Our Journey

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is working to address the critical need for recruiting, preparing and retaining highly effective STEM leaders in high-need school districts by building and disseminating research-based practices for pre-service STEM teacher education for STEM teachers in high-need schools. Through AAAS’s Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship program (Noyce) grant, AAAS is building and disseminating research-based practices about stimulating and advancing innovation in preservice education of STEM teachers. AAAS has undertaken a multi-year effort to identify (a) what we know from current research on STEM teacher preparation programs and what we want to know and (b) innovative strategies for implementing core concepts and competencies for STEM teacher education and practices and plans to disseminate this learning broadly to Noyce programs at an annual AAAS hosted conference as well as to other preservice preparation programs for STEM teachers.

“To meet at least 80% year over year retention of our Black, Latinx and Native American STEM teachers within five years we will:
1.) Prioritize Teacher Support and Development: We will support teachers and leaders by providing them strong curricular resources and network support for lesson internalization and implementation.
2.) Provide effective professional development: We will focus on adaptive leadership skills and other leadership competencies that coaches and managers need to be successful in their support of teachers.
3.) Clarify who we are and what we stand for: We will work with a cross section of stakeholders to update our graduate aims for K-12 and create an explicit theory of learning at the high school level.
4.) Improve workplace systems and processes: We will strengthen payroll, accounting, HR systems, and other organizational processes; improve efficiency and clarity of communications; and revise goal setting and performance management systems.

Agile Mind, Inc is making two commitments in support of teacher belonging, representation and retention. By 2027, we will more than double the number of educators who are members of our national virtual professional learning community (VPLC) from 2,900 to 6,000. The VPLC provides opportunities for educators from 26 states and 300 districts to connect with others across the nation to share common and unique experiences, successes, and concerns. The VPLC is especially valuable to educators in isolated or single-school districts in which they are one of a few Agile Mind teachers in their schools by providing them ways to overcome a sense of isolation and develop a sense of belonging with peers. By 2027, Agile Mind, Inc will signifigantly increase the number of teachers we serve with a priority to support STEM teachers who teach Black, Latino and Native American students. By 2027, we will more than double the number of middle and high school teachers we serve with our mathematics and social and emotional learning programs and will serve a total of 15,000 teachers. We will also more than double the number of STEM teachers who serve Black, Latino, and Native American students through our support. By 2027, we will support school systems’ initiatives to prepare and retain over 500 math teachers from historically underserved communities.

By Fall 2028, AI Education Project (aiEDU) will significantly expand our reach and solidify partnerships across the country to support 100 more school districts in at least 10 states in order to actively contribute to transforming STEM education by focusing on the preparation of AI-literate teachers, particularly in schools serving predominantly underserved students. Our commitment centers on advancing equity and representation, aspiring to ensure that the ethnic and racial diversity of our curricular, professional learning, and policy programs mirrors that of the local communities we serve. Our commitment will result in transformative educational experiences ensuring that teachers and students are equipped with the necessary AI literacy to thrive in a rapidly evolving world.

By 2029, AISES will support 250 STEM teachers to cultivate classrooms of STEM belonging for Native American students. We will do this by implementing professional development programming such as our Indigenous Knowledge to Grow Successful STEM Teachers program , which will establish a graduate-level professional development course in partnership with Fort Lewis College. These efforts will build the capacity of and increase teacher retention among Indigenous STEM teachers and teachers of Indigenous students to increase educators’ abilities to provide culturally appropriate and effective instruction and supports to Indigenous students, which will ultimately increase Indigenous students’ STEM academic performance and college and career readiness.

“By 2027, Alder GSE has plans to prepare more than 900 STEM educators by expanding the number of school districts and organizations that we bring on as partners and prioritizing engaging districts and organizations that focus on achieving equitable outcomes and social justice. Alder GSE aims for 100% of their STEM teachers to be well-prepared to serve in schools that primarily serve Black, Latinx and/or Native American students by designing the scope and sequence of their coursework in a manner to provide residents with opportunities to explore schooling issues around power, privilege, oppression, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and identity. All courses are required to have common threads of DEI; culturally responsive, relevant, and sustaining teaching practices embedded within them. 95% of the school districts and charter school organizations where residents are placed serve majority Black, Latinx, and/or Native American students. The combination of coursework focused on issues of equity, social justice, power, and positionally with training in schools where the majority of students are marginalized will better prepare our teachers to serve those students and their communities.

