In a classroom, a young Indian woman in a red dress has her arm around another woman with a head scarf, surrounded by other women and girls in school uniform In a classroom, a young Indian woman in a red dress has her arm around another woman with a head scarf, surrounded by other women and girls in school uniform

Community Impact Lab

Our new report, The Missing Piece: Developing Collective Leadership to Transform Education, brings together what we have learned from hundreds of leaders from across our network about what is at work in the communities and systems that are making progress towards ensuring that all children learn. Technical solutions alone will not improve learning for all, and progress will require developing collective leadership — a critical mass of diverse, purpose-driven leaders working together throughout the ecosystem around children to create the enabling conditions for change.

Cover page of The Missing Piece report

Three African men smile as they stand together in a grassy area with a big tree in the background

What is the Community Impact Lab?

In communities around the world Teach For All network partner organizations are growing the collective leadership that will help to transform systems and contribute to progress at scale. 

The experience of our network’s 100,000 education leaders in 60+ countries over 15 years tells us that this collective leadership is critical to achieving change. We’ve also seen that the greatest impact results from collective leadership that is:

  • Clearly defined in scope
  • In deep partnership with local communities
  • Working at a significant scale
  • Ultimately aiming to improve things for kids

Learning From Communities Across the Network

The Community Impact Lab is learning from the choices network partners make about how to grow collective leadership—choices that are rooted in a deep local understanding and partnerships—and exploring how collective leadership grows at the level of local communities and national systems, ultimately contributing to faster or more sustainable progress.

Enseña por México

Enseña por México is seeking to grow sustainable leadership in the Yucatan peninsula by working closely with indigenous communities

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Teach For Pakistan

Teach For Pakistan has built a partnership with the government and multilateral agencies to recruit a critical mass of leaders to its work in Karachi

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Teach First (UK)

In London, 3,000 Teach First Ambassadors have transformed the London system, making it the best place in the UK for a poor child to go to school

Learn More

To explore more case studies and other Community Impact Lab resources, visit our Learning & Insights website.

Learn more

A brown-skinned woman in a red sweater holding a baby wearing a hat smiles at the camera alongside a small boy

From Communities to Systems

The Community Impact Lab also examines the ways collective leadership contributes to transforming systems and progress for communities by:

  • Orienting the system to a shared purpose
  • Enabling collaborative approaches
  • Mobilizing a critical mass of leadership
  • Establishing a culture and systems of learning

Learn more >

How the Lab Works



We work with organizations and leaders both within our network and externally to better understand how to grow the collective leadership that will transform systems.

We facilitate learning experiences that build understanding, shift mindsets, and enable action

  • This year, our Community Impact Conversations brought together 200+ leaders
  • In the year ahead, our Collective Leadership Fellowship will catalyze impact in 10 countries
  • Our Global Learning Series in 2021 brought together 10 network partners

We create content that communicates our latest knowledge and insights

  • We generate materials, like these provocation papers, that capture our latest learning
  • We create short videos of network leaders sharing their insights on key topics
  • We experiment with new forms of communication, such as our upcoming podcast pilot
  • We write case studies and snapshots showing how collective leadership works

We build partnerships that enable our network to share and learn with others globally

  • We co-authored the New Education Story report with Big Change and others
  • In the Education Commission’s Rewiring Education report, collective leadership was identified as a critical enabler of system transformation
  • In the WISE Network Leadership report, we contributed a piece on global networked learning for systemic change