Our Journey

“DS4E will aim to recruit 2,000 teachers by 2027, and develop discrete communities for educators in math, science, as well as social studies / history, humanities, and other subjects to leverage the unique opportunity for data science to build wider on-ramps to STEM. DS4E will target recruitment to teachers in Title I schools, aiming to provide support for at least one Title I school in each of the 50 states. We will also create dedicated spaces for teachers from Title I to engage in cross-district or cross-state collaboration, and share both knowledge and strategies relevant to Title I settings. We will also identify and assess the need for creating dedicated affinity groups (Black, Latinx, and/or Native American teachers) and teaching diverse student groups (i.e. students with disabilities) to further increase relevance for participating educators. DS4E will regularly survey community members to assess value-add and retention – as measured by participation in the group itself and by retention in the schools we work with.

Data Science 4 Everyone is making five commitments to support equity, representation and belonging. First, DS4E will aim to recruit 2,000 teachers by 2027, and develop discrete communities for educators in math, science, as well as social studies / history, humanities, and other subjects to leverage the unique opportunity for data science to build wider on-ramps to STEM. Second, we will create dedicated spaces for teachers from Title I to engage in cross-district or cross-state collaboration, and share both knowledge and strategies relevant to Title I settings. We will also identify and assess the need for creating dedicated affinity groups (Black, Latinx, and/or Native American teachers) and teaching diverse student groups (i.e. students with disabilities) to further increase relevance for participating educators. DS4E will regularly survey community members to assess value-add and retention – as measured by participation in the group itself and by retention in the schools we work with. Third, DS4E will create and expand alternative credential pathways for teachers in data science education, leveraging infrastructure in CTE education and expanding collaboration with math, science, and other K-12 subject areas to fill new roles. DS4E will aim to support the creation of new credential pathways in 5 states by 2027 by facilitating partnerships between state departments of education, K-12 districts, and industry. This new credential pathways will primarily serve Title I school districts, with a target of at least 50% of program participants serving in Title I schools. Fourth, DS4E will partner with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) to develop early pipeline programs to recruit graduates from technical fields, including computer science, statistics, mathematics, and data science into K-12 teaching. DS4E will aim to support early pipeline programs at 3 institutions by 2027, and match Black and Latinx graduates interested in teaching with local K-12 schools and districts. Third, DS4E will commit to creating a targeted, cross-sector R&D initiative for teaching students with disabilities or other learning differences in data science. CS, AI, DS, and other technology-related disciplines present serious challenges for students with disabilities, including highly abstract terminology, complex syntax, and high reliance on visual manipulation/analysis (programming console, data visuals) for completing work that is core to these disciplines. DS4E will launch a 5-year campaign to increase awareness, research, and funding to develop novel solutions for both data science education and the broader professional field. “

By 2029, Deans for Impact will continue its efforts to ensure every child is taught STEM by a well-prepared teacher by equipping future teachers with tools to create rigorous, equitable, and inclusive classrooms so that all children thrive. We will do this by, building the capacity of 100 leaders of educator-preparation programs to make equitable instruction a priority within their own programs Championing policies to make all pathways into teaching affordable, practice-based, and focused on instruction to create conditions in at least 4 states that lead to a 10% increase in teachers, especially teachers of color, completing practice-based, instructionally-focused pathways Supporting teacher-educators to redesign learning opportunities for aspiring and early-career teachers, especially aspiring teachers of color and those from low-income backgrounds, that bring the science of learning into teaching practice, with an equity-centered focus on literacy, math and the identification and use of high-quality instructional materials.

Commitment Statement Coming Soon

Through specific and targeted outreach to Title I school teachers that primarily serve Black, Latinx and/or Native American students, Destination Imagination plans to build relationships with 1,000 STEM teachers that prepare them to provide meaningful informal STEM learning experiences for the youth that they serve through a mix of online training and in-person training.

Through dedicated outreach using at least five of Destination Imagination’s 40+ affiliated local nonprofits, DI plans to invite, encourage and support Black, Latinx and/or Native American adult educators to participate in Destination Imagination programming. These individuals will gain the skills necessary to provide project-based STEM educational experiences to diverse populations. These individuals will then take their skills and training and apply them to informal STEM environments for Black, Latinx and/or Native American youth to participate in growing their personal STEM identities.

Destination Imagination is planning to build one specific online training that is focused on how teachers can better serve the unique needs of a majority Black, Latinx, and/or Native American student populations. Potential educators will need to successfully complete the training in order to be approved to work with the aforementioned student population. DI also plans to continue its equity-focused programs like the imagineXperience and Envision: Young Innovators Exchange as clear vehicles to reaching more students of color.

