Our Journey

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

Over the next five years, Black Teacher Project will retain 200 PK-12 Black STEM educators through Black affinity-based professional development cohorts focused on quality instruction, wellness, leadership, and Black identity development. As a result, 200 Black educators will continue, from year to year, to serve as teachers in a PK-12 classroom that engages students in STEM classes where they will experience high-quality instruction, culturally responsive practices, and healing-centered engagements in their learning.

“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

Commitment Statement Coming Soon

By 2027, we commit to supporting at least 3,500 preK-12 teachers through professional development, instructional coaching, and community-building, in ways that ensure all students feel as if they belong in science and in the outdoors. Some of our most intensive, long-term work takes place in local, historically Black communities, as well as schools in which the majority of the student population identifies as from a historically marginalized or oppressed group. The learner-centered professional development that we facilitate supports educators in their own comfort and ability to teach science indoors and out, which in turn supports them in cultivating their students’ identity as scientists.

By March 2027, California Department of Education will support STEM educators from each of California’s 58 counties, who teach grades 4-12, to cultivate classrooms of STEM belonging to meet the needs of Black, Latinx, and/or Native American students, through a Math, Science, Computer Science professional learning grant that integrates social emotional learning, culturally and linguistically relevant practice, and universal design for learning. As a result of these efforts, local implementation teams from each county will identify professional learning goals annually and facilitate professional learning triannually. Additionally, in-person statewide communities of practice in mathematics, science, and computer science will occur annually and a statewide repository of resources will be developed to be available to all educators across the state. As a result of the professional learning, communities of practice, and resources, students will experience culturally relevant instruction in STEM content areas historically underrepresented in higher education and workforce by Black, LatinX, and Native American populations. This has the potential to impact learning for 4,000,000 students in California from grades 4-12 over three years.

The Professional Development team at the California Science Center will provide inquiry-centered professional development for approximately 1,000 K-5 teachers. The crux of our professional development is science, but we address the different pillars of STEM teaching, making it accessible for all of our participants, including Black and Latinx educators. Our training remains true to the inquiry process and allows teachers to take on the roles and mindsets of learners. Participants carry out activities first, giving them the chance to investigate, ask questions and discuss, before we provide any formal information or content. The science learning experiences model engaging, relevant, and inspiring pedagogy and practices to reach all students in the classroom, particularly students of color in the Black and Latinx communities, learners of various cultural and language backgrounds, as well as learners at every level of educational needs.

By 2027, we will prepare 7,500 new elementary and secondary STEM teachers (on average 1,500 teachers annually) that are racially diverse, committed to teaching in high-needs schools, and knowledgeable of effective instructional strategies.

CSU will offer professional development and learning to in-service teachers to increase their pedagogy and content knowledge in STEM fields; increase partnerships with local districts, giving access and opportunities to in-service teachers in earning additional authorizations; ally with other institutions and establishments to ensure in-service teachers gain more understanding of the students they serve; and mentor in-service teachers to grow professionally.

Children Now will advocate for the state of California to replicate and scale statewide models of additional support for new Black teachers like the Black Teacher Project with the goal of preparing 500 Black STEM teachers and retaining 85% of Black STEM teachers by 2027. Children Now will also advocate for the state of California to institute a statewide Educator Bonus Program as a financial incentive to retain Black teachers in support of the goal of retaining 85% of Black STEM educators by 2027.

Through our California Department of Education Educator Workforce Investment Grant (EWIG) program, we will work to scale and sustain equitable computer science education through a professional learning model for teachers, school leaders, and counselors utilizing California’s statewide system of support. The goal is for hundreds of teachers state-wide to be trained in high impact CS education practices. We want to make sure that this EWIG program is as inclusive as possible. We hope to foster a sense of belonging and inclusive support that is critical to increasing teacher retention.

Over the next five years, Call Me MiSTER Program will recruit and prepare 340 Black, Latinx, and Native American STEM teachers. To do this, we will partner with each of the local school districts within the geographical location of each University in our network. Each student will be afforded a tuition assistance package to pursue the STEM pathway as an educator. This will lead to a strategic and intentional grow-your-own plan in each local setting.

