Today we’d like to introduce you to Baiyina Jihad.
Baiyina Jihad is a native of Atlanta, Georgia. She is the fifth of six children. At six, she realized how hard my parents worked to provide for us. Both of her parents had their own businesses and in addition to that, they worked hard in community development projects in the West End. Watching her parents make time for their passion and impact the community at the same time, inspired her to become an educator and later, a social entrepreneur. Baiyina decided to stay close to home to pursue her Bachelor’s degree at Georgia State University. While studying at GSU, she changed her initial major from Early Childhood Education to History, with a minor in African American Studies. In doing so, she was able to fulfill both, her passion for learning about history and working towards a career as an educator. During her senior year in college, she applied and got accepted to Teach for America. She taught for four years at her South Fulton placement school teaching 3rd-grade English Language Arts and Writing. As a reading teacher, she noticed a startling pattern, a large number of students entering 3rd grade were reading below the appropriate reading level. Unfortunately, parents of the families that attended the school lack the resources and time to assist the students in improving their reading skills. These experiences fueled her desire to mend the gap between literacy and access to supportive resources.
As an educator, she noticed many resources is technology-driven and removed the important human interactions. She believes human interaction is pivotal to the overall growth of the students both socially and academically. With her ideas and passion combined, she created a virtual literacy service, Beyond the Classroom. She was able to foster this idea into a business with Goodie Nation: Hack Violence accelerator program. To continue to grow as an entrepreneur, Baiyina participated in numerous programs such as 4.0 schools and Female Founder School. She was currently accepted to Atlanta Tech Village: It Takes A Village and North Atlanta Venture program. Baiyina and BTC were featured in Hypopatemus and Fast Company to talk about her journey as an entrepreneur.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Transitioning from a teacher to a full-time entrepreneur hasn’t been a smooth path for Baiyina. She believes the first thing she had to overcome was the internal battle with feeling like an imposter. Imposter syndrome can make you feel like you do not belong or fully capable to take roles or opportunities given to you. Ms. Jihad had to really work on combating these thoughts every day by mentally challenging herself by saying, “Why not you?” Also, believing that the reading deficiency gap is much bigger than herself. BTC can make a difference in the lives of students by increasing their reading growth. The statics states students who read below level have a 63% chance to be incarcerated or on public assistance. Another challenge she faced was developing a team that consists of skills that are needed to build a sustainable educational technology service. Known startups consist of friends that the business wiener meets in college or family who’ve been able to assist with building their founding team. Since Ms. Jihad was new to the tech ecosystem and a solo founder, she had to overcome this challenge by growing her network and building connections. She was fortunate to have mentors and advisors who were willing to help with the progress of BTC. As a result of the external and internal barriers, Baiyina had to learn unconventional ways to continue making progress towards herself as a founder and her company.
Please tell us about Beyond the Classroom.
Beyond the Classroom (BTC) is a personalized on-demand literacy service that gives
students access to reading content on their level and support with a virtual literacy coach. We provide students with a collection of diverse-highly interesting books that target their reading level. BTC believes it’s important for students to be exposed to a variety of reading materials to become lifelong readers. We measure each student’s progress through fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. Each student receives 20 to 30 minutes of reading sessions with their virtual literacy coaches. The first 3-5 minute is used to reinforce a reading skill and the remaining time is spent on students immediately practicing that skill in real-time by reading aloud with the literacy coach. The coach is there to provide support for students while they’re reading. We are known for providing quality educators who are equipped with foundational skills to give students the most support and engaging experience. In addition to measuring students academic growth, we also measure students’ reading engagement and confidence. We believe building students’ reading confidence is imperative for academic growth. What differentiates us from other tutoring services, is our measurements, content, and virtual literacy coaches. As a former educator, I am proud that our mission is to provide educators a side hustle to impact students outside of their classrooms, which gives educators to continue their passion to support students. Today, BTC has successfully partnered with after school programs to service over 70 students in 2nd- 4th grade. We are currently focused on expanding and developing technology to allow us to impact students both nationally and globally.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
The proudest moment in my career thus far is seeing students who were labeled as struggling readers develop a level of confidence and reading with our service. For example, one of our students that we serve through the after school program came in with the fixed mindset about his abilities in reading. He believed that he was a poor reader and known for shutting down when asked to read. At first, it took him a minute to warm up to the idea he would be reading to a stranger. BTC’s core beliefs are that coaches and students build a relationship with each other. So, after they developed a rapport with each other, he was able to focus on his literacy with consistent positive support. After six weeks, he made 30% growth in both fluency and reading comprehension. I am looking forward to making more impact on students across the globe.
Contact Info:
- Website: bytc.us
- Instagram: Beyondtheclassroom_atl
- Facebook: BYTClassroom
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