Diversifying the teacher workforce is one of Alder’s main missions. Currently 70% of our residents (193) self identify as part of the Black, Latinx, and/or Native American community. Over the next five years, we will grow to our resident enrollment to 500 residents with approximately 340 new teachers who identify as Black, Latinx, and or Native American.”

By 2027, the AFT will utilize its existing train-the-trainer professional learning program to train 1500 educators from 20 local union/district partnerships across AFT membership to develop skills and mindsets that foster a sense of belonging in STEM classrooms. Extensive attention and focus will be centered on creating and maintaining identity safe and affirming classrooms where diversity is valued, embraced and celebrated. Facilitated trainings allow educators to examine their own social identities and reflect upon how deep culture can impact teacher-student/student-student relationships, engagement and instruction for Black, Latinx, Native American and LGBTQ+ students. Professional learning modules in this series offer evidence-based approaches to culturally responsive teaching, shaping STEM identities, reframing deficit language and confronting schoolwide barriers that limit social emotional and academic advancement for historically marginalized students. Technical assistance is available to support schoolwide alignment and implementation.

AMTA will add social connectedness questions to our surveys of all Modeling Workshop participants to see whether there are correlations between belongingness and race, ethnicity, gender (as well as other demographic factors). We will conduct annual surveys of members to see how these correlations change over time, and develop targeted programs to enhance BIPOC teacher resilience and belongingness.

Commitment Statement Coming Soon

By 2027, Arizona Science Center will provide intensive training to 1,000 teachers , 500 of whom work in schools that serve a high population of Black, Latinx and/or Native American students and with the goal of at least 75% of those trained remaining in the classroom for 3 or more years. In addition to intensive training, these teachers will receive ongoing coaching, resources, and materials that will contribute to their confidence and competence in STEM, therefore supporting their retention.

ASSET is committed to working with the Beyond100K network to share the key learnings of its work with higher education, industry, and community partners to recruit, develop, and retain STEM teachers who are professional, knowledgeable, confident, and reflexive. These educators will understand and practice the social, cognitive, and academic presence essential to teaching and learning in virtual spaces as well as face-to-face environments. They will understand and recognize the power of relationship building in teaching and learning. ASSET will support these educators in prioritizing equity in professional learning, identify and address their own biases and beliefs, and collaborate with diverse colleagues and learners. These educators will understand the value of immediate feedback to professional and classroom learning activities.

By 2028, the Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC) will seek ways to break down silos between formal and informal education, highlighting the knowledge and expertise developed in both spaces. We will approach this work through the lens of increasing equity, representation, and belonging and will strive to incorporate the most promising pedagogical and curricular design approaches to support the development and implementation of culturally relevant and sustainable STEM programming. In particular, we commit to providing space (virtual and in-person) for our members to share strategies and approaches in their pre-service and in-service professional learning programs, their curriculum and activity material development, and their school-based out-of-school time programming. We will also seek to engage at least 50 member organizations (including science centers and science museums, as well as allied science engagement organizations) around in-school/out-of-school time partnerships, and later seek to distribute funding to our members to support innovative work. ASTC will also continue participating in various advocacy coalitions at the Federal, state, and regional levels with a focus on equity in K-12 and out-of-school time learning, as well as pursuing policy opportunities in partnership with other STEM education and OST advocacy groups.

Over the next five years, ASSM will strategically work with the broader STEM community to build capacity among state Mathematics leaders to provide structures that assist educators who teach students that have been historically underrepresented in STEM fields. ASSM will support state leaders by: 1) Providing a minimum of five professional learning opportunities per year for state leaders focusing on culturally responsive pedagogical practices that supports a culture of belonging in math and a sense of identity for students and teachers; and 2) Creating a suite of tools and resources that support advocacy efforts and messaging on equity-aligned policies in mathematics teaching and learning; and 3) Helping educators in their states to collaborate with local districts and educator prep programs on examining the impact of mathematics standards in K-12 education with a focus on increasing high-quality classroom experiences and opportunities for students through the integration of equity-based practices in state standards and/or support documents.

Battelle’s goal is to reach 200 educators per year through 2027 who work in Title 1 schools and 100 Black teachers per year through 2027. Battelle supports educators through both our direct education work and philanthropic efforts in communities where our employees live and work. Battelle Education provides several professional development opportunities to share best practices in STEM. Ranging from yearlong cohort programs to hands-on training sessions, we are committed to connecting educators, sharing best practices, and promoting professional learning and growth. Philanthropically, Battelle helps reach talented students who might not otherwise have access to high quality STEM learning opportunities by supporting organizations that provide professional development for educators to learn new ways to integrate STEM concepts into their classrooms in an interdisciplinary context.

Within the next five years, we will train and support 500 preschool and elementary educators working with underserved students (in Title 1 and subsidized preschools) through the dissemination of research, teacher resources and professional development programs, focusing on foundational STEM learning.

By 2030, Belmont University will prepare 100 new PreK-12 educators in the STEM disciplines, with a particular focus on underrepresented populations and candidates of color, at least 75% of whom will demonstrate excellence in the classroom (as evidenced by evaluations of instructional practice), remain in the classroom for at least 8 years, and serve as enthusiastic ambassadors for the STEM fields. In addition, Belmont University will expose at least 150 high school students (primarily low-income, first generation, underrepresented, and/or students of color) to rigorous college-level STEM instruction, including in the sciences, data analytics, computer science, and/or statistics through dual enrollment summer programming.

By 2029, The Benjamin Banneker Association, Inc. will have completed the creation and hosting of annual webinars which target 150 teachers (per year) of black children and engage them in a series of learning opportunities that center around advancing mathematics equity, culturally relevant instruction and the teaching of mathematics through the lens of social justice. Each learning opportunity will focus on the needs of Black, Latinx, and/or Native American students. Opportunities to engage in deeper discussions and training will be offered to 12 school districts and systems (per year) to further our impact on reaching STEM educators. Each year, as a result of these efforts, 12 administrators, 12 school leaders, and 60 teachers will gain a better understanding of mathematics equity, culturally relevant instruction and social justice focused curriculum opportunities and 1,500 students will gain a greater sense of their mathematical identities and be motivated to participate in rigorous mathematics beyond the K-12 offerings and ultimately advance into career paths in the STEM fields. This will impact learning by increasing student participation in extracurricular STEM activities, advanced mathematics courses and college going rates as measured by educator reported data through end of year surveys including Likert-type items to measure students’ feelings of belonging in STEM.

Commitment Statement Coming Soon

“By 2027, Breakthrough Collaborative aims to double the number of Teaching Fellows placed nationwide. They will recruit 6,250 Teaching Fellows across their school year and summer programs with 25% of the Fellows teaching STEM. Breakthrough Collaborative aims to increase the number of STEM teachers completing the program over the next five years by increasing our recruitment presence through local and nationally targeted outreach, university/college partnerships, and our alumni network.

Breakthrough Collaborative aims to increase the number of Teaching Fellows who identify as BIPOC as the organization grows. Currently, 76% of Teaching Fellows identify as BIPOC, including 18% of Teaching Fellows who are/were program participants of Breakthrough. To continue to grow the number and percentage of Teaching Fellows who identify as BIPOC, Breakthrough uses an intentional recruitment strategy focusing on local community colleges, state colleges, HBCUs, and MSIs. Additionally, Breakthrough Collaborative is building partnerships with the Branch Alliance for Educator Diversity, and Latinos for Education to increase the number of Teaching Fellows from diverse backgrounds.

As part of Breakthrough Collaborative’s Human First Framework, we commit to update our curriculum and instructional training to better prepare Teaching Fellows for developing the skills and mindsets to foster belonging in STEM, as measured by pre and post surveys in our programming. In the subsequent phases of our work, we will launch a student advisory curriculum based on programming from the national expert, Partnerships in Education and Resilience (PEAR). We also have plans to develop a framework and professional development for Teaching Fellows and staff that is aligned to the HFF. Additionally, we recently completed a one-year middle school Math pilot funded by the Gates foundation at two of our affiliates in Boston and Austin. The pilot was focused on developing student’s math identities through a near-pear afterschool tutoring program. Early data from the pilot developed by the Search Institute has shown the increase in student’s sense of belonging, and mattering within both pilot sites, with students reporting evidence of growth around math enjoyment and math confidence.

Over 98% of Teaching Fellows who complete the Breakthrough summer fellowship report an “”excellent and very good”” experience, along with over 90% who would recommend the experience to a friend. However, we know that constant growth and learning are important to truly meet the needs of our majority BIPOC Teaching Fellow community. In order for our organization to fully show up for our students and communities, we recognize that investing in race, equity, diversity, and inclusion (REDI) work internally is a critical component of delivering on our mission. As such, for the second consecutive year, we are participating in the Promise54 DEI Accelerator to strengthen our capacity and bring a data-driven approach to our work on race and equity.”

Commitment Statement Coming Soon