Through our Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging committee, DI will continue to survey, listen to its audience, make recommendations and changes to programs and policies that aim to foster belonging in DI’s programs. In order to accomplish this the DEIB committee will send out pre- and post- surveys at the beginning and end of the school year to analyze and assess feedback. The DEIB committee will also commit to engaging and bringing on at least two new full-time committee members to the committee every calendar year to ensure diverse voices are being heard in the process of continuous improvement.

By 2029, Digital Promise will impact the STEM Teaching pipeline by supporting educators and districts to develop the STEM workforce with regional initiatives (beginning in the San Diego region) in which we reimagine the current education-to-workforce pipeline as an inclusive system of flexible pathways. As a result, teachers across 10 public school districts will be supported to ensure students are on a path to STEM careers, and 100,000 San Diego area students will be equipped for success in modern STEM careers.

DSST will document and share best practices around STEM teacher support and industry partnership through regular onsite observation days, video content on the DSST website, and community engagement opportunities reaching 1,000 school administrators, educators, and STEM stakeholders over the next five years. Will provide career exploration and industry-aligned experiences to all DSST students to ensure that students have rich and meaningful experiences that give them access to STEM majors and careers if they choose.

Commitment Statement Coming Soon

Over the next five years, through existing and developing partnerships with schools and districts across the U.S., Edifying Teachers will support and retain 100,000 pK-5 STEM educators and 50,000 STEM educators in grades 6-12 who serve primarily Black, Latinx, and/or Native American students. Edifying Teachers, a global network of dedicated master teachers, is ready to activate more of its highly effective STEM educators to provide personalized, culturally sustaining mentorship with a special focus on professional mentorship among teachers of color. As a result, educators will stay, grow, and thrive in the profession and students will have a greater sense of belonging – and success – in STEM pathways. This will provide a positive impact on STEM learning for 1 million students per year by 2029.

The Math for All project at the EDC Center for Children and Technology will contribute to the retention of approximately 500 teachers and 150 teacher leaders working in approximately 75 high-need urban and rural schools by providing them with professional development and support to help them make high-quality, standards-based mathematics instruction accessible to students with different strengths and challenges, including those with disabilities. We define high-need as schools that serve more than 50% students who live in poverty.

The Math for All project at the EDC Center for Children and Technology will contribute to the retention of approximately 500 teachers and 150 teacher leaders working in high-need schools by providing them with professional development and support to help them make high-quality, standards-based mathematics instruction accessible to students with different strengths and challenges, including those with disabilities. Utilizing a school-based approach, fostering the collaboration between teachers (e.g., between general education teachers and specialists such as special education teachers, bilingual teachers), and providing individualized support to teachers and teacher leaders, our professional development strengthens school communities and teachers’ sense of preparedness to teach mathematics to students with different strengths and needs, and their sense of belonging.

By 2028, The Education Trust will advance policies and practices to diversify the K-12 STEM educator workforce, by building a national narrative that focuses on the aspirations and excellence of all students, especially students of color; conducting research on best practices and evaluating promising policies for recruiting, preparing, and retaining educators of color; forming partnerships and supporting coalitions to amplify views of equity-focused organizations and supplement our expertise; and elevating the voices of students, families , and educators of color to ensure those most affected are driving policies. As a result of these efforts, more students of color and students from low-income backgrounds will have access to a strong and diverse STEM educator workforce; rigorous, inclusive, and engaging STEM courses; and positive school climates that foster their belonging in and love of STEM.

Educational Service District 112 in Southwest Washington commits to recruit and train 65 STEM teachers through internal credentialing programs. By 2027, ESD 112 will work to ensure the demographics of teachers prepared will match the demographics of the students served. To do this, ESD 112 will partner directly with community affinity organizations, host events for families and students to learn more about career pathways in education and provide financial aid and training opportunities for prospective teachers. ESD 112 will also work to create conditions and enact policies that support increasing diversity of the teaching profession. Lastly, ESD 112 will partner with 30 school districts to create Education Career Readiness events that reach 50 high school students each year, particularly high school students who identify as students of color and students from rural communities.

ESD 112 will partner with Native American Community Advisory and Migrant Education services to develop and facilitate professional development for 60 pre and in-service teachers per year on culturally responsive pedagogy and curriculum. In addition, ESD 112 will develop a Community-based teaching practices framework to support this work and share with regional educational leaders.

By 2027, EnCorps will recruit 1000 STEM professionals to transition to teaching into high needs schools. The State of California has awarded EnCorps funding to assist in our capacity to expand our program and recruitment reach–expanding our focus from Los Angeles, the Greater Bay Area and San Diego counties to include where we expect demand will increase: Riverside, San Bernardino, Sacramento, San Joaquin and Kern counties. We focus our recruitment and selection of high quality STEM professionals, our preparation, professional development and 100% of our placement of these professionals as pre-service teachers in schools with traditionally underserved student populations. The average demographics in our partner schools are 75% Hispanic, 7% African-American, 8% White, 8% Asian, and 2% other; 77% are not represented in higher education; 16% are ELL learners; and only 30% achieve math proficiency. Our vision is that all students regardless of socioeconomic status have a strong STEM foundation to help them navigate and be successful in an increasingly complex world.

