A student in an elementary school drops an egg wrapped tightly in paper straws and tape to test whether it can survive a high fall. Next door, students engineer a solar oven out of pizza boxes, construction paper and aluminum foil. In another classroom, students construct a “biosphere” using foam balls, fake grass and dollhouses.

These and similar scenes from public schools around the country are more than just young learners having fun with recycled materials. This is STEM education in action: Hands-on projects help students develop critical thinking skills while sparking interest in science, technology, engineering and math.

Research shows that  provides them with a foundation to enter many STEM-related careers: as doctors, chemists, geologists, computer scientists and many more.

Introducing these fields in elementary school helps capture students’ imaginations and kindle their interest in STEM. Besides the fun, these hands-on learning experiences foster a mindset that embraces innovation, experimentation and collaboration. That foundation will support this generation throughout their lives as they face an increasingly complex, interconnected world.

STEM careers are among the nation’s  jobs. Early exposure to STEM education primes students to take advantage of these career opportunities — and the economic benefits that come with them. Without it, we risk perpetuating an exclusionary cycle that alienates underrepresented communities from STEM careers and fuels lifelong opportunity gaps.

As parents have become more involved in their children’s education, they deserve to know how and where STEM is coming to life in their schools — and, more importantly, how to make sure that their children can take advantage of opportunities.

This is especially important now, as inconsistent and inequitable access to these subjects continues to reinforce representation gaps in STEM careers. In today’s STEM workforce, Black and Hispanic adults represent  of the field, respectively. of STEM workers, they are overrepresented in health-related occupations compared to other areas like engineering and architecture.

We can reduce representation gaps in STEM and prepare more students to join the STEM-related workforce — but we have to start young. Students need opportunities to develop the critical thinking skills that will allow them to succeed in these fields.

That’s why , the nonprofit school information site that helps parents navigate education,  with  (PLTW), a nonprofit organization that encourages STEM-based careers for students through hands-on, project-based learning starting in pre-K.

Because of this new partnership, parents can now see whether a school offers STEM when browsing GreatSchools profiles. Families looking to specifically prioritize STEM programs in their school search can use GreatSchools’ enhanced search tool to display only schools offering these courses.

We believe that providing this information to families — especially those whose identities are underrepresented in STEM careers — will allow them to take advantage of these programs early on, potentially changing the trajectory of their child’s academic and professional lives.

Furthermore, in the wake of the pandemic, parents are , not just better. It’s not enough just to improve our schools — we also need to change the playbook from which they’ve been operating for decades.

It’s time to meet this moment with action. Here are some ideas I believe education leaders can and should be pursuing in terms of STEM:

• Make sure teachers have adequate resources. In addition to proper training, teachers need technological equipment — computers, internet access and software — to effectively teach STEM classes.
• Adopt a curriculum that exposes students to STEM early on. Infusing elementary school curricula with topics and skill development aligned with STEM careers opens students’ minds to a world of possibilities.
• Create mentoring programs that center underrepresented STEM professionals. Mentors can play a significant role in shaping students’ career trajectories by exposing them to different fields while helping them reach their goals. Giving students the opportunity to connect with professional STEM mentors — particularly Black, Hispanic and female mentors — can help them see themselves in those careers.

Now is our chance to reimagine public education to more equitably serve all students. Exposing students to STEM early in their education is a crucial investment for students, their families and society. Collectively, we all reap the benefits of a diverse, rich workforce representative of the best in our communities.

And yes, we can simply start with a pizza box, paper and foil.

 is chief executive officer of , a national education nonprofit that supports parents through every stage of their child’s education. He has more than two decades of experience in K-12 education, previously serving as a math teacher and school administrator.

This story about  was produced by , a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education.

The , which opened its doors in 2020 — during the height of the pandemic — is the nation’s only high school focused on the integration of cyber technology and engineering into all academic disciplines. It is located in Huntsville, home to the Army Aviation and Missile Command and several major defense contractors.

A publicly funded commuter and residential 9-12 magnet school serving students from around the state, the Alabama School of Cyber Technology and Engineering offers free tuition for a diverse student body that is about 30% African American and 37% female. Some 120 of the 333 students live in the school’s dormitory. Students are charged only for the cost of food, which they split with the state. Local contractors help sponsor the school through donations.

The school is both college preparatory and vocational — aimed at readying students for well-paying careers upon graduation in high-demand, science-based fields, with the Department of Defense and with military contractors.

Underpinning the school’s focus is the urgent need for more American citizens to enter the national security workforce, because the country is falling behind technologically in several areas and U.S. citizenship is required to receive a security clearance.

The need is substantial. While China has four times the U.S. population, it has eight times as many STEM grads, and Russia has almost four times more engineers than the United States. And the problem will only get more pronounced as the need grows for a workforce that can develop new and increasingly complicated technologies that will be essential for national security.

“Many of the proposed advanced manufacturing and technology solutions to workforce shortages (particularly automation) and manufacturing issues (including additive manufacturing, hybrid manufacturing and digitalization) require a higher level of baseline skills. To implement these solutions, individuals must be trained and able to work in teams that combine deep engineering expertise with data analytics and policy knowledge to enable innovation and transform the manufacturing space,” the Department of Defense wrote in its on U.S. industrial capabilities.

STEM curricula focused on technical careers “must also be expanded into middle and high school education to attract and prepare candidates for advanced manufacturing at all levels — from engineering to the factory floor,” the report said.

That’s exactly what the Alabama school is accomplishing.

During its first year, in 2020, the school had 70 students set up in classroom space at a local university. By the following year, enrollment had doubled. When the current school year started in August, the headcount was 333 students, with more expected in successive years as word spreads about the school’s focus and unique approach to education.

No formal entrance exam is required. Prospective students provide three years’ worth of academic transcripts, attendance sheets and disciplinary records, as well as recommendations from a current STEM teacher and another from a guidance counselor. They submit letters of interest from themselves and their parent.

Applicants from home schools or private schools additionally must provide results from a standardized assessment, such as the SSAT. But there is no minimum qualifying score for admission. Scores are one of many evaluation criteria and are meant to provide insight into the academic potential of incoming applicants. Students who advance in the application process also undergo a personal interview.

Once admitted, students are not allowed to fail their classes. Rather, they must master concepts to advance; they must repeat the class until they achieve proficiency. Proficiency is particularly important because higher-level math and science classes, with their keen focus on cyber technology and engineering, build on concepts from earlier courses. The school doesn’t use a traditional grading system; rather, teachers rate students on a continuum reflecting various levels of mastery of concepts, then correlate those to a 4.0 grade-point scale.

Students receive four years of instruction in math, science, language arts and social studies, but with cyber and engineering curriculum woven throughout. So, for example, in the first year of social studies, students are taught the history of engineering and technology. The second year is the history of cryptography taught through the lens of world events, such as World Wars I and II. By the third year, students are taught civics and economics, touching on cyber-related concepts like cryptocurrency and blockchain.

They engage in real-world learning through internships with defense companies such as Raytheon, a major corporate sponsor, which accepted 16 students from the school as interns this year.

Tailoring the education for high-tech industries and ensuring proficiency in concepts all along the way ensures that students are math and science literate but also well-rounded. Thus far, the results are impressive. Some students are receiving job offers upon graduation, while others have been accepted at top-notch schools like Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt, the University of Texas, Georgetown University, American University and the University of Southern California.

The nation is facing a sweeping talent gap in STEM that is a national security vulnerability. Alabama School of Cyber Technology and Engineering offers one powerful model for closing that gap while driving student achievement.

The world is dependent on innovations, systems and equipment that are designed and sustained using science, engineering, technology and mathematics. This means the nurturing of STEM talent cannot be reserved for a slice of our student population but, instead, an essential component of every student’s educational journey.

It turns out, industry agrees.

Our colleagues in the community report the need for curious and creative professionals who can work in teams to solve the toughest problems encountered in the fabs and labs of our most advanced workplaces.

Because innovation is happening at a quickening pace, readying students through the curriculum for every workplace scenario will be impossible. The ability to design solutions from scratch, in real time, is necessary to the innovation enterprise.

Whether this is perceived as an issue of equity or economics, the goal is the same: To value STEM knowledge in the same way we value reading.

K-12 needs to be rethought and redesigned or it will not only fail to meet the needs of a STEM-dependent world, it will fail to meet the needs of a unique generation of students who learns, thinks and engages with the world around them differently than any before.

Millennial and Gen Z parents are tech-integrated and experience-driven. Their children are hard-wired to be the same. Practically, this means they innately use technology to learn anytime, anywhere. But it also means they want to learn by doing. They consider technology their guide but want in-person engagement for connection, collaboration and support.

These were the trends and challenges we had to consider when designing . ASU Prep is a P-20 system of schools and educational services embedded in a larger learning enterprise at Arizona State University. The needs and preferences of our student body is what drives our iterative design. Students become masters in various learning domains from home, at a K-12 campus, on a university campus, at their parent’s workplace or even with peers at a coffee shop.

Thanks to the innovative K-12 policy environment in Arizona, students who can do a day’s worth of school work in less time can fill the remaining hours getting ahead in courses, catching up on concepts where they struggle, working, pursuing an interest in music, theater, Olympic sport or even launching their own small business.

Online learning should not be remote from people. We pair students with Learning Success Coaches to help students build personalized educational pathways into their desired future career. From kindergarten on, ASU Prep students build their own learning plans in concert with a guide and present it to their parents.

Our students are exposed to ASU courses as soon as they are ready and can take any of the 4,000-plus courses on the ASU catalog: in person, online or through our . High school students at ASU Prep are applying their learning via paid internships and hybrid high school/university schedules.

It’s working. With graduation and college-going rates that exceed the averages and large numbers of students matriculating to STEM careers, we believe that we are the school system of the future. As part of , ASU Prep is wired like no other K12 system in the country and is poised to design and open access to a K12 model fit for the future of work. 

We do all these things not to simply grow enrollment but to develop a knowledge base of what works to share with the broader community and the ASU teams that are increasing university enrollment in underrepresented communities.

Stakes are high for both our country and the families striving within. We embrace the efforts laid out in the New Essential Education Discoveries (NEED) Act to evaluate what is happening right now in the most innovative systems in the United States and apply those lessons rapidly for the benefit of all students.

There is brilliance in every household. We believe it’s our job to design new educational models that value curiosity and show every student that they do, in fact, have a path to a successful future.

Ever since the Soviet Union launched Sputnik into orbit on Oct. 4, 1957, America has been struggling to recruit and retain STEM teachers in its public middle and high schools.

In the 2017-2018 school year, . At the middle school level, there were about .

The situation has been getting or so. For instance, in the 2011-2012 school year, 19% of public schools were unable to fill a teaching position for biology or life sciences. By the 2020-2021 school year, that number had grown to 31%. The situation was similar for other subjects, going from 19% to 32% for mathematics, and 26% to 47% for physical sciences, such as physics, geology and engineering.

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Science shortages were a problem even before Sputnik, but the launch served as a wake-up call. Three months afterward, President Dwight D. Eisenhower stated during his that federal action was necessary to educate more science and mathematics teachers.

As a – and also as a – I have examined the STEM teacher shortage from multiple vantage points. In a September 2023 policy paper, a colleague and I recommend that in order to solve America’s STEM educator shortage, elected officials and education leaders should .

We think endowed chairs have the potential to retain and attract more STEM educators at the K-12 level, but it requires a willingness to rethink the ways that schools employ STEM educators.

What’s behind the gap?

Two factors contribute to so many unfilled vacancies in STEM education:

1. There are fewer college students graduating with a bachelor’s degree in education that ever before.

Between 1959-1976, bachelor’s degrees in education were the in the United States, and they accounted for about 20% of all degrees. Between 1975-2021, the percentage of students majoring in education .

2. STEM graduates can earn more money outside of education.

When STEM majors go into a STEM career, . When STEM graduates become a math, computer science or science teacher, they will earn, on average, .

This salary gap between STEM professionals and STEM educators is what is known as the STEM teacher “.”

According to a national survey of teacher salaries in 2017-18, , regardless of years of experience.

But this only tells a portion of the STEM teacher salary story. In 2021, – about $660 less than the $2,009 earned weekly by other college graduates.

Prior efforts to close the gap

Since developing a strong STEM workforce is vital to the nation’s security and economic well-being, several U.S. presidents have used their position to advance a STEM education agenda.

For example, when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, Eisenhower
and Congress that the nation needed to focus on what takes place in the classroom space – not just outer space.

The Senate and House passed the , and Eisenhower signed it into law on Sept. 2, 1958.

This set in motion a for American colleges and K-12 schools for decades to come.

