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.n a deeper level.
Founder’s Journey
When students are empowered to support one another, leadership begins to grow—and communities begin to change.
The Story Behind TAFT
TAFT Foundation was born from a simple but powerful belief: that students themselves can become catalysts for educational change when they are empowered to support one another.
For nearly three decades, Dr. Yajuan Ding has worked across multiple roles in education—as a middle school English teacher, university librarian and translator, adjunct lecturer, and founder of educational organizations serving gifted and talented students. Through these experiences, she developed a deep understanding of how educational opportunities shape students’ life trajectories.
Over time, one pattern became increasingly clear. While many students demonstrate extraordinary potential, access to opportunity is not evenly distributed. Students from low-income and underrepresented backgrounds often lack the academic support, mentorship, and encouragement needed to fully develop their talents.
Dr. Ding began to ask a fundamental question:
What if students themselves could become part of the solution?
The Birth of the TAFT Program
The idea for the TAFT Program emerged in March during Dr. Ding’s participation in the Stanford University School Leaders Program, when she reflected on how educational leaders can create systemic change. During a Zoom coaching session with Dr. Tawheedah Abdullah, she began exploring how peer tutoring systems might empower high-potential students to support peers experiencing academic challenges.
During the discussion, Dr. Abdullah recommended the influential report “Miles to Go” by Dr. Max Altman of the Southern Education Foundation. The report highlights the persistent gap between the diversity of America’s student population and that of its teaching workforce.
These insights helped crystallize the vision behind TAFT.
TAFT—short for Tutor and Future Teacher—was designed as a model in which students from diverse and low-income backgrounds could receive academic support, provide peer tutoring, 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 idea eventually evolved into the TAFT Program, a peer tutoring and leadership development model designed to cultivate future educators.
Discovering a Theoretical Foundation
In January 2026, after submitting an application to the Mid-Career Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, Dr. Ding explored research conducted by faculty at the school.
During this process she encountered the work of 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 thinking about leadership development in complex educational environments.
These ideas resonated strongly 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 conceptual foundations of Flux Leadership while adapting its principles to the developmental contexts of adolescents and the relational nature of peer learning environments.
Rather than viewing leadership solely as a position of authority, SPFL examines how leadership can emerge organically among students through peer tutoring, mentorship, and collaborative 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 continued development of the SPFL framework is 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 – Lead Academic Advisor & Chief Methodologist
- Jonathan A. Plucker – Talent Development
- Deborah Jewell-Sherman – Educational Leadership & Equity
- Max Altman – 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.
Looking Ahead
TAFT Foundation’s long-term vision is to create learning ecosystems in which 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.