ASU+GSV Lifetime Achievement Award

I feel so honored to have received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the ASU+GSV Summit last night.?It doesn’t feel quite right when the work of Teach For All is such a collective effort and also because I’m just getting started!?But I accepted the recognition with a lot of gratitude, as a tribute to our whole network and also as a boost for the incredibly important work ahead.?In that vein, I wanted to share my remarks from last night’s event, which include my thoughts about two things that are feeling really important to me right now.

My Reflections

I so appreciate this recognition and really all the people who’ve played such incredibly important roles in this collective effort that is Teach For America and Teach For All

• My husband, Richard Barth , who’s always believed it’s important for the world and for our own kids that I pursue this work, and who never wavered in that belief even when we had four kids under the age of 8!
• Elisa Villanueva Beard , who has poured her heart and mind, and soul into leading Teach For America through the last decade of really challenging years?All the incredible social entrepreneurs and teams from all over the world who have pioneered this approach in their countries and innovated and improved on it and supported each other to make Teach For All what it is todayAll the educators and donors and allies around the world who have made small choices and big choices to support and enable this work — these millions of decisions have each helped put this effort on a better trajectory
• And, most importantly and especially, the thousands of people who have committed two years to teach and who have never left the work, and whose energy and leadership have accounted for the impact for which I’ve been recognized

It doesn’t feel quite right to receive a “lifetime achievement award” when this is such a collective effort and also because I’m just getting started and there’s so much more to be done!?But I’m accepting this recognition as a tribute to our whole network and also as a boost for the incredibly important work ahead.

In that vein, I wanted to share two things on this occasion that are feeling really important as we think about the work ahead.

First is about the importance of the purpose that animates all of us across the Teach For All network - developing the collective leadership to ensure all children fulfill their potential.?

I want to talk about this because I don’t want anyone to get the idea that this is something that has been “achieved” when in fact it’s such crucial work that needs everyone’s partnership ahead.

When I had the original inspiration for Teach For America back when I was a college senior, I really couldn’t have anticipated the leadership this idea would produce—the hearts, minds, and souls who would be drawn to commit two years to teach, the transformational power of those two years, the fact that these people would never leave the work, and would end up working at every level of the system, and inside and outside of it to address its inequities.??

I think there’s often a perception in the world that system change is government or policy change.?But, from what we’ve seen, when aggregate outcomes change, there is policy change, but there is also change in practice and culture and that means it takes lots of people exerting leadership from every level of the system, and inside and outside of it. In short, it takes what we’ve come to call “collective leadership”—people exerting leadership around the whole ecosystem around children; who have shared purpose, vision, and values; who are diverse—led by people who’ve experienced the inequities and their allies who bring more privilege; and who have the relationships and networks to learn and collaborate together.

We’ve learned that it’s possible to develop this collective leadership, and there is so very much more to be done to live into our potential to do this.?

We’ve learned that it’s possible to develop this collective leadership, and there is so very much more to be done to live into our potential to do this.?I so appreciate your vote of confidence and your continued support and partnership, which will help fuel all the work ahead to develop more and more locally rooted, globally informed collective leadership in communities all over the world.

The second thing that’s on my mind is the importance of recognizing the role we as educators have to play in reshaping the world.

Before I came to this event, I stopped in San Francisco to spend time with some of those donors and allies I mentioned before.?I met with Arthur Rock, who’s helped put Teach For America and Teach For All on their trajectories and is now 96 years old.?Now, I feel the world is falling apart—with pandemics, wars, and climate disasters, it almost feels like we won’t even be here in 20 years.?But I asked Arthur, has it ever been this bad??He looked incredulous and assured me that it had in fact been even worse as he reflected back over the years.?What I took from that is that in fact, we’ll likely still be here in 20 years, 30 years.?

Do you know what that means??It means that as educators we have an incredible responsibility and opportunity.?Because the young people who are in our classrooms today will be leading the world in 20 or 30 years and if we develop them holistically, and foster their agency and awareness of themselves and society, and their sense of empathy and well-being, and their problem-solving and critical thinking skills, then we’ll have a meaningfully stronger world in 20-30 years.

Over the last years at Teach For All, we’ve really reoriented our work towards a vision of enabling all children to have the education, support, and opportunity to shape a better future for themselves and all of us. We’re working to develop students holistically as leaders who will be equipped to navigate uncertainty, shape meaningful careers in a changing economy, and solve the increasingly complex challenges we face.?

Over time, I’ve come to see how big a shift this is.?It takes a lot of unlearning of how we were taught and seeing ourselves and students in a new way - seeing students as whole people who can lead and ourselves as learners.?But as we’ve all become more and more conscious of the uncertainty ahead, and of the threats to people and the planet everywhere, this reorientation has also come to seem all the more important.?It’s the only path to the peace, justice, and sustainability that is so important to all of us.

We need all of us working within the system today to recognize our responsibility in this, and we also need the next generation to join us

We need all of us working within the system today to recognize our responsibility in this, and we also need the next generation to join us — this is a generation more committed to diversity, equity, justice, and sustainability than any that has come before, and we need them to put their money where their mouths are. We need their full-time energy — we need them to take on the tough challenges of reshaping our systems, especially the systems around young people.?We need them to recognize that well-being comes not from balance but from congruence between our values and where we put our energy, from doing things that matter, and that one of the most important things they can do is channel their energy into this realm of working with children — and especially the most marginalized children — and support them to thrive and in turn to reshape the world.?

Thank you again for all your support and your partnership in this endeavor to enlist this rising generation and develop the collective leadership necessary to develop students as leaders who can shape a better future.?I look forward to many more years of meaningful, challenging, and fulfilling work together!