2017 Year in Review

Ser ving to Inspi r e Students Thr ough STEM

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LETTER FROM LEADERSHIP

Katherine C. Wilcox Executive Director

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Entering EnCorps’ 10th year with the mission of recruiting and preparing STEM professionals to transition to

teaching in high needs schools, I am proud to share that we recruited a record 172 new EnCorps Fellows, placed

more Fellows in pre-service volunteering in 2017-2018 than any other time in our history and now have impacted

over 60,000 California students.

We continue to envision a community where:

All students learn to become problem solvers, innovators and creators;

Students see the real-world application of math and science and how these disciplines are essential to their future;

Underrepresented populations build a strong presence in STEM professions; and

STEM professionals are regularly and actively engaged in public education.

From 2016-2018, 80% of our students report that having an EnCorps Fellow in their class made them more aware of different STEM career

opportunities and 83% reported that they understand better why science and math matter in their lives. We believe we are making a

difference.

Why are EnCorps Fellows and Teachers successful in the classroom? They have been vetted and participated in a teacher preparation

program that has resulted in an overall teacher retention rate of over 85%. In this time of dire teacher shortages, we strive to prepare

EnCorps Fellows for all that lies ahead in the dynamic world of teaching. Last year, we conducted 55 professional development events that

included institutes, online webinars and professional learning communities. Three EnCorps Teachers were recognized as outstanding

educators in California.

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Katherine C. Wilcox Executive Director

Recent work on The STEM Professional Teaching Pathway Act of 2017 (SB 436; Allen) brought attention to EnCorps’ work. I was honored to

speak as part of the keynote at the US News STEM Solutions National Leadership Conference, a convening of the brightest minds in U.S.

industry, academia and government who are at the forefront of advancing the national STEM debate and creating the STEM workforce of

tomorrow. Our work was also featured in The Atlantic in an article entitled, “Can Scientists Help End the Teacher Shortage?”

Grace McGlade joined our team as Director of Development in March. She has been working tirelessly to meet and speak with our existing

supporters, and to seek out and partner with Funders who share our mission and vision to transform education in the communities which we

serve.

Everyone agrees that few American values are more important to our way of life than the promise to educate all children. Today, in the

21st century, STEM literacy is a fundamental building block for individual opportunity but a quality STEM education relies on a

passionate, dedicated STEM teacher who takes ownership for student achievