Our Journey

Over the next five years, Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) will recruit and prepare a minimum of 500 Black teachers to be proficient in STEM education delivery. To do this we will recruit and provide professional development in STEM education to HBCU-educated pre-service and in-service teachers for our Teacher Quality and Retention Program (TQRP). TMCF also will continue its intentional focus on Black Male Teachers by recruiting in-service Black male teachers to participate in its program. This will lead to elementary teachers in PK-5 becoming proficient in STEM educational techniques, and middle and secondary school STEM teachers becoming proficient in pedagogical techniques to ensure they are able to delivery the STEM content effectively. TMCF’s TQRP also will provide professional development to support Black teacher social-emotional well-being, which is critical to teacher retention. TMCF also will periodically engage TQRP participants in order to adapt the program to their evolving needs, to ensure teacher retention and success.
The majority of in-service TQRP Fellows teach in Title I schools and impact minority children, while the majority of pre-service TQRP Fellows seek to enter careers in Title I schools. In turn, teach elementary school teacher will impact a minimum of 30 students per year, and upper level teachers will impact at least 50 students annually.

Over the next five years, TST will retain 90% of PK-12th grade BIPOC educators, including those supporting STEM subjects, with a focus on serving BIPOC students through intentional recruitment to historically under-resourced schools. Through our programming, we invest in a diverse cohort of teacher leaders by energizing and empowering their leadership abilities. This includes access to 1:1 Coaching, a year-long leadership-focused roundtable series, and a cohort of connected educators who are working on similar goals. As a result, ~40 educators will continue, from year to year, to serve as a teacher in a PK-12 classroom. This will impact learning for ~14K PK-12 students per year.

TechBridge Girls will deliver STEM Equity training and/or OST curriculum to at least 500 educators serving primarily BIPOC youth from marginalized communities annually. We will intentionally recruit educators working with BIPOC youth from marginalized communities. Our educators will join us from a variety of partnerships with national and statewide networks and will serve in Title 1 schools or nonprofits serving BIPOC youth. TechBridge Girls’ training and curriculum address STEM belonging explicitly by centering BIPOC contributions to STEM, creating gender-responsive environments, and challenging educators to consider their biases, power and position in the classroom. We will use our STEM Equity Framework to measure success and, where possible, share our findings with Network partners.

Commitment Statement Coming Soon

The Tennessee Educators of Color Alliance (TECA) is dedicated to fostering equity, excellence, and opportunity for underrepresented STEM educators. Our commitment to the Beyond 100K Network aligns with our mission to ensure every student, especially those from historically marginalized communities, has an opportunity to experience educators from diverse backgrounds. By 2043, TECA is committed to ending the STEM teacher shortage in Tennessee by developing systemic solutions that focus on recruiting, supporting, and retaining 250 STEM educators of color. Our strategy centers on creating pathways for aspiring STEM teachers from diverse backgrounds, leveraging culturally relevant recruitment campaigns, and establishing partnerships with institutions of higher education, community organizations, and industry leaders.

To achieve these goals, we will design 10 professional learning communities over the next 5 years tailored to the needs of educators of color in STEM fields, providing mentorship, leadership development, and wellness support. We will also advocate for policies that improve teacher pay, reduce barriers to certification, and promote teacher preparation programs that address the unique challenges faced by underrepresented communities. Through TECA’s efforts, we envision a Tennessee where STEM classrooms reflect the diversity of our communities and where every student has access to educators who inspire them to succeed in the sciences.

Over the next five years, Texas Woman’s University and the School of the Sciences will support the recruitment of STEM educators into educational preparation programs by increasing STEM engagement and cultivating a sense of belonging in STEM majors through the development of their STEM identity. This will be achieved by expanding STEM opportunities such as developing new majors, fostering research clusters, and hiring additional faculty. As a result, more STEM undergraduates will see a pathway to STEM education as a viable and desirable career, leading to a significant increase in the number of STEM majors who become educators teaching in 9-12 classrooms. Specifically, we will increase the number of STEM educators from 7 in 2024 to 14 in 2029.

TNTP commits to supporting students in high-needs schools with more equitable access to a STEM education by recruiting and training STEM educators for their schools and increasing the representation of teachers of color within the STEM field: By 2027, we plan to recruit at least 500 new elementary and secondary math and science teachers that will serve students in high-needs schools. As an organization, we are committed to closing the diversity gap that exists between students and teachers and therefore, will aim for 60% of those new educators to identify as people of color. We will accomplish this by 1) using recruitment and selection processes that focus on eliminating bias and investing in potential candidates from within local communities; 2) expanding access to the profession through teacher pathways that purposefully identify and eliminate the barriers to access for our candidates of color; and 3) improve the development experience and persistence for candidates of color through affinity cohort experiences that provide identity-specific mentorship and collaboration to successfully navigate current systems of bias and/or racism.

The South Bay Consortium Teacher Residency Program and Torrance Unified School District Teacher Induction Program commits to recruit, prepare, and retain STEM teachers from underrepresented populations over the next 5 years: By 2027 we will work strategically with our partners and communities to recruit 81 teacher residency candidates to increase the number of marginalized STEM teachers, with the goal of preparing at least 50% of our STEM teachers at the same percentages as are represented in their student populations. Specifically in our Teacher Induction Program we will cultivate a workplace of belonging with a focus on culturally relevant practices to support the needs of marginalized STEM teachers with the goal of retaining for at least 5 years 100% of our teacher candidates. The Teacher Residency and Induction Programs will initiate a local pipeline for diversity and support of underrepresented teachers in STEM who reflect their communities. Measurements of impact will include the number of underrepresented candidates recruited and their retention rates in our teacher residency and induction programs. We will also include reliable and valid survey measures to gauge the perceptions of teachers’ belonging within the sites and programs.

The South Bay Consortium Teacher Residency Program and Torrance Unified School District Teacher Induction Program commits to recruit, prepare, and retain STEM teachers from underrepresented populations over the next 5 years: By 2027 we will work strategically with our partners and communities to recruit 81 teacher residency candidates to increase the number of marginalized STEM teachers, with the goal of preparing at least 50% of our STEM teachers at the same percentages as are represented in their student populations. Specifically in our Teacher Induction Program we will cultivate a workplace of belonging with a focus on culturally relevant practices to support the needs of marginalized STEM teachers with the goal of retaining for at least 5 years 100% of our teacher candidates. The Teacher Residency and Induction Programs will initiate a local pipeline for diversity and support of underrepresented teachers in STEM who reflect their communities. Measurements of impact will include the number of underrepresented candidates recruited and their retention rates in our teacher residency and induction programs. We will also include reliable and valid survey measures to gauge the perceptions of teachers’ belonging within the sites and programs.

Tulsa Regional STEM Alliance will work to ensure that 500 STEM educators have the curriculum, content and materials they need to feel supported as professionals in their classroom. This support is designed to address teacher burnout and foster a sense of community and support for teachers, addressing some of the common causes of STEM teacher attrition.

Tulsa Regional STEM Alliance commits to developing professional development offerings for their network of 750 educators, which will include methods to build a sense of belonging for the educators who access the professional development and how to foster belonging for the students they serve. Tulsa Regional STEM Alliance also commits to ensure the stories of Black, Latinx and/or Native American students and professionals are shared with their educator advisory council of 25 members. The educator advisory council serves as a teacher leadership group that will serve as leaders within their school and communities for how to support skills and mindsets to foster belonging for all students in STEM.

Tulsa Regional STEM Alliance is developing professional development offerings for their network of 750 educators, which will include methods to build a sense of belonging for the educators who access the professional development and how to foster belonging for the students they serve.

By 2029, Tuva will support 100,000 3-12 STEM educators to cultivate classrooms of STEM belonging.  This goal includes providing professional development for 250 Black, Latinx, and/or Native American educators. Additionally, we will support Black, Latinx, and Native American students by curating place-based, culturally relevant, and representative datasets and lessons coupled with live and recorded webinars and teacher spotlight blogs for educators to develop data literacy proficiency while creating a sense of belonging through cultivating connection. As a result of these efforts, educators will develop higher levels of data literacy proficiency and implement real-world math and science lessons relevant to their students and community, and students will experience the joy of learning math and science through real-world applications about topics of interest to them. This will impact learning for 11.2 million 3-12 students over five years.

By 2027, UCLA will prepare at least 320 STEM teachers, with a focus on recruiting teachers of color as part of a statewide effort to diversify the teaching profession via residencies. State and federally funded residencies offer funding that helps provide the monetary support to engage in our graduate school program. We have engaged in statewide collaboration efforts with teacher education programs throughout the state to further support teachers of color. Through an organization called Ed Prep Lab and nationally through Bank Street we have focused on strengthening residency efforts at both the state and national level. In these efforts we have surveyed our teachers and engaged in semi structured interviews where monetary support remains pivotal. We are continuing efforts to apply for grant funds to support enrollment costs. Further, we have modified our readings in all courses to be more responsive and sustaining of teachers and students of color. Pedagogical shifts that include models of culturally relevant and sustaining practices are central to our methods courses and field based feedback. Lastly, we have started affinity groups within our teacher education program to better diversity student supports and engagement in our program.

