Our Story

Blue Engine was founded on a vision of making classrooms across the United States more engaging and individualized, where all students could build empowering relationships with educators and receive more rigorous instruction tailored to their individual needs. Since 2010, Blue Engine has developed a promising evidence base, supporting our convictions that the current education system is capable of meeting the needs of teachers and students with the right support and resources.

Our vision of creating inclusive learning environments for all students has not changed – the way we are realizing it has evolved. We originally sought to improve student outcomes by adding instructors to classrooms (Blue Engine Teaching Apprentices or BETAs). This approach yielded dramatic gains in student outcomes, impacting the educational experiences and outcomes for more than 15,000 students in New York City in our first ten years. While we saw consistently high results, over time it became clear that scaling the program to a system-level magnitude was both operationally and financially unsustainable. In 2018, we began supporting existing teams of teachers (e.g. co-teachers) and the results were similarly promising; so, in 2020 we concluded our AmeriCorps program. The decision to exclusively focus on supporting existing teams of teachers is rooted in our core organizational belief that classrooms are filled with potential – both student and teacher. In schools shouldering the burden of systemic inequity, students and teachers need additional support to succeed and thrive. We partner with schools that reach those traditionally left behind – including students of color, students from poverty, and students who learn differently.

Our long-term vision for system-wide change will require intentionally building awareness and a field around team teaching by establishing the value of this approach and promoting widespread adoption. By 2024, we will have demonstrated significant impact on students and teachers and built a field dedicated to team teaching, setting the stage for enduring and broader scale. Specifically, our goal is to grow by 10x, reaching 14,000 students and partnering with at least 20 school systems. In 2021-22, we are partnering with schools and districts in New York, Louisiana, and Washington, DC.