East Bay STEM Network
Since 2011, the Institute has led the East Bay STEM Network, formerly Gateways, to serve as a “hub organization” for systemic STEM education reform. Our network regularly convenes key stakeholders—many of whom had not previously worked together— to forge a regional STEM education effort that Congresswoman Barbara Lee has lauded as one of the most effective in the nation.
Employing a Collective approach, we build STEM partnerships across education, business, and industry sectors. These, Circles of Collective Impact, illustrate the highly collaborative and intersectional nature of our work and the direct need for partners across communities to work together for equitable student success.
OUR FIRST FIVE YEARS...
We identified critical points in a student’s pathway, both academic and personal, from cradle to career. The Roadmap we created is the lens through which the Network’s programs are prioritized and serves as a model to educate our diverse stakeholders about the web of factors affecting STEM development.
Our partners, business, education, non-profit, and government, have delivered shared funding in unprecedented ways. This network has been critical to major grants. Including $23 million brought to Alameda and Contra Costa Counties in Career Pathways Trust funding from the California Department of Education, with a focus on bringing educators together to create more coherent pathways of STEM education for students.
Specific work plans aimed at breaking down the agreed-upon highest-priority challenges and providing solutions. Our regional STEM network has created four action groups to focus on preschool education, out-of-school time, the high-school-to-college transition, and teacher professional development. Findings and recommendations from those groups have been forged into action plans aimed at policy changes as well as specific educational practices.
We are a leading member of CA Stem Network, led by the advocacy organization Children Now to work on a statewide basis.
OUR WORK TODAY...
Launched by the East Bay Economic Development Alliance and led by Congressmembers Mark DeSaulnier, Barbara Lee, and Eric Swalwell. Innovation 2.0 is intended to foster improvements in STEM education and American competitiveness in the global marketplace. View our Early Math Policy Statement.
A policy statement, drafted by the Steering Committee, addresses challenges in early math education and proposes concrete solutions. The draft has been shared with legislators, the business community, educators, and the general public.
Our long-term commitment to education encourages us to focus on sustainable projects. Through this work, we align mathematics curriculum between secondary and post-secondary grades. This creates a dependable pathway to higher education and beyond.
By identifying metrics for measuring progress, setting baselines for growth, and by determining short and long-term targets we are able to assess the advancement of our action and its impact.