By 2027, UCLA will contribute to increasing the retention of Black, Latinx, and Native American STEM teachers by continuing our residency model in which our alumni act as mentor teachers and increasing focus on recruiting teachers of color. Alumni are part of the recruitment structure by serving as panelists during recruitment sessions and allowing potential applicants to visit their classrooms. Further, mentor teachers who act as PBL guides and support new teachers in crafting lessons that are grounded in content equity community centric issues. Both mentor teachers and PBL guides and other forms of thought partnership feel reinvigorated around teaching and feel a sense of belonging and connection, which leads to increased retention (80% retention of teachers stay in the profession for five years). Further, we place our teachers in pairs at school sites and preferably where there are alumni and if possible, leadership that are graduates of UCLA’s Principal Leadership Institute. Through this vertical articulation and embedded field based support we increase the potential of teacher growth and development over their early profession. Lastly, many of our alumni also participate in the UCLA Content Based state funded projects such as the UCLA Math Project, UCLA Science Project, UCLA Computer Science Equity Project, etc. These professional development spaces allow for further growth, development and sustainability. We develop long standing partnerships with specific schools where we build capacity. These last two years we have started affinity groups within our teacher education program to further support our students of color. Our faculty is very diverse, much more so than most departments at UCLA.

By 2027, University of California, Santa Barbara commits to preparing an additional 75 STEM educators. In addition, UCSB will develop and share at least ten concrete practices for effective teacher education over the next five years with the Beyond100K Network. We are developing methodologies for effectively teaching diverse groups of learners, including multilingual learners and special education students. These practices aim to increase future teachers’ readiness to create inclusive learning communities in their classrooms where relevant, culturally responsive and engaging STEM teaching and learning is the norm.

By 2027, University of California, Santa Barbara commits to increase the percentage of Latinx, Black, and Native American STEM teacher candidates in our teacher education program from less than half to over two/thirds. This will increase the number of Latinx, Black, and Native American STEM teachers credentialed by our program from approximately 40 to approximately 80 in the next five years. We will achieve a higher diversity of STEM teacher candidates (a) through intensive outreach and mentoring of our CalTeach undergraduates, who are very diverse, with a majority being Latinx students; and (b) through financial support to offset the cost of our teacher education program.

By 2028, The University of Chicago, through their Inclusive Innovation Initiative at the Office of Civic Engagement, will provide 30 South Side Chicago Public School educators with professional development in QISE and STEM, and 400 Chicago Public School educators with Quantum-adjacent STEM enrichment opportunities. Our goal is to ensure that professional development opportunities are accessible, inclusive, culturally-responsive and scaled to reach the teachers that are serving students that are traditionally underrepresented in STEM. We will work closely with school staff and leaders to co-create opportunities that resonate with their experiences and are aligned to their curriculum and classroom goals.

Over the next five years, the University of Illinois’ secondary teacher education program will work to expand opportunities for 50 University of Illinois students interested in becoming STEM teachers through the development of new pathways to certification. As part of our work, we are developing 4+1 programs (e.g. Bachelor + Certificate or Bachelor + Master) for students who decide late in their undergraduate career to become teachers. Additionally, we are developing pathways for licensure for students in newly established undergraduate majors. As a land grant institution, we have the responsibility to provide new opportunities for our students so that they are supported in becoming the teachers needed in a changing world.

University of Indianapolis commits to increase the number of teacher candidates to complete our program. By 2027, we aim to grow our program from one secondary STEM student to 2-3 students per year, and 5 per year at the elementary level. We aim to have a third of the population come from a diverse background. We commit to improve our retention rate from 60% to 80%, and 80% must earn a B or better in their science and math courses in order to get a STEM minor. A quarter of those in the program will get an elementary STEM license in Indiana.

The University of Indianapolis commits to supporting teacher belonging and teacher retention. We commit to help foster belonging for teachers by making our program more qualitative than quantitative (for example, helping them develop an engineering/STEM identity, etc.). We will measure this improvement by conducting surveys at the beginning and end of programs. We will also implement other opportunities for teacher candidates to get more on-the-ground experience: through our new local, paid apprenticeship program so they can work in schools for professional development and by teaching in 4th and 5th grade classrooms in high poverty school districts so they can see and have access to exemplar, highly effective STEM lessons and gain more confidence in both the content and teaching. In order to retain more teachers, The University of Indianapolis is setting up a Teacher Prep Academy to help foster a sense of belonging for the teachers. This will incorporate Success Saturdays, student peer mentors, end of year celebrations, and field trips to see other schools. All of this will help them feel a connection to the career and help them see what life would like going this route. Next year, we’ll be building out supports in our freshman orientation.

University of Indianapolis commits to helping students feel belonging in the classroom by developing an assets driven program called Students at Promise for teachers to use that builds in supports and interventions to help eliminate barriers that keep first generation students from getting a degree. This way of teaching will recognize the specific life skills and assets that first generation students bring to college (many that are often invisible), and help move us away from deficit based thinking to strength-based asset recognition.

The University of Indianapolis commits to supporting teacher belonging and teacher retention. We commit to help foster belonging for teachers by making our program more qualitative than quantitative (for example, helping them develop an engineering/STEM identity, etc.). We will measure this improvement by conducting surveys at the beginning and end of programs. We will also implement other opportunities for teacher candidates to get more on-the-ground experience. For example, through our new local, paid apprenticeship program so they can work in schools for professional development. We also have an opportunity for candidates to teach in 4th and 5th grade classrooms in high poverty school districts so they can see and have access to exemplar, highly effective STEM lessons and gain more confidence in both the content and teaching. In order to retain more teachers, The University of Indianapolis is setting up a Teacher Prep Academy to help foster a sense of belonging for the teachers. This will incorporate Success Saturdays, student peer mentors, end of year celebrations, and field trips to see other schools. All of this will help them feel a connection to the career and help them see what life would like going this route. Next year, we’ll be building out supports in our freshman orientation.

By 2029, the University of Mary Washington will recruit and prepare 275 secondary and elementary STEM teachers to teach in culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms and will increase the number of teacher education graduates who are Black, Latinx, or Native American by 50%. In addition to integrating culturally and linguistically relevant pedagogy throughout our teacher preparation program, including in STEM teaching methods courses, we will meet these goals by capitalizing on recent grant funding and existing partnerships. We will develop a Call Me Mister program focused on the recruitment and retention of male teachers of color, and through a recent Robert F. Noyce grant, we will prepare 18 secondary STEM teachers to teach in culturally and linguistically relevant ways in diverse STEM classrooms. We will continue to strengthen our ties to local school districts serving Black and Latinx students through our School-University Partnership program and will provide resources to our local community through tutoring initiatives that support culturally and linguistically diverse students outside of the classroom. Through these initiatives, we hope to increase the diversity of the STEM teaching field and to better prepare STEM teachers at all levels to teach in culturally and linguistically diverse settings.

By 2027, the Dana Center will build capacity for K-12 education systems to more equitability advance student engagement, persistence, and success in mathematics – especially Algebra 1, a critical gateway to high school graduation and higher mathematics and science learning. The Center will partner with at least 20 systems in New Mexico and Texas that predominantly serve Black and Latino students and students experiencing poverty and serve almost 400 educators. Professional learning will focus on enhancing leadership support of teachers and developing teachers’ mathematical knowledge and pedagogical strategies, especially those strategies related to culturally responsive instruction, supporting students’ social and emotional development, and developing academic literacy for multilingual learners. As a result, students will experience positive classroom cultures where their knowledge and application of mathematics is increased, they feel a sense of belonging, develop strong mathematical identities, and show increased interest to pursue advanced STEM learning. We support teacher retention by providing high quality professional learning that deepens teacher content knowledge in Mathematics and pedagogical strategies. We also include district leadership (coaches, principles, etc.) so that the work is supported and ongoing system-wide learning is sustained.

The Science and Mathematics Education department at University of Texas at Dallas commits to preparing future culturally and linguistically responsive STEM teachers who create classrooms that foster a sense of belonging. By 2027, we will redesign our classroom interactions course to focus on culturally and linguistically responsive teaching practices to prepare pre-service STEM teachers (PSTs) to create classrooms where all students belong and thrive. PSTs will participate in global learning projects with students in other countries (initially Argentina & Paraguay) to increase their understanding and perspectives of other cultures, teaching practices, and ways of knowing. We will measure our success to ensure the PSTs have the skills and mindsets necessary to foster belonging in STEM classrooms, including Black, Latinx and Native American students. Measures will include PSTs’ culturally responsive teaching self-efficacy and outcome expectancy at the beginning (pre) and end (post) of the classroom interactions course and be tracked throughout the course of the program to note changes in PSTs’ self-efficacy and outcome expectancy related to culturally and linguistically responsive instruction. In addition to measuring our success, the PSTs’ responses will help us continue to refine our curriculum.

By fall 2028, University of Utah, Usable STEM Research and Practice Hub (USRPH) commits to recruiting and supporting annual cohorts of 80 STEM and elementary teachers into teaching, with approximately 35% of our cohorts identifying as Black, Latinx, and/or Native American students. We commit to providing ambitious and equitable STEM Teacher Education experiences, full tuition and fees, and three years of induction (including coaching as new classroom teachers) for all scholars in exchange for 1-4 years of teaching in a P-12 Utah school.