The Carnegie Science Center (CSC) commits to supporting teachers to serve a diverse student population and to foster their students’ sense of belonging in STEM. To this end, we commit to being a source of inclusive and equitable science learning and resources and to partnering with teachers to co-curate culturally responsive programming and experiences that foster belonging in STEM. By the end of 2027, we will develop a co-curated, community-centered concept direction for inclusive, culturally responsive programs with targeted community stakeholders by partnering with Carnegie Mellon University, holding 3—5 listening sessions with approximately 30—75 community stakeholders, including students, educators, families, and community leaders. From these meetings, collaborators will develop a process document to be utilized by CSC for future co-curation. By the end of 2027, we will engage 4 schools or districts as co-curators. Schools or districts selected for participation in this pilot process will be based on burgeoning relationships CSC is developing with underserved districts and schools. Success of meeting these goals will be based on evaluative feedback from participating schools or districts and from the community engagement group. CSC will evaluate the process and the product through surveys, interviews, and focus groups to both teachers, administrators, and students.

Commitment Statement Coming Soon

Commitment Statement Coming Soon

By 2027, the Chicago Academy of Sciences / Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum will rebuild from the impact of COVID, doubling our reach to 500 teachers across 100 Chicago schools per year with science partnership programs that engage students in locally-focused, nature-based STEM learning. During these partnership programs, teachers will participate in supportive, multi-touchpoint experiences built around four interlocking components to build science teaching identities, spark curiosity and catalyze confidence, make (science) teaching accessible, personally relevant, rigorous, and customized for each teacher and their students. The four components are: (1) locally based science curriculum and instructional resources focused on urban and Chicago natural phenomena (many which are observable by students first hand), (2) in-classroom support through museum-educator led classroom teaching, (3) PD where teachers explore student activities, background content information, their own personal-interests/questions, collaborations with other teachers, and instructional strategies, and (4) field trips (indoor and outdoor) to connect learning to real world settings in Chicago.

By 2027, the Chicago Academy of Sciences / Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum will engage 25 Black, Latinx, and/or Native American pre-service teachers in collaborations with their mentor teachers during the student teaching period, using our school partnership programs. Though we currently work with Black, Latinx, and/or Native American STEM teachers in our programs, we do not currently collaborate with pre-service teacher programs to engage these educators with extensive STEM supports during this pivotal point in their teaching careers. Other opportunities to work with pre-service teachers in a lighter-touch partnership model has shown that they build science teaching identities that are different from the science learning experiences they went through in school when they partner with the Nature Museum through experiential learning and PD. We commit to building out a multi-touch point partnership program with pre-service teachers and university partners who support Black, Latinx, and/or Native American education students during their student teaching.

By 2027, the Chicago Academy of Sciences / Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum will rebuild from the impact of COVID , doubling our reach to 500 teachers across 100 Chicago schools per year with science partnership programs that focus on the integration of Social-Emotional Learning into academic (science) instruction and include interaction with museum staff + instructional resources with explicit examples of Black, Latinx, and/or Native Americans doing science. In addition, we will remove Western Science concepts that conflict with Indigenous perspectives (e.g. what’s ‘living’ or ‘non-living)’ and explicitly include Nature Museum staff and partners of Black, Latinx, and/or Native American backgrounds in student experiences and in curricular resources so that as students reflect on themes of who does science, they can connect parts of their own identities to examples they see.

Commitment Statement Coming Soon

City Teaching Alliance is making five commitments to support equity, representation and belonging. First, City Teaching Alliance (CTA) will create and launch a Latinx STEM strategy which will address the specific needs of Latinx STEM educators and potential STEM educators in CTA’s network of 300 schools. Second, CTA will strengthen existing STEM offerings and include a STEM focus and innovative coursework which prioritizes Anti Racist STEM education for 1000 early career teachers in the CTA network. Third, CTA will launch a Antiracism STEM Education Institute centered in Anti Racist professional learning in STEM to serve 1000 STEM teachers in Baltimore, DC, Dallas and Philadelphia. Fourth, CTA will launch a named STEM pipeline program aimed at attracting, admitting, preparing, mentoring and deploy 50 Black men into schools and communities serving Black children. Lastly, CTA will launch a named STEM pipeline program aimed at attracting, admitting, preparing, mentoring and deploy 50 Black women into schools and communities serving Black children.

Commitment Statement Coming Soon