EnCorps will continue to support 100+ EnCorps Full-time Teachers who continue to engage in EnCorps’ online and in person professional development events. Each year, EnCorps delivers three national events to all EnCorps Fellows in every state of the educator pathway. We currently engage 450 active educators with approximately 150 full-time teachers participating in our live-streaming Institutes or accessing our Google classroom sessions and other resources. The EnCorps Leadership Team maintains a goal of 85% 5 year teacher retention goal in Title I schools. for our EnCorps full-time Teachers. We believe that recruiting the right individuals, and training and supporting them, will ensure success with students and educators. EnCorps uses a culturally relevant educational model to support students in poverty and BIPOC students.

EnCorps’ Leadership Team maintains a recruitment goal of 50% of teacher candidates recruited in the current fiscal year identifying as people of color with a focus on Latinx and Black and African American STEM professionals. Direct recruitment efforts are made to Alumni Associations such as Apple Alumni Association, Harvard Alumni Association of Silicon Valley, Hewlett Packard/ Agilent Retiree Club, UC Berkeley Alumni Club, and UCLA Alumni Association. We also present to or post in newsletters with professional associations including International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineering, California Biomedical Research Association, National Society of Black Engineers, American Society of Civil Engineers, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, and Women in Data. Our corporate partners, in addition to providing funding, have also given us the opportunity to provide information and to conduct brown bag lunches and provide off-boarding materials for corporate HR departments and specific affinity groups.

EnCorps is committed to supporting student belonging in STEM. EnCorps’ recruitment, program orientation, training, and ongoing professional development are designed to build effective educator and student relationships using culturally appropriate tools and techniques.

Equal Opportunity Schools commits to partner with schools and districts to strengthen educator and system leader capacity to break down barriers to increase participation, belonging, and success in rigorous college-and career-prep secondary school courses for students of color and low-income students. We will focus on the Cues and Conditions that students experience in class that facilitate or limit equitable opportunities to belong. By 2027, we will have surveyed over 250,000 historically underrepresented students of color and low-income students about their experiences of belonging in rigorous secondary school courses. These data will be shared with educators in action-oriented reports. We will also provide continued opportunities for educators and administrators to learn more about students’ experiences of belonging, reflect on their policies and practices, and plan actions for improvement. By 2027, we will have provided data and educational opportunities to educators and administrators from over 500 schools.

By 2027, we will create a new video series, hosted on our website, that features examples of young children of color (Black, Latinx, Asian, other as available) doing math activities. Our website is already used to support early childhood teacher preparation around the world, and we will use our newsletter (15,000 subscribers) to publicize the new video series. We will publish at least 15 such videos, focused on number, pattern, shape, and other foundational math topics. Being able to study these videos will help future teachers create classrooms where young children of color are seen as both learners and doers of math, capable of productive struggle and brilliance.

ExpandED Schools will support formal and informal teachers to develop the skills and mindsets to foster belonging in STEM classrooms with a focus on the needs of Black and Latinx students in NYC by 1) training 90 educators per year in culturally relevant STEM practices, 2) engaging 10 educators per year in authentic youth/adult partnerships to drive programmatic changes at the school-level, and 3) co-creating 10 culturally relevant lessons with BIPOC educators from the program, which will be available to at least 90 educators annually.

Explora will contribute to increasing the retention of STEM teachers who primarily serve Black, Latinx and Native American students by providing professional development opportunities and building a community of educators. Explora will serve more than 4,000 teachers by 2027 (1000+ teachers per year). Explora’s work supports teacher retention through building teacher confidence and self-efficacy to foster STEAM learning through hands-on, materials rich, and project based learning workshops that build upon the knowledge and skills the teachers have already. We incorporate Culturally and Linguistically Responsive practices into the workshops by using literature and stories as a way to link STEAM to Native interests and experiences. These stories provide opportunities for educators to make science connections in the everyday lives of their students and strengthen students’ ability to see themselves as capable STEAM learners. Workshops also include time for participants to tap into the collective wisdom of the group to develop lesson plans/activities while receiving feedback for developmental/cultural appropriateness. Explora works across all counties and school districts in New Mexico. Explora’s partner school districts primarily serve Black, Latinx and Native American students and include Albuquerque Public Schools, Santa Fe Public Schools, Espanola Public Schools, Los Lunas Public Schools, Belen Public Schools, and a number of tribal schools.

