TeachUNITED and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Partner

TeachUNITED and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Partner with the Secretary of Education to Transform Education for Maya Communities in Yucatán

We are honored to announce our partnership with both the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Secretary of Education of Yucatán, Mexico (SEGEY). With the support of the Kellogg Foundation, we will continue working with the government to improve educational outcomes in rural Maya communities in Mexico. 

In Mexico, children in Indigenous schools have the lowest achievement levels: one in four Indigenous 15-year-olds cannot read or write – four times the general illiteracy rate. In Yaxcabá, Yucatán, just 14% of students complete secondary school. A root cause of these poor academic outcomes is the lack of proper training for teachers in Indigenous communities. In addition, education systems are not designed with Indigenous culture or language in mind, making it difficult for students to experience a learning environment that meets their needs.

SEGEY, Kellogg Foundation, and TeachUNITED are eager to partner together for a new project to reach an important subset of their population: Indigenous Maya. Building on a successful state-wide implementation of our teacher training program in Yucatán, we are working to improve learning outcomes for over 400,000 students.

Learn more about our work in Yucatán thus far from a Pedagogy Advisor.

Improving Access to Quality Education for Indigenous Learners

In partnership with the local government, we are working to expand to the Yaxcabá Municipality of Yucatán to support educators there with sustainable, Mayan-language and context-relevant solutions to the challenges that they face every day in the classroom. By empowering teachers in Yaxcabá, Yucatán, we can substantially improve access to quality education for Indigenous learners and promote teaching in students’ native language. 

The Kellogg Foundation’s support will enable us to work together to:

• Increase the supply of effective teachers in Yaxcabá, 
• Promote teaching in Mayan to reduce the disproportionate impact of the learning crisis on Indigenous children and educators, and
• Improve academic achievement and educational well-being of Indigenous students. 

We are proud that this partnership with the Kellogg Foundation will enable us to support educators as they improve outcomes for students in rural Mexico. We’re looking forward to sharing more about our progress.

About the W.K. Kellogg Foundation

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF), founded in 1930 as an independent, private foundation by breakfast cereal innovator and entrepreneur Will Keith Kellogg, is among the largest philanthropic foundations in the United States.

Guided by the belief that all children should have an equal opportunity to thrive, WKKF works with communities to create conditions for vulnerable children so they can realize their full potential in school, work and life.

The Kellogg Foundation is based in Battle Creek, Michigan, and works throughout the United States and internationally, as well as with sovereign tribes. Special attention is paid to priority places where there are high concentrations of poverty and where children face significant barriers to success. WKKF priority places in the U.S. are in Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico and New Orleans; and internationally, are in Mexico and Haiti. For more information, visit www.wkkf.org.

TeachUNITED works with school, district, government, and NGO partners in 14 countries. Hear from other TeachUNITED partners here.