Fifty-three years later, President Barack Obama utilized his to advance the national STEM agenda. “This is our generation’s Sputnik moment,” he said. “And over the next 10 years, with so many baby boomers retiring from our classrooms, we want to prepare 100,000 new teachers in the fields of science and technology and engineering and math.”

Through the leadership of 100Kin10, now named , the initiative .

But the was to narrow the gap, not end it.

A shortage of STEM teachers remains. According to a survey of 53 states and territories, 39 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands had , STEM disciplines included, as of Feb 9, 2023. One additional reason for the current shortage is that public schools – 233,000 instructors – between 2019-2021, which included STEM teachers.

Currently, President Joe Biden is , the Department of Education has dedicated , and the National Science Foundation is .

The endowed chair as a potential solution

Federal investments in programs and fellowships to produce more STEM teachers are good. But those alone will not be enough to retain and attract the quality STEM educators we need.

That’s why a colleague and I for K-12 educators.

Traditionally, an endowed chair is a funded through annual spending from a university’s endowment fund.

The interest earned on the endowment will partially or fully fund the salary of the position for as long as the university exists. Endowed chairs are .

The benefit of an endowed chair is that it will be paid for decades to come by the interest on investment. In our paper, we suggest that K-12 schools could use endowed chairs to support a K-12 STEM teacher’s salary, benefits and professional development, all the while saving money for the district and state.

If structured right, the interest on the endowment will pay a teacher’s salary and benefits, something the district would subsequently not have to pay. The endowment can be used to purchase STEM supplies. The money saved by the district can be used to invest in another teacher. The money could come from private individuals, corporations or foundations.

An endowed chair could also provide funding for teachers and students to have access to state-of-the-art learning technology. As part of the endowed chair contract, a teacher can participate in a fully paid externship at a STEM-focused public or private sector company during the summer months. The goal would be to bring to the classroom the experiences and insights the teacher learned from the externship.

An endowed STEM chair salary may never outpace what educators could earn if they entered the private market. But it can potentially help elevate their position and, perhaps, enable educators to make a salary that would be higher than what it would otherwise be.

This article is republished from under a Creative Commons license. Read the .

That is because the country is at the start of a massive effort intended to bring semiconductor manufacturing to the Southwest, battery research and development to rural upstate New York and more. It’s an effort that promises to spread good-paying jobs to parts of the country that haven’t benefited from them in recent decades.

More semiconductor manufacturing, more engineering jobs, more tech jobs — over the next 10 years, these and other jobs in STEM fields are faster than all others combined, with twice the median salary. More STEM jobs means the country needs more STEM-ready students, and that means helping elementary schools engage children with a rich and energetic brand of science before sixth grade, when children often start forming career aspirations.

This is particularly critical in rural areas, because if children in these communities don’t have a science-rich education, they will be less likely to be interested in or qualified for the STEM jobs coming to their regions. And if that’s the case, the purpose of locating these jobs there will be undermined, as employers will have to recruit qualified workers from other parts of the nation or world.

Getting young Americans involved in science now in a way that captivates them early in their education will prepare them to fill the STEM jobs of the near future and build the foundation for a strong and prosperous economy.

When children from all backgrounds see themselves as scientists, society reaps the benefits. But researchers estimate this country has missed out on generations of “” because many lack a relevant and relatable science education starting in elementary school, and kids cannot be what they cannot see. 

The found that students in kindergarten to third grade learned science for an average of just 18 minutes a day – less time than many of them spend on the school bus. The results of that are clear: Only 36% of fourth graders tested as proficient on the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress science exam. 

If the new approach to industrial policy and STEM jobs is going to succeed, that has to change. Science education must start early, because children develop their interests and passions early. And it must attract all kids, no matter their backgrounds, resources or experiences.

The way to do that is to move students from learning about science from behind a classroom desk to exploring the world outside and around them — whether that’s studying drainage and flooding in an urban area or finding the angle of the sun to determine the best placement of solar panels in a rural community. Children’s minds come alive to science when they see it in every part of their world. They respond to active learning environments that offer the opportunity to collect data, test and solve problems in real time. The organization I lead, , transforms school grounds into real-world labs. Last year, we brought science to life for 53,000 students and 188 schools in 77 communities, starting in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and now extended to historically underserved areas of Texas, Georgia, North Carolina and Washington, D.C.

These take teachers and students out of the classroom and into the outdoors, where they can study the growth of plants or crops, build landforms to gauge erosion by pouring water on it or use plastic bags to find hidden water through leaf transpiration.

Children make the connection between the science they see in their schoolyards and the relevance of it to their own communities. 

As a Mississippi native who now lives, works and parents in Washington, D.C., I know that kids in rural areas grow up, get educated, work and live differently than those in cities or suburbs. High-speed internet, for example, is not a given. Technology and office work are not the norm. Some schools don’t have the that are taken for granted in many parts of the country. Almost 1 in 5 public school students attend a rural school, yet policymakers rarely address rural needs. Nonprofits and social service agencies often fill gaps in urban and suburban areas, but less so for rural schools. Indeed, the most robust voice for rural schools, the Rural School and Community Trust, no longer has an — a metaphor for the isolating lack of broadband internet or reliable cell service that confronts many rural schools.

For generations, those differences did not affect the nation economically. But now, they matter a lot. Modern society and the modern economy rely more on strong scientific readiness in places like the Southwest and rural upstate New York than ever.

The $80 billion in investments that Congress and President Joe Biden have made are designed to share the wealth of economic growth in every part of the country, not just Silicon Valley, Wall Street and the suburbs of Washington, D.C. Mining that wealth can’t happen, however, unless every school — rural, suburban and urban — has the facilities and a plan to get young children involved in science.

If this new industrial policy is to succeed in making this country economically sound and secure in the wake of the pandemic, engaging all citizens is critical. Making science real and relevant is, in that sense, a national economic security initiative. This opportunity is too crucial to miss.

Indiana’s influential Chamber of Commerce on Monday released its third long-term economic for the state — two years ahead of schedule, and as both Indiana and the chamber itself prepare for major leadership changes.

The ambitious vision seeks to advance workforce, education, business climate, infrastructure, quality of place and health initiatives.

“Indiana Prosperity 2035 is more than just an update to a prior plan. It’s a new vision with a goal of accelerating the move of Indiana’s economy to an even greater high,” chamber board chair Paul Perkins said at a virtual news conference Tuesday. He’s also president of Amatrol Inc., a technical education provider.

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The organization’s previous plan was set to extend through 2025. But longtime chamber President and CEO Kevin Brinegar said board and staff members decided to “pivot” in 2020, during the pandemic-induced “tremendous upheaval in our economy.”

The 20-page document will guide the chamber’s advocacy work with policymakers and others, Brinegar said. That includes the state’s next governor.

Brinegar said his team would ask each declared gubernatorial candidate “for the opportunity to go through it with them, to encourage them to embrace it and adopt as much of it as they see fit.” The general election is November 2024.

The 12-year plan also comes with Brinegar himself on the way out. He’s set to retire in January 2024 after 31 years with the chamber.

Goals run the gamut

Forty policy experts, business leaders and others spent 18 months putting the latest plan together, which focuses on similar pillars as in the past: workforce, education, business climate, infrastructure, quality of place and health.

But Brinegar said the goals within each area had changed.

In workforce, for example: over the last decade, the percentage of Hoosiers with a postsecondary credential rose from 32% to 54%, according to the chamber. Now, the organization wants to aim for 70%.

“I am optimistic that (even) if we don’t quite get there, we’re going to be close and we’re going to be better served for having had this goal to work towards since 2012, and continuing on into the future,” Brinegar said.

The chamber also hopes to see double the number of Hoosiers with STEM-related postsecondary credentials by 2035, and more with bachelor’s degrees. It additionally wants the state to keep more college graduates, especially international students with STEM degrees, and to get workforce participation from 63% to 70%.

Higher participation would fill the 100,000 jobs open statewide, Brinegar said.

“To do this we have to lift up the skills of the folks at the lower end of the education attainment level,” he said. “It’s unacceptable to have 60% of our high school dropouts not in the workforce. We’ve got to get them off the sidelines and onto the playing field.”

In education, the chamber said it wanted more Hoosier students proficient in math and English, higher graduation rates — not counting waivers — and publicly funded pre-kindergarten programs accessible statewide. Brinegar also highlighted a desire to consolidate small school districts.

Lawmakers have already fulfilled one goal, with recent legislation enabling automatic enrollment of qualifying students into the 21st Century Scholars program.

When it comes to business, the chamber offered congratulations on the state’s “competitive business and regulatory environment” but said the state should focus on some investment, entrepreneurship, productivity, patent and intellectual property metrics.

“It is so important for us to be successful in this area (entrepreneurship), because we have to grow our own,” said volunteer task force chair Larry Gigerich, who also leads economic development group Ginovus. “Indiana is not likely to be a state where we’re going to get a lot of headquarters to relocate here. It’s just not something that is is necessarily a perfect fit for us.”

In infrastructure, the chamber announced goals of high speed communication connectivity for all and carbon neutral targets. Lawmakers have already taken action on two other goals: a state energy strategy and a road improvement program.

But water and wastewater needs still need to be addressed.

“We’ve seen the struggles that have happened in the Boone County area with the LEAP district, which was laid out — but perhaps not enough thought (was) given to where the water for these massive manufacturing and laboratory facilities was going to come from,” Brinegar remarked.

The chamber highlighted quality of place initiatives to help retain and attract more residents, as well as water, air quality and affordable housing goals. Though the state has gained population overall, Indiana’s smallest communities are losing people.

And finally, on health, the chamber hoped to lower smoking and addiction levels, “contain” health care costs and boost civic engagement.

“The cost in loves, lost futures and lost productivity is simply staggering,” the report notes. “… Indiana’s unhealthy population is a drag on economic growth and a tremendous cost to taxpayers.

Tracking metrics

Brinegar said the chamber would release its first baseline report card this fall, and would likely continue releasing them on a biennial basis.

Indiana’s business community, philanthropic community and governmental entities are most effective when they are aligned, Gigerich said. And he advocated for all to resource the plan and “seize this opportunity.”

“We cannot afford to be complacent,” he said.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Indiana Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Niki Kelly for questions: info@indianacapitalchronicle.com. Follow Indiana Capital Chronicle on and .

So in 1995, he decided to change that, by founding the Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program within UAA to support Alaska natives from kindergarten through doctorate in the STEM fields.

“He realized, If there were more Alaska native engineers working, there wouldn’t be people from outside making big decisions,” said Michele Yatchmeneff, an ANSEP alumnus and UAA’s executive director of Alaska education and outreach. “It would actually be our Alaska native students making those decisions for their communities.”

Now, ANSEP’s yearlong Acceleration Academy allows students to attend UAA full-time as high school students, taking regular college courses and earning college credits. They also have the opportunity to experience professional internships in STEM industries, like oil and gas and conservation. The vast majority of their students identify as native Alaskans. 

“One of the main reasons ANSEP was founded was because it was believed that Alaska natives were not smart enough to hold degrees or positions in the STEM field,” said Cody Kapotak, an ANSEP alumnus and a coordinator for the U.S. Forest Service Partnership.

Watch, in the mini documentary above, how ANSEP is changing that perception, empowering Alaska natives, and giving them a seat at the table.

This is not an imaginary scenario — these lessons and activities are happening at real schools around the world. And the lessons their students are learning, both formal and informal, as they follow their own curiosity, are invaluable as they grow as stewards of our future. We can see it in how two schools, in particular, approach climate change.

set out to build the most sustainable school on the planet. Indonesia is an archipelago with 180 million people living in coastal regions. It faces the imminent threat of rising sea levels and is no stranger to weather-related disasters. Green School Bali is a much-needed inspiration for environmental education far beyond its borders. Students at this international school actively learn about sustainable agriculture, renewable energy systems and ecological conservation, applying fundamental literacies such as critical thinking and writing. They demonstrate what it means to be .

A continent away in Hungary, addresses similar concerns in a different way by focusing on alternatives to dangerous, unsustainable agricultural practices. The school opened a vegan cafeteria that supplies delicious, locally-sourced food for school lunches and the public. Students have a voice in the menus, are involved in the food planning and learn valuable lessons about supply, demand and food sources. By providing families and community members with tasty vegan food, the school encourages the community to lower its meat intake, thus decreasing the need for unsustainable farming practices. 

I saw this all first hand last year, during a 12-month transformational journey exploring innovative educational practices in 34 countries on six continents. I approached this exploration as a life-long educator and co-founder of , a diverse-by-design high school in the heart of Memphis, Tennessee. Here, students use in all of their classes to make education more meaningful, often in collaboration with nonprofits and researchers.

For my tour, I wanted to see what commonalities exist among innovative schools worldwide. I also wanted to see how world events like political shifts, war, youth movements, human migration and climate change affect teaching and learning.

