Our platform connects educators with professionals in their community to create and schedule transformational, in-person, learning experiences for students. Pairing academic curriculums with expert engagement has never been easier.

The Issue

Over 50% of all U.S. students are chronically disengaged from school. Research attributes this disengagement to the lack of relevance between classroom learning and students’ lives.

 

The Solution

TEPHE is a free online platform that empowers K-12 educators to connect with the professionals and experts in their community to provide a 21st century, whole child education for students!  

The Result

Schools engage their community to support learning, develop real-world curriculums, and increase engagement. Most importantly students find their strengths and discover their passions!

Our Theory of Change…
TEPHE’s mission is to connect schools with their communities to improve the lives of students.
Doing this…

 

Technology… Our Online platform makes creating, posting, requesting, and scheduling experiences easy between schools and community users. Communicating, managing experiences, and scheduling can all be done through the TEPHE platform on a variety of different devices.

Educate… Educating both schools and professional users how to best use TEPHE. Providing teacher development on best practices, examples of effective experiences, and comprehensive data analysis. Educating and consulting individuals and businesses on how to best support student learning.

Scale… Platform allows for nationwide (international) implementation with ecosystems existing wherever users are. Outreach and marketing campaigns to grow school/community users. Establish district and statewide partnerships to connect the education and business communities. 

Design… Developing and implementing systems that allow nonprofits, businesses, and schools to achieve their organization’s mission. Providing experience consulting to help these organizations create and manage truly transformational learning experiences for students.

Ensures…

Enhanced lessons and relevant classroom-learning … pairing academic studies with real-world examples and guest speakers results in more engaging classroom learning for students.

Increased number of “sparks”… one-time, inspirational, experiences meant to provide new information, point-of-views, and opportunities.

Increased and stronger School/Community partnerships… Education thrives when communities engage in their schools education.

… which are pre-conditions for…

Increased student engagement… Connecting classroom learning to student’s real life experiences increases students engagement, attendance, and overall academic performance.

Schools access and utilize all assets in their community… TEPHE empowers schools to fully utilize every asset in their community to provide a 21st century learning experience for their students.

… which leads to…

Students discovering their interests, strengths, and passions and pursuing school, college, and career success.

Connecting educators and professionals

Are you a teacher, admin, librarian, program coordinator or coach looking to bring professionals into your classroom?

l

Create

Create and post amazing ‘Projects’ that require professional assistance so local professionals can apply to help

Partner

Choose from the pool of professionals who apply to your project OR request an experience a professional is offering

Sign up as an Educator
Learn More

Schedule

Discuss and confirm details of experiences and schedule them into your calendar

Are you a professional, nonprofit, or business wanting to support the education of students in your community?

Signup

Signup and create a Professional Profile (with your LinkedIn) to show your expertise to local schools

Offer

Apply to help local, teacher-created, ‘Projects’ or offer your own experience, designed and taught by you

Sign up as a Professional
Learn More

Schedule

Discuss and confirm details of experiences and schedule them into your calendar

The Numbers Behind TEPHE

Experiences Facilitated

Professionals

Students Impacted

What’s the Impact? also check the FAQ
Schools - Connect with professionals to create transformational experiences
It is clear from (our) research and personal experiences that many students find a disconnect between their learning and personal lives, that many of our educators feel isolated, and that our education system is increasingly fragmented. We live in a 21st Century economy driven by networks, connectivity, and collaborative/creative problem solving yet we fail to equip our schools with these 21st century tools. With TEPHE schools can connect and collaborate with professionals throughout their community. Pairing academics with real-world examples, especially guest speakers, in the classroom can increase student learning. Community engagement and professional inclusion are hallmarks of successful career & STEM education programs. Increase student engagement by consistently introducing them to new ideas and people.
Communities - Individuals and businesses improve education in their community
Imagine a 4th grade teacher being able to find and connect with a local lawyer or judge with a click of a button. These professionals are ready and willing to take one hour and collaborate with her students on a class project about a recent court ruling. Imagine yourself when you were in 3rd, 7th, or 11th grade who were the people or what were the experiences that helped you pursue education, find your passions, and develop your “Dream Job”? Imagine yourself in a classroom right now. What expertise, skills, passions, or unique experiences could you share with a group of students? How would it help them? Imagine now if ALL the professionals in your community offered their expertise to help support student learning. Imagine if educators collaborated with professionals on a regular basis to make learning more real-world relevant for students.
Students - Find their strengths and discover their passions in the classroom
Many of today’s students lack an understanding of real-world careers and the pathways it takes to achieve them. Most students have limited opportunities to learn about career pathways directly from professionals working in those industries. More than ever students need classroom learning that relates to the real-world, connects with their lives, and improves their understanding of how to get from where they are to where they want to go.  Although not direct users, the ultimate beneficiary of TEPHE are the students who have their curriculums and education enhanced with expert inclusion. As our students gravitate towards their desired careers, a pool of potential employees and entrepreneurs is developed thus enhancing the business community. The students who discover their passions and strengths today may one day help do the same in future students.
TEPHE - Our free platform makes connecting, collaborating, and creating easy
Educators use the TEPHE platform to:

  1. Connect and communicate with all professionals in your community
  2. Create and post projects that require professional help
  3. Review project applicants and choose the best fit
  4. Find and request professional created experiences (workshops, performances, Q&A’s, lectures, etc.)
  5. Manage all communication and scheduling logistics through TEPHE’s dashboard

Professionals use the TEPHE platform to:

  1. Create a Professional Profile to show off your expertise to local educators (Use your LinkedIn account)
  2. Find and apply to projects, created by teachers, that you think you could help with
  3. Create and offer experiences to local schools (workshops, performances, Q&A’s, lectures, etc.)
  4. Manage all communication and scheduling logistics through TEPHE’s dashboard

Our Core Values

At TEPHE our core values drive how we lead and shape what we do

At TEPHE we learn continuously, operate with curiosity, and embrace new ideas to innovate and constantly improve our work and ourselves. Learn from successes, failures, and each other in an effort to always challenge the state of our equilibrium. Choosing to abandon comfort in pursuit of a more adaptable self.

Innovative Impact

Community Centered

Deliberately Diverse

Be(have) Benevolent

We believe crossing boundaries enriches development and educational processes. We believe bold ideas backed by calculated action leads to transformational change. We believe innovation is key in improving the lives of students. We are determined and driven to make a meaningful and sustainable impact on this world.

At our core we believe hope and change are built on assets and dreams of locals and their communities. We are using ourselves, our work, education, and technology to provide tools so that this belief can be actualized in all neighborhoods. We believe supporting the people closest to the issues in schools and communities enables discovering answers to local concerns.

We invest in recruiting professionals and partnerships that are diverse in every respect. In particular, we ensure schools have access to professionals that look, sound, and share the same culture as their diverse student populations. We fight educational inequity by giving a voice to all affinity champions and venue to impact their local education.

We place the opportunity of helping others over profits. In this we develop a willingness to stick things out, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction of the innate value that permeates ALL people. We marshal and direct our energies wisely, not needing to force our way in work or in life. We have affection for others exuberance about life, and (occasionally) serenity.

Sparks

One-time, inspirational, experiences meant to provide new information, point-of-views, and opportunities.

Flames

Multiple-meeting, structured experiences intended to serve as a crucial developmental foundation for learning and growing.

Expert/ Professional
This experience is for community members who are open to bringing their knowledge and experiences into classrooms. An anatomy lesson goes from boring to TRANSFORMATIONAL when a teacher brings in an actual doctor. If you want to give back to your communities education but don’t have a specifc lesson you want to teach sign up to this experience and we’ll make it known to teachers in your community that you’re ok with them contacting you (via TEPHE) about coming into the classoom. These experiences:

  • Are created between the teacher and professional depending on the lesson or content. (Usually a teacher will message the professional with an idea of how they could enhance a lesson!)
  • Always monitored by a school staff member (No need for a DOJ Background check or TB test)
An example of this could be a science teacher connecting with a doctor to assist with an anatomy lesson OR a Law & Debate teacher inviting a judge into his class to evaluate students’ opening statements.

Speaker/ Presentation
These experiences are ONE time events intended to address a specific content area or topic. This is ANY pre-created experience such as a workshop, theatrical play, TED talk, Speaker, In-class lesson, etc. If you already have an idea of what you want your experience to address this is the TEPHE for you

These experiences:

  • Have a preset structure (No input is needed from teachers/schools)
  • Always monitored by a school staff member (No need for a DOJ Background check or TB test)
  • Experience TEPHE approved (Schools can be confident they are receiving a quality experience) 
An example of this would be a teacher inviting a financial analysts into the classroom to do a presentation on the importance of financial responsibility Or a school inviting a local theatre to come and perform their rendition of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Mentorship/ Enrichment Program
These experiences are hands-on, personal, individualized, and transformational. Community members, groups, or organizations design these experiences using TEPHE’s integrated online experience builder or by talking with a TEPHE representative in-person. These experiences occur during or after school hours, have multiple meeting times, and are usually built around a signature project. Because students may be alone with the community member(s). These experiences require:

  • DOJ Background Check
  • TB Test (Tuberculin skin test)
  • Experience TEPHE approved (Schools can be confident they are receiving a quality experience) 
An example of this could be a local Chef creating an 8-week culinary class at a local middle school. Once a week, he stops in and teaches a new dish and ties in some math lessons to a group of 5-8 students. At the end of the 8-weeks his students put on their very own dinner party for their parents and teachers.

Adventures/ Internships
These are exactly what they sound like! An Adventure! These experiences stretch the imagination of its creators and participants. Gone are the days of passive field trips. With TEPHE students can get out of their school and into the real world in truly transformational ways. It could be a one-day trip to a local factory or a 12-week internship at a yoga studio. Because of the nuances and complexities involved TEPHE requires an in-person meeting to develop these experiences. These experiences require:

  • DOJ Background Check
  • TB Test (Tuberculin skin test)
  • Due-Diligence (Done by TEPHE)
    • Insurance Requirements
    • Due-Diligence
  • Experience TEPHE approved (Schools can be confident they are receiving a quality experience) 
Imagine a scientist taking a group of high schoolers to go study bird migration on a remote island. The possibilities are endless!

Educator Signup
Professional Signup