The Teaching Excellence and Achievement Program (TEA) is a program of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State, and implemented by IREX, a Washington, DC-based non-profit organization. It provides participants with unique opportunities to develop expertise in their subject areas, enhance their teaching skills, and increase their knowledge about the United States. The participants travel to the United States to participate in a 6-week professional development program at a U.S. university. The professional development program will include coursework and intensive training in teaching methodologies, lesson planning, teaching strategies for the participants' home environment, educational leadership, as well as the use of computers for Internet, word processing, and as teaching tools. The 6-week program also includes a 2 to 3-week internship at a secondary school to actively engage participants with American teachers and students. Trips to U.S. cultural sites and academic support are provided for participants throughout the program.

Also, TEA provides follow-on grants to the international teachers to purchase essential materials for their schools, to offer follow-on training for other teachers, and to conduct other activities that will build on the exchange visits.

Eligible applicants must be:

• secondary-level, full-time teachers with five or more years of classroom experience in either English as a Foreign Language; or Social Science (social studies, civics, geography or history)
• Citizens of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, India, Bangladesh, Argentina, Cambodia, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Haiti, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Ghana, and Senegal.
• Proficient in written and spoken English