armenia. By investing in higher education, we send a message that education deserves top minds. We want the sector to be seen as prestigious, on par with medicine or engineering. When alumni of AEI's various programs take prominent roles, it chips away at the old mentality that "those who can, do; those who can't, teach." On the contrary: those who can transform society, teach.

Advocacy and Influence

We engage in advocacy as an organization, not just through individuals. We have built strong relationships with the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, formalized by an MoU as an official partner. We're often at the table for discussions on education reform, offering insights and pushing for more ambitious change. We leverage our data and success stories to advocate for better rural teacher incentives and for integrating project-based learning into the national curriculum.

Internationally, as part of the Teach For All network, we co-lead efforts on Education in Emergencies, raising Armenia's profile and ensuring our voice is heard in global dialogues. We bring those connections home: if a policy succeeded in Estonia or Finland, we can channel that example here.

As a nonpartisan organization, we do not support or oppose candidates for public office. Our advocacy is issue-based, evidence-based, and conducted within the limits applicable to charitable organizations.

Call to Action: Partner in Policy Change. Academics, policy experts, and institutions: collaborate with us on research, evaluation, and global case studies. Policymakers and officials: tap into our Policy Lab current and former fellows. Alumni-Ambassadors with policy ideas: apply for our next cohort. Let's ensure the future of Armenian education is not decided for us, but by us.