TAFT Foundation was born from a simple belief: that students can become powerful agents of change when they are given the opportunity to support one another.
Founder’s Journey
When students are empowered to support one another, leadership begins to grow—and communities begin to change.
The Story Behind TAFT
The creation of TAFT Foundation is the result of a lifelong journey in education.
For nearly three decades, Dr. Yajuan Ding has worked across multiple roles in education—as a middle school English teacher, university librarian, translator, adjunct lecturer, and founder of educational organizations serving gifted and talented students.
Across these experiences, she witnessed a powerful truth: talent is everywhere, but opportunity is not.
Many students possess extraordinary potential. Yet students from low-income and underrepresented backgrounds often lack access to the academic support, mentorship, and encouragement needed to fully develop their talents.
Over time, one question began to take shape:
What if students themselves could become part of the solution?
A turning point
In March 2025, during a Zoom coaching session while enrolled in the Stanford University School Leaders Program, Dr. Tawheedah Abdullah recommended an influential report titled “Miles to Go” by Dr. Max Altman of the Southern Education Foundation. The report highlights a striking reality: while America’s student population has become increasingly diverse, the teaching workforce has not kept pace.
For Dr. Ding, this insight sparked a powerful idea.
What if high-potential students from underserved communities could support one another academically—while also developing the skills and confidence to become future educators?
The Birth of TAFT
From this idea emerged the TAFT Program.
TAFT—short for Tutor and Future Teacher—was designed as a peer tutoring and mentorship model in which high-potential students from diverse and low-income backgrounds support peers experiencing academic challenges, earn scholarships, and gradually develop into future educators.
The name TAFT was created by Dr. Ding on March 21, 2025 during a visit to Aranya, a seaside community in Hebei, China. The name captured the essence of the initiative: empowering students to support one another while building pathways into the teaching profession.
This vision eventually led to the founding of TAFT Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering underserved advanced learners through peer learning, leadership development, and the research-informed Scalable Peer Flux Leadership (SPFL) framework.
Discovering a Theoretical Foundation
In January 2026, while exploring research at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, Dr. Ding encountered the work of Dr. Sharon M. Ravitch
Dr. Ravitch’s scholarship on Flux Leadership and her book Leadership Mindsets for Adaptive Change: The Flux 5 provided a compelling theoretical lens for understanding leadership development in complex educational environments.
These ideas resonated deeply with the leadership vision behind the TAFT Program. Dr. Ding began exploring how the principles of Flux Leadership could be adapted for youth leadership development, particularly within peer tutoring and mentoring systems where leadership emerges through collaboration rather than formal authority.
The Emergence of SPFL
This intellectual exploration led to the development of Scalable Peer Flux Leadership (SPFL).
SPFL builds on the insights of Flux Leadership, adapting them to the developmental contexts of adolescents and the relational dynamics of peer-learning environments.
Rather than viewing leadership as a formal position, SPFL examines how leadership may emerge organically among students through peer tutoring, mentorship, collaboration, and shared learning experiences.
The framework seeks to understand how peer learning systems can cultivate leadership identity, communication skills, social-emotional competencies, and a commitment to supporting others.
A Community of Scholars
The ongoing development of the SPFL framework will be supported by a group of distinguished scholars and advisors who contribute expertise in leadership research, talent development, educational equity, and education policy.
These advisors include:
- Sharon M. Ravitch (U Penn GSE)– Lead Academic Advisor & Chief Methodologist
- Jonathan A. Plucker (JHU SOE)– Expert Advisor in Talent Development
- Deborah Jewell-Sherman (Harvard GSE)– Expert Advisor in Educational Leadership & Equity
- Max Altman (SEF)– Expert Advisor in Education Policy
Through collaboration with these scholars, TAFT Foundation continues to refine the SPFL framework and develop research-informed program models that support youth leadership development.
A vision for the future
TAFT Foundation’s long-term vision is to create learning ecosystems where students are empowered not only to succeed academically but also to support the learning and growth of others.
By connecting educational practice, leadership development, and research inquiry, TAFT seeks to cultivate future educators and contribute to a more diverse and equitable teaching workforce in the United States.