PenPal Schools

PenPal Schools operates an online platform that pairs students in different countries as pen pals and structures their exchanges around curriculum content. Students read informational texts and watch videos about a topic, choose from a set of weekly discussion questions, then draft written answers or record audio and video responses to share with their PenPals, covering reading, writing, speaking and listening practice in English. An AI tutor gives students instant feedback on writing and speaking, while teachers can see every student message; messages are additionally screened by AI for safety and respectful conduct.

Earlier versions of the program were built around multi-week, project-based courses for students aged 8-18, aligned to academic standards including Common Core and offered at multiple difficulty levels, with some topics designed for English-language learners. Topics have spanned current events, human rights, the environment, fake news, robotics, folk tales, art and immigration. Students worked in classroom groups to produce videos, presentations, service projects, art and poems, shared with peers, teachers and parents in a PenPal Schools Showcase, and completed lesson sequences that unlocked forums where they interacted with students worldwide who had answered the same question. Teachers could review and grade work against customizable reading comprehension, writing, digital citizenship and social-emotional criteria, access offline class activities and professional development resources, and search educator forums by country, subject and student age to invite other classrooms into projects.

The organization describes its mission as improving students' communication skills while developing empathy and global understanding, with the longer-term aim of increasing cooperation and reducing conflict globally by helping future leaders understand people of different backgrounds and beliefs.

Founding story

PenPal Schools was started in 2011 under the name PenPal News with a website for students to discuss current events. Founder Joe Troyen has said the program was created because traditional school pen pal programs had fallen out of favor when teachers lacked time for activities not aligned to educational standards, so the company paired cultural exchange with standards-aligned curriculum.

Business model

PenPal Schools describes itself as a social enterprise. The current platform is offered free to teachers and students with no subscriptions, hidden fees or advertising, supported by optional donations. Earlier coverage described a pay-what-you-can model for teachers.

No subscription or advertising revenue on the current product; the site solicits optional donations to support the platform. An earlier iteration used a pay-what-you-can pricing model for teachers.

Traction

The company states that over half a million students from more than 130 countries have connected on PenPal Schools; HundrED records 500,000 students and 195 countries and elsewhere describes 150 countries. Earlier milestones reported by Built In Austin were more than 50,000 students in 43 nations at the time of the Austin move, growing to over 120,000 students from 170 countries by the later article.

Latest developments

The current site positions the product as free global English practice, with an AI tutor giving instant feedback on student writing and speaking and AI review of student messages for safety, alongside a weekly question format and class-code onboarding. A HundrED profile notes the organization has created a newer programme called Go Pangea.