As an educator committed to preparing students for an uncertain future in a swiftly evolving world, my main focus was learning how schools across the globe approach similar goals: namely, how they’re helping students become generous collaborators and original thinkers — all while mastering foundational knowledge and fundamental literacies. These guide teaching and learning at Crosstown High and in other innovative, student-centered . 

For more ideas on rethinking the high school experience, read The XQ Xtra — a newsletter for educators that comes out twice a month. .

Student-Led Innovation Creates Sustainable Schools 

Around the world, schools embody the same learner outcomes we use at Crosstown and other XQ schools to prepare students for these immense challenges. 

“Change starts with an idea, an intention or a problem to be solved,” said Green School Bali Principal Sal Gordon. School educators tasked their students with researching the greatest environmental impacts on their local school community. Through an extensive study of numerous factors, students identified automobile traffic on campus as a leading contributor. With the help of engineers, chemists and automotive experts, students developed a process to convert school buses from diesel to cooking oil for fuel, which they collected from local restaurants. 

Each week, students in the “Grease Police” procure the oil from a 15-mile radius of the school for refinement and use as fuel, providing a greener alternative to school transportation. Through this kind of project-based learning and hands-on experiences, they gain a profound understanding of the interconnectedness between their actions and the environment. 

The school’s entire facility encourages this type of learning. Each open-air classroom is constructed of bamboo and thatch, with tables and chairs made locally from sustainable products. Students also manage their own lush gardens at each grade level that provide food for school lunches. They eat fish grown in the student-managed aquaponic system and eggs harvested from the fifth-grade chicken coop. 

In Hungary, REAL School Budapest Founder Barna Barath intentionally designed the vegan cafeteria to serve as a living example of the school’s purpose. In a traditional school system, a common purpose is to prepare students for postsecondary opportunities that provide individual prosperity. At REAL, the purpose is to live a purposeful and fulfilling life for collective prosperity. Students and parents invest in that vision for the betterment of the community. REAL’s educators are creating a community space and showing what it means to be learners for life and generous collaborators.

Connect Student-Directed Learning to Academic Standards

Educators at schools anywhere can prepare students for an uncertain future, specifically where that uncertainty relates to environmental change. A key takeaway from the two schools in Indonesia and Hungary is letting students take the lead in their learning. In each case, students investigated problems and found solutions, resulting in deep learning. There are many examples of schools doing similar work in the U.S. At Crosstown High, science teacher Nikki Wallace lets students take the lead by connecting them with local researchers through powerful community partnerships. 

We need to think big. Assigning simple projects around collecting plastic bottles or bags isn’t enough to move the needle on the environment and won’t truly engage kids. Even though Indonesia has specific concerns about rising sea levels, schools anywhere can — and should — engage students in learning about and studying the effects of droughts, heatwaves, floods and storms that result in crop failure and food scarcity. Here are a few steps to get started:

• Get students to think audaciously about solving local problems. What’s the big issue facing their neighborhood, town, county or state? How can they learn about it? Who can help them uncover solutions? For example: What is the condition of the local water source? What in the community is impacting local water? Who in the community can share expertise around this issue? 
• As they problem-solve, consider all connections to academic standards. How do research and problem-solving by students connect to the learning standards in your state? This is the crucial jumping-off point for connecting “academic” knowledge to “real world” solutions. At Crosstown High, we’ve done an in-depth study of human migration involving people who immigrated to Memphis. This project closely relates to the standards covered in our history, geography, sociology and psychology courses. 
• Get outside the box. Keep asking, “Why?” and push your students to think bigger and broader before zeroing in on the small tasks. At Crosstown, our students conducted an in-depth project on how life could exist on Mars. This encompassed everything from food sources, water, breathable air, transportation and architecture. They used persuasive writing and research — touching practically every subject area.

Unlock Students’ Passion and Curiosity

Helping students find the urgency and passion in learning, and the joy of finding a solution, are key components to solving increasingly urgent local and global issues. But they’re also the ingredients we need to make learning, in general, more engaging and relevant to high school students. Our high schools can and should do a better job cultivating students’ natural passions and curiosities, helping them discover how their unique gifts, talents and interests help them meet the challenges of an uncertain future. Understanding their place in that future builds the confidence needed to be a change-maker.

Luckily, students are naturally forward-focused. They constantly think about what life will be like when they grow up. We can improve the high school experience by activating their natural curiosity and augmenting it with essential skills such as critical thinking, creative problem solving, information gathering and collaboration.

All of these skills are necessary for college, career and the real world. By combining passion, urgency, curiosity and essential knowledge and skills, our students can grow into the superheroes our planet needs to lead urgent and necessary change on the local, national and global stages. Schools around the world are setting examples, and we can, too. 

Want more ideas for making your high school more student-centered? The XQ Xtra is a newsletter for educators that comes out twice a month. .

Disclosure: is a financial supporter of The 74.

Charlnitta Ellis — also known as “Mama Chi” and the sister of David T.C. Ellis, who founded High School for Recording Arts — encouraged Keys to come to the school.

“This place is a safe haven,” said Tracy Seller, the parent of former HSRA students. “A lot of times, these kids get given up on.”

HSRA, nicknamed “Hip Hop High,” is a public school in St. Paul, Minnesota. T.C. Ellis, who had a long, storied music career growing up and recording with Prince, sought to connect with at-risk students through music — something that is deeply rooted in the culture of the Twin Cities. HSRA teaches core subjects through a musical lens, helping students develop skills and agency to tackle real-world issues.

Keys credits HSRA with saving his life, and for putting him on a pathway to be where he is in life now — living in Tennessee with his wife, and working a stable job as a Walmart manager.

“What high school that you know can make you take out all your anger on a beat?” Keys said. “There ain’t nobody getting hurt, that’s amazing to me.”

]]> /article/reading-writing-carpentry-a-st-louis-hub-for-teaching-girls-key-skills/ Wed, 19 Jul 2023 13:01:00 +0000 /?post_type=article&p=711745 On Tuesday nights, a small storefront nestled in central St. Louis welcomes a crowd of young girls who are yearning to get to work.

Some of them are in the alley out back, cutting through tough plywood with circular saws, while others are inside using impact drivers to join pieces of framework. Other girls will be stationed next to a laser printer, creating decals and decorations.