By 2027, Explora will contribute to increasing the retention of 10 Black, Latinx, and Native American STEM teachers by lifting up the many ways STEM in embedded in our community and many faces of people who do STEM so individuals can see themselves as someone who does STEM and that is STEM is for them.

By 2027, Explora will commit to facilitating programs and supporting 1000 teachers to provide opportunities for 80,000 students to see where STEM is happening in their everyday lives and that STEM is part of who they are and what they do. Through work collectively with partners we are able to broaden the idea of who does STEM, communicate that STEM is part of the community, and provide a network of the many ways and people who are engaged in STEM thus providing opportunities for relationships and connections to be built which make a difference in teacher and student belonging. Explora will continue to partner with schools and community partners that primarily work with Latinx and Black students to leverage collective strengths to broaden the idea of who can and who does do STEM, via collaboration on programs such as afterschool STEM and robotics clubs that utilize Explora space and resources. Explora will also continue to work with Native American tribes in New Mexico to provide professional development for staff, STEAM kits for student use, and student programs–which has recently been called out as an exemplar for advancing diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion. Explora staff have also been invited to be part of community school councils for a number of schools that primarily have student populations that are underrepresented in STEM fields. Being part of these councils provides opportunities for learning about how to best support students and staff.

By 2027, Explora will commit to being a community hub that brings more than 500 teachers together from across the state of New Mexico to learn and share together. Through work collectively with partners we are able to broaden the idea of who does STEM, communicate that STEM is part of the community, and provide a network of the many ways and people who are engaged in STEM thus providing opportunities for relationships and connections to be built which make a difference in teacher and student belonging.

By 2027, the Exploratorium Educator Engagement division K-12 Team will be providing professional support to at least 2,400 leaders in science education in every county across the state of California, composed of 1,000+ new leaders and retaining the 1,400+ active members of our statewide alumni network. By 2027, the Exploratorium Educator Engagement division K-12 Team will be providing professional support to a network of leaders in science education who are more representative of the teachers and students in public-schools in the state of California than ever before. In particular, we expect all of the leaders in our 2027 leader network to serve teachers and students who are marginalized or excluded from systems of privilege and at least 85% of them to identify themselves as such. Additionally, by 2027 we expect all leaders in our network to serve Title I public school teachers and at least 85% of leaders to serve Title I public school teachers exclusively. Collectively, by 2027 we expect the leaders we serve will be providing professional learning, mentoring, and advocacy support directly to more than 8,000 California elementary and secondary science teachers that will be predictors of teachers’ expected and actual retention in the profession. We support existing, emerging, and unexpected leadership in science education, defined by science educators, leaders, and Leaders from within and outside of the K-12 classroom.

By 2027, Fort Hays State University will prepare a total of 1895 STEM educators focusing on the needs of rural schools. To do this, we will work closely with community colleges situated in rural communities, with an emphasis on Latinx and Black students, to provide information about becoming a STEM Teacher (e.g. Get Out the Facts, locally produced marketing items). The goal is to bring teacher candidates to the university, prepare them for STEM teaching, and provide support for teaching in a rural area. We will also work with a regional service center in southwest Kansas to connect directly with K-12 schools to identify potential community members with an interest in STEM teaching and develop placement and retention strategies for program completers.

Fort Hays University is focused on teacher recruitment and preparation specifically to support STEM teachers in rural schools. We plan to develop and implement community building between the university and the districts where they teachers are placed and to provide a specialized course for STEM teaching in rural schools, conference travel, membership with active involvement in a STEM Educators student group, and service projects related to STEM Education. Additionally the students are required to participate in a week long rural field experience where they collaborate daily with each other on the experience. Fort Hays State University also holds an annual “Noyce Summit, “”which includes attending professional development, connecting with the Kansas State Department of Education STEM Program Managers, and receiving support for issues related to thriving as a teacher in a rural community.

Fort Hays State University will reach out through university clubs (Black Student Union and Hispanic American Leadership Organization) and our institutional recruitment efforts for transfer students and high school recruitment (e.g. Hispanic Institute) and to build an awareness of STEM teaching as a viable career for Black and Latinx students. This would also designate funds within the college and our supported projects to provide scholarships as an inducement to become a STEM major and a STEM teacher.

Fresno Unified is committed to providing highly effective teachers for every classroom where students thrive. By 2027, Fresno Unified will recruit, train and employ a total of 483 teachers in elementary, secondary and special education with an emphasis on increasing staff that reflects the diversity of the community we serve. All aspiring teachers will participate in a Summer STEAM Camp. Throughout the STEAM Camp experience, participants will engage in daily co-planning, professional learning communities, and ongoing coaching support to strengthen teacher agency and efficacy through feedback. Fresno Unified will recruit and train a total of 500 High School Students to participate in the Teacher Academy which has a focus of teaching Science to elementary students.

Commitment Statement Coming Soon