Rafiq Kalam Id-Din

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2007

Teaching Firms of America

New York, New York, United States

Education & Youth Leadership

The Bold Idea:

Despite a critical need for strong college preparatory education, inner-city schools often remain staffed by ineffective and low paid teachers, with no more than 15 percent of Black and Latino 4th graders scoring at or above proficiency in reading and math. The impact of poor-education is devastating: By the time African-American men reach their 30s, 72 percent of high school drop-outs are unemployed, with 60 percent of them having spent time in prison.

Teaching Firms of America is a “Teaching Firm”—an innovative model for college preparatory elementary schools that will reshape the educational enterprise from the ground up by combining the very efficient professional organization structure of the law firm with the highly effective home school environment (where studies have shown minority students averaging reading and math scores in the 87th and 77th percentile, respectively). Using proven pedagogical methods, each of the Firm’s teaching practitioners will operate their own twelve-to-fourteen-student elementary schools within the Firm, creating a network of one-room school houses under one roof. Teachers are individually held accountable for their students' success after entering into contracts with their pupils and families. Through this unique structure, they hope to revive elementary education as a stepping stone for ascending from poverty to prosperity.

Biography:

Rafiq R. Kalam Id-Din II, Esq. most recently served as the Executive Director of the AnBryce Foundation. Previously, Rafiq was a corporate attorney with Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP in New York and Hong Kong. He holds an MA in Teaching from the University of Virginia and a JD from New York University School of Law.

Moment of Obligation: What experiences led to the desire to start your own organization?
I grew up in an environment where public education failed the vast majority of my peers, as it failed to yield its promise of a path away from the statistical certainties of incarceration and economic misery. As a young developing educator, I became increasingly uncomfortable with the thought of becoming a part of the same traditional schools that had thus far served as little more than pavement on the roads to prison and endless cycles of poverty. I pledged, and then set out to develop a model for public schools that would instead inspire, lead, and drive its students towards success and prosperity.

Gall to Think Big: What has given you the ability to dream big and take on deeply entrenched problems in the world?
Though we had very, very little in terms of wealth or possessions, my family filled me with the notion that there was nothing in this world beyond the reach of hard work, diligence, and patience. I was raised to believe it is my responsibility to leave this world far, far better than I found it, a sense of duty that continues to drive me. While my parents’ work as activists (early social entrepreneurs themselves), inspired in me a desire to defeat racism and end oppression, it was my own experiences living in poverty, besieged on all sides by violence and hopelessness, that demanded I do something about it for those not lucky enough to make it out.

New and Untested: What’s innovative about your new idea for social change?
By creating a model for inner city schools that operate with the professional structure of a law firm, my idea will yield an educational enterprise with no choice but to give the highest quality instruction to those who need it most. The law firm is an organizational model that is driven by the delivery of the highest quality legal service—unless its lawyers provide the very best counsel to their clients, their ability to make a living (and thus the firm’s very existence), is seriously undermined. The result is an organization comprised solely of professionals, all of whom are motivated by the incentive to perfect their craft for the sake of their clients, and ultimately themselves. My “Teaching Firm” successfully translates this model into a school, one that has no choice by to provide its students with the highest quality instruction.

Seeing Possibilities: What are the most important qualities to be a successful social entrepreneur?
Vision: one must be able to see the path to your goal and envision your destination.
Patience: entrepreneurial ventures are rarely ready made, thus must be honed and chiseled from the rock of convention; this requires patience and perseverance.
Passion/Drive: without a fanatical dedication and commitment to your endeavor, success will remain elusive.
Diligence: one must sweat the details and follow through; there is no substitute for hard work.
Study: one must always be a student of their endeavor, forever learning and seeking as yet unearthed information.
Nerve: as Frederick Douglass once said, “power cedes nothing without a demand.” It is through our efforts that we will make it so.

Which musical artists/albums get you going and keep you inspired?
Talib Kweli and Mos Def, Gavin DeGraw, The Roots, Jill Scott, Nas, Musiq, St. Germain, Tribe Called Quest, Donny Hathaway (song: “Young, Gifted and Black”), John Mayer, Lauren Hill (album: The Mis-Education of Lauren Hill), Bob Marley, India Arie, Tracy Chapman.

What books do you recommend?
Lao Tzu’s The Tao Te Ching, Deborah Meier’s The Power of Their Ideas, Booker T. Washington’s Up From Slavery, Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, Willam Glasser’s Choice Theory, J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, Carter G. Woodson’s The Mis-Education of the Negro, Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, George Herbert’s Dune, James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time, Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, and John Dewey’s Democracy and Education.

Which websites do you visit often?

What advice or quote do you keep close to your heart as a social change leader?
“Success is not a ‘happening’, there is nothing mysterious about progression; it’s doing instead of doubting, working instead of wishing.” - Gail Kalam Id-Din, Mother and Matriarch of the Kalam Id-Din family.

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Rafiq Kalam Id-Din