“It is just a symphony of chaos, but it’s amazing,” said Kelli Best-Oliver, who oversees the work along with a group of volunteers. “They’re all doing it relatively independently and, you know, there’s music playing, and it’s just this diverse group of kids. The culture that we’re creating here is something special.” 

The project — building a structure for a hole of miniature golf — is just one of many happening at , a nonprofit that provides after-school and summer programming for girls and gender-expansive youth, ages 10 to 16.

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LitShop offers book clubs and writing sessions along with workshops focused on building and construction — carpentry, printmaking, fiber arts or architecture.

Many of the resulting projects benefit the community. The miniature golf structure will go to a local arts association. The students also recently built a wheelchair ramp for a St. Louis resident.

“We will have kids who are attracted to us for one reason or another — they are either a bookworm or emerging writer, or they really want to get their hands dirty and make a lot of noise and learn how to use tools,” said Kelli Best-Oliver, LitShop’s founder. “It really opens kids’ eyes up to what they don’t even know because they’re not doing it at school.”

Best-Oliver, who worked as a literacy and language arts curriculum coordinator for St. Louis Public Schools for more than 15 years, said there are minimal opportunities in the city’s schools to take classes centered on construction and building. The push to pursue admission to college also discourages students from considering other options, like the trades industries, she said. 

“We need to validate and affirm that building trades are just as valuable to both our communities and society, but can also be a tool for economic mobility. (Students) just don’t know because we’re not even giving them that information,” she said. “They don’t even know it’s an option for them.”

Female students receive even less exposure to the construction trades than boys, she said. That’s why LitShop is geared toward girls — to give them a chance to break into male-dominated jobs. Only 11% of workers in the industry are female, according to by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research.

Best-Oliver said it’s also crucial for LitShop to be open to gender-expansive youth, as LGBTQ+ people have an even smaller presence in the building trades.

“Especially in Missouri, it literally can save lives to validate a kid’s gender identity, in a safe and affirming place where they can be themselves,” she said.

Best-Oliver said she doesn’t want to inspire girls just to explore the trades industry, but also science, technology, engineering and mathematics. A lot of LitShop projects are STEM-based, such as a circuitry class the organization offered in early May. Students learned about wiring, batteries and circuits and how to make sculptures with LED-light fixtures.

According to the , only about 28% of STEM employees in the U.S. are female.

Even if the girls don’t pursue a STEM career, Best-Oliver, said they will be gaining important skills for any path they take in the future. It’s “valuable and rad for girls to know how to use a circular saw,” she said. “It’s just a very powerful and empowering thing.”

For sixth-grader Stella Andersen, LitShop has given her an outlet for not only learning to use tools, but for exploring her passion for writing.

Stella has been with LitShop for three years and said she was initially attracted to its literacy component. One of her first projects was to read a novel and create a “twinkle board” — a large wooden sign with lights that spell out a specific word related to the novel.

She contributes to the organization’s publication, called LitMag, which features writing and art from the students, but also enjoys participating in group building projects like the mini-golf hole.

“It’s fun when people are walking by and they just look through the door and it’s funny to see them trying to figure out what LitShop is and what’s happening,” Stella said.

LitShop is based on a similar organization in Berkeley, California, called , which Best-Oliver visited in 2019. At the time, she was disillusioned with her job in the 20,000-student St. Louis district and frustrated with how test-driven curriculum was, especially in underfunded urban areas.

“When I walked in, I was just like, ‘This is it. If I don’t do something like this in St. Louis, someone else is going to do it,’ ” Best-Oliver said. “I was going to be stuck in my current job shaking my fist because I didn’t have the courage to strike out on my own.”

Emily Pilloton-Lam founded the California organization in 2008. At first, it was open to all students, but Pilloton-Lam shifted to focus on girls and gender-expansive youth in 2013 and changed the name to match. 

When she created the organization, Pilloton-Lam said, she couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that even though the work was powerful, it was alienating the girls because they still felt like they didn’t fully belong working alongside the boys.

“It’s the thing that I have experienced as an educator, working with students, and I’m leading a build and I’m in charge and no one treats me like I’m in charge. I started to see some of those same feelings manifest with my female students,” Pilloton-Lam said. “I call it the social calculus of being a woman — you walk into a room or onto a construction site and you’re constantly having to calibrate, ‘How do I prove that I belong here?’ ”

Best-Oliver took her inspiration from Pilloton-Lam and created a pilot program of LitShop that started in St. Louis classrooms. She began by teaching students construction and writing skills in schools during the day, with the help of district staff. The pilot program was a success, and at the end of the school year, Best-Oliver quit her job to make LitShop its own organization.

The pandemic forced her to switch from in-person to virtual programming. The organization finally transitioned from being school-based to standing on its own after Best-Oliver purchased the building that now houses the storefront workshop.

LitShop currently has about 100 students enrolled, and Best-Oliver hopes to increase that number if the organization can secure more grant funding. All programs and workshops are free to students.

The nonprofit is gearing up to offer its summer programs: a print shop for making merchandise, like T-shirts; a woodworking and writer’s workshop; architectural model making; a furniture project; a book club; and a paper mache workshop.

“What we’re doing on paper can sound cool, but it can also sound confusing, like, ‘I don’t get how these things fit together.’ But if you come to our shop, and you see what we’re doing, nobody comes here and says, ‘This is lame,’ ” Best-Oliver said. “Everybody leaves here being like, ‘This is awesome. How can I get involved?’ We are doing something that nobody is doing. And it is really cool to walk into a place and see a 12-year-old on power tools.”

]]> /article/black-girls-do-stem-opens-worlds-of-opportunity-for-st-louis-middle-schoolers/ Tue, 13 Jun 2023 17:01:00 +0000 /?post_type=article&p=710362 At Ferguson Middle School in St. Louis, female engineers from Boeing sat down with 75 girls for breakfast and an introduction to the world of science, technology, engineering and math. An opportunity to engage hands-on with STEM activities, such as building lava lamps and creating an engineering design for a mobile robot, followed. The event was sponsored by , a St. Louis-based organization focused on connecting young girls of color to science.  

“We know that there are obstacles at every stage of the educational system in America, especially for urban youth and Black girls,” says Cynthia Chapple, founder and managing director. “Students need to feel supported, seen and heard in certain spaces.” 

Since launching Black Girls Do STEM in 2019, Chapple has engaged students at five partner middle schools in St. Louis. Monthly Saturday activities bring students together with mentors to work on projects and experiments in materials science, engineering, technology, cosmetic science and more. The girls also go on field trips and meet Black women who are leaders in the STEM community.

This year, more than 100 girls are participating, guided by over a dozen volunteer mentors. In the first year, the students are introduced to a variety of STEM fields, engaging in a new activity each month. In the second year, they choose from one of five tracks — aviation and aerospace, cosmetic science, cybersecurity, agriculture technology, and construction and civil engineering — helping to anchor their STEM interests. When the students reach high school, the organization can provide tutoring, with the goal of supporting them throughout their STEM pursuits while encouraging them to stay focused on advanced math and science. 

“It is so powerful to sit with someone who you feel like you connect with on personal levels,” Chapple says. “You build trust with them and relationship. When you tell them something is possible, they start to believe it more than if a random stranger told them. I think it is tremendous, and why our mentoring network is so critical.”

The program focuses on creating a space that prizes curiosity and exploration — and the girls start to value that in themselves, Chapple says. “We will be successful if girls walk out of this with a renewed sense of who they are,” she says. “The core is how do we develop this young person into believing big of themselves and a mindset to push through challenges and building resilience that doesn’t come from trauma.” 

At Ferguson, Sam Brotherton, a math instructional support leader, says Black Girls Do STEM has proven “extremely valuable” for his students. “The girls who attend the Saturday program get to experience science in ways that are relevant to them, while developing a support network in addition to what the school offers,” he says. “Overall, our girls are more interested in the STEM field and get the opportunity to meet more local professionals to extend their network and knowledge of STEM careers.”

Chapple left her job in applied sciences — she has worked in forensic, food and materials science — to focus on Black Girls Do STEM. The community-based program has target demographics and identifies school partners in areas of St. Louis where the occupations of the community’s adults do not commonly fall within STEM fields.

The organization comes into the schools through hands-on learning experiences or special events to introduce the program and invite students to join the Saturday sessions. Representatives are also present at community fairs and festivals. About 75% of the girls are students at target schools, but Black Girls Do STEM also accepts students from across greater St. Louis. 

Chapple focused on middle schoolers because students at that age are at a pivotal development stage where they form their identity, yet are curious enough to ask questions and try new challenges. “That is the best age to get them to develop their confidence and awareness around things that are challenging and finding the fun and joy in doing things that may not come to them super easily,” she says. 

The program mixes activities and field trips — students have visited Boeing, Washington University’s engineering labs, the Saint Louis Zoo veterinary science clinic and more — to expose the girls to a wide range of STEM worlds. 

Black Girls Do STEM is funded by grants and community support. During the pandemic, much of the program went virtual, and the organization has retained a small cohort of students from across the country who access the program virtually. Chapple says her dream is to keep building the program, offering new opportunities for students while expanding its networks and reach beyond St. Louis. 

“We are real people right here in front of you, investing our time in you and belief in you,” Chapple says. “This is possible. We have done it. I have made products on the shelf that people use every day, that go into devices you use every day. This is regular, everyday stuff.”

]]> /article/watch-how-a-16-year-old-pilot-built-an-app-to-get-more-women-people-of-color-into-flying/ Tue, 04 Apr 2023 18:30:00 +0000 /?post_type=article&p=706973 Meet Angelina Tsuboi, a 16-year-old pilot and app developer who is using her skills and passion to provide others — particularly women and people of color — with resources to pursue careers in aviation. 

“When I was a kid, the superpower I’ve always wanted was to fly,” she said. “Aviation was the closest thing I could get to that.”

But her journey wasn’t easy. Obtaining a pilot’s license costs thousands — if not tens of thousands — of dollars in coursework and flight time. To fund her training, Angela put a lot of energy into searching for scholarships. The more time she spent in aviation, however, the more she started to notice that most people in the industry don’t look like her.

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So she sought to help aspiring pilots, especially women and people of color, gain access to aviation by developing an app, , to connect them with a marketplace of scholarships to offset the daunting cost of flight training.

Another one of her apps, , is an Apple Watch product that provides a real-time guide to administer CPR, and it won the 2022 Apple Swift Student Challenge, which tasks students with creating an “.” She was invited to Apple headquarters where she met Apple CEO Tim Cook.

Angelina says she wants to continue working on projects that make the world a better place. 

“Global problems have local roots,” she said. “And by tackling a small problem within your general community… you can impact a global problem.”

Click here to see & share Tsuboi’s story — and check out this other recent coverage of teenagers breaking new ground in STEM: 

Watch: 17-Year-Old Makes History By Sequencing Genome of Pet Fish

A Teen’s Research on Bees’ Memory Is Helping Avert Colony Collapse Disorder

Florida Teen Invents World’s First Sustainable Electric Vehicle Motor

14-Year-Old Wins $25,000 Prize For Robotic Hand He Built For Less Than $100

Meet the 16 Under 16 in STEM Achievers

—Produced & Edited by Jim Fields

]]> /article/watch-17-year-old-makes-history-by-sequencing-genome-of-pet-fish/ Tue, 21 Feb 2023 07:01:00 +0000 /?post_type=article&p=704621 Indeever Madireddy, 17, is an avid fish lover. Not as food, but as pets. The San Jose, California teen meticulously raises his freshwater angelfish from egg to adulthood. But when one of his prized fish died, he was struck with an idea: use the fish for genetic mapping. Indeever says this is important for use as “a model organism in future biomedical research.”

Working at biohacking space BioCurious, he successfully mapped the genetic code of his pet fish and submitted it to the National Library of Medicine’s Center for Biotechnology Information. 

Indeever’s passion for biomedical research is inspired by a passion for STEM education. 

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“STEM, of course, is really important to me,” he says, “because it gives me the tools to solve and answer questions in the world around us.”

Click here to see & share Madireddy’s story — and check out this other recent coverage of teenagers breaking new ground in STEM: 

• A Teen’s Research on Bees’ Memory Is Helping Avert Colony Collapse Disorder

• Florida Teen Invents World’s First Sustainable Electric Vehicle Motor

• 14-Year-Old Wins $25,000 Prize For Robotic Hand He Built For Less Than $100

• Meet the 16 Under 16 in STEM Achievers

—Produced & Edited by Jim Fields

]]> /article/video-a-california-teens-research-on-bees-memory-is-helping-avert-colony-collapse-disorder/ Tue, 14 Feb 2023 14:30:00 +0000 /?post_type=article&p=704136 When Rory Hu came across a news article about the global decline in honey bee populations, she was inspired to do something about it. Known as Colony Collapse Disorder, it puts the global food supply at serious risk.

The teen from San Jose, California, dug deeper, discovering in her research that harmful pesticides can damage the honey bees’ learning and memory. Impaired bees can’t harvest pollen well and have a hard time finding their way back to the hive.

With the help of a local beekeeper, Hu set out an experiment to mollify these effects. She created artificial flowers tinged with caffeine and a food supplement called T-Polyphenol. The experiment intended to use the compounds to improve the bees’ memories. Her experiment worked. The bees thrived. 

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Rory won the Department of Defense STEM Talent Award of $10,000 for her experiment at the 2022 Broadcom MASTERS, a national science and engineering competition for middle school students. “Knowing that I would even be able to have a small part in [solving the problem],” she says, “it would be extremely gratifying to me.”

Click here to see & share Hu’s story — and check out this other recent coverage of teenagers breaking new ground in STEM: 

• Florida Teen Invents World’s First Sustainable Electric Vehicle Motor
• 14-Year-Old Wins $25,000 Prize For Robotic Hand He Built For Less Than $100
• Meet the 16 Under 16 in STEM Achievers

—Produced & Edited by Jim Fields

]]> /article/video-14-year-old-inventor-wins-25000-prize-for-robotic-hand-he-built-for-less-than-100/ Tue, 07 Feb 2023 15:30:00 +0000 /?post_type=article&p=703639 Thomas Aldous happened upon a documentary about the 2011 Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster that was caused by a tsunami along coastal Japan. What piqued his interest most about the aftermath was the robots devised to inspect the damaged radioactive reactors. 

With that in mind, the 14-year-old from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, built a robot hand controlled by a glove. “It has a lot of applications,” he says, “but primarily for search and rescue.” The user’s movements are copied to the robot intuitively. And he built it all for less than $100. (See the robot in action right here)

For his invention, he won the Samueli Foundation Prize of $25,000 at the 2022 Broadcom MASTERS, a national science and engineering competition for middle school students. He says he’ll use the prize for college tuition.

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Share Thomas’s story — and check out this other recent coverage of teenagers breaking new ground in STEM: 

• Florida Teen Invents World’s First Sustainable Electric Vehicle Motor
  
• California Teen Creates App to Help Kids Struggling With Food Allergies
  
• Meet the 16 Under 16 in STEM Achievers

—Produced & Edited by Jim Fields

]]> /article/to-make-stem-inclusive-students-need-to-feel-they-belong/ Tue, 01 Nov 2022 10:30:00 +0000 /?post_type=article&p=699012 The debate over the firing of . misses the point: It’s neither that his tests were too hard nor that his Gen Z students were too entitled. It’s that introductory courses should be gateways into the STEM professions, especially for students underrepresented in these areas, not elimination rounds in a cutthroat competition in an imagined world of scarcity.

The pandemic has accelerated a workforce crisis in the STEM fields and a persistent gap in science, technology, engineering and math education. Across industries, the . Yet millions of potential professionals from diverse backgrounds are not being tapped. In 2017, while Black, Latino and Native American students comprised 34% of prospective college STEM majors, only 18% of them actually earned a STEM degree. 

The probability that a STEM-focused white male student who receives a C or better in all introductory courses will earn a degree in the field is . But for a similar Black male student, the chances are 31%, while Black female students have just a 28% chance. Yet, there is between those introductory grades and career success or job performance. That early C has no bearing on how good a doctor a student will become. And when it comes to innovators, to success: As grades go down, invention goes up.

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To increase the number of women and students of color who will become the country’s next generation of doctors, engineers, and epidemiologists, educators need to listen to what they really need — and why they drop out of STEM majors at rates disproportionate to their white male counterparts. A new study called the — through which 600 diverse young people shared their experiences — identifies one key ingredient that can either keep students in STEM courses or push them out: a sense of belonging. 

Samantha Guerro, who attended high school in Texas, shared her experience with STEM courses through the story collection project, powered by Beyond100K (formerly 100Kin10). “I think a really important part of this spark of interest was the teacher,” Guerro said. “They’re excited to actually teach others, and they want to make you understand.”

Guerro’s love of science was nurtured by her Advanced Placement chemistry teacher, who made it “so that you can feel like this is something you can do. It’s not something reserved for only the elites of academia.” 

That sense of belonging and connection fueled Guerro to persist in STEM through high school. It’s no different in college. Belonging is correlated to persevering in STEM. And persevering past that first bad grade can make the difference between success and failure.

Most anyone who’s taken an introductory STEM course knows that one of the first things students hear, whether that course is calculus, computer science, or organic chemistry: “Look to your left, look to your right; only one of you will be here by the end of the semester.” 

Such a mindset is not only outdated; it’s likely to replicate the very inequities and shortages the STEM sector is trying so hard to address. Instead of aiming to weed out students, introductory courses should be designed to create as many pathways to success as possible. By creating classes that prioritize nurturing a sense of belonging for students — especially those who might be the first in their family to study STEM — schools won’t have to choose between high expectations and high success rates.

The field has many bright spots to learn from. The University of Texas at Austin, for example, has focused on fostering belonging as the centerpiece of its to help first-generation college students graduate. First-generation college-goers at UT Austin earn their degrees at a rate of nearly 65%, compared with a national average of 27%. The hallmarks of the program are small classes, peer mentors, tutoring, engaged faculty advisers and community-building. But little things also help: older students record short videos about times they doubted themselves and felt alone, and how they persevered, which reinforces the message that students belong and can succeed. 

In Massachusetts, mandatory at Bridgewater State University not only increased student success in introductory STEM courses, but overall retention in STEM majors. Xavier University in New Orleans, than any other university in the country, uses early quizzes to flag students who need support into tutoring and study groups and encourages peers to help those who need to catch up. University of Maryland, Baltimore County, created an aspiring to STEM careers, primarily kids of color, with high expectations and a strong sense of community.

The common denominator across all these efforts: belonging.

The U.S. Department of Education’s new initiative to modernize STEM education spotlights this very connection between rigor and belonging. Called , its aim is that all students, no matter their background, get a world-class STEM education to prepare them and the country for the future. To get to that future, students first need to know that they belong and can succeed in STEM.

In no other major is the goal of college introductory courses to scare passionate students away. Why are STEM courses so different? If all students are helped to persevere; if they feel they belong in STEM, whatever their background; if they understand that their unique experiences are essential in bringing forth unique contributions to the fields of science, technology, engineering and math, who knows what inventions, cures and breakthroughs await.

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