Change-Based Learning

Our Belief

We envision an Armenia where every child, whether born in Yerevan or a rural community, has the opportunity to receive an excellent education, develop as a leader, and shape their own future.

Every community holds possibilities waiting to be discovered, and students have the power to unlock them. That is why community innovation is not an extra in our work. It is central to how students learn, lead, and contribute.

What Is Change-Based Learning?

Change-Based Learning (CBL) is Teach For Armenia's signature approach to connecting academic learning with student leadership and community action. Students apply what they learn in class to real community needs, developing critical thinking, research, collaboration, problem-solving, and civic responsibility along the way.

Through CBL, students learn to imagine possibilities within their communities, take civic initiative, and draw on global knowledge to address local challenges.

How It Works

Big Idea and Change:
Students explore a curriculum-connected idea and identify a change they want to create
Research:
They investigate community needs, opportunities, and resources
Project Design:
They develop a solution, goals, action plan, and budget
Action:
They implement the project with classmates and community members
Evaluation:
They assess results, reflect on their learning, and identify improvements

Impact to Date

~300: student-led projects
150+: projects funded by Teach For Armenia
3,000+: students directly involved
~13,500: students reached
3,000+: community members engaged
100%: positive evaluation from participating school principals

Research-Backed

A UCLA CRESST study found that Change-Based Learning enriches academic learning, creates real opportunities to apply knowledge, strengthens student leadership, and increases parent and community engagement, describing it for participating students as a life-changing experience.

We want students not only to understand the world, but to recognize their power to change it, beginning with their own communities.

We want students not only to understand the world, but also to recognize their power to change it, beginning with their own communities. View past projects.

Aregak Reading Room,
Alumni-Ambassador: Armine Avoyan (G8)

Bagaran Secondary School, Bagaran, Armavir Region

The idea.

Literature lessons introduced students to the works of Vahan Terian and several international authors. This inspired them to create a space where students and community members could access contemporary literature, read together, and discuss books.

The research.

As the students developed their idea, they encountered two major challenges: raising funds and collecting enough books. They reached out to libraries, civil society organizations, individuals, parents, and other community members for support. Community members responded by donating books, providing construction materials, and helping renovate the room.

What they built.

Six students, four girls and two boys, transformed an unused classroom into the interactive Aregak Reading Room. With the support of nine community members, they painted the walls, installed bookshelves, added puzzles and beanbags, and stocked the room with donated and newly purchased books. They also organized a literary event, debates, and book discussions, and created a Facebook page to share the project.

What changed.

The reading room reached 30 students and 25 community members. Students who had not previously read books began borrowing from the collection, while others participated in the first literary event through poetry recitations and a waltz performance. The six student leaders learned that they could create meaningful change in their own community. They strengthened their collaboration, time-management, decision-making, and community-engagement skills. The project also generated strong local ownership: residents donated books from their homes and volunteered to participate in future activities. To sustain the initiative, the students plan to organize one event every month and continue involving parents and young people from the community. They also regularly update the Aregak Reading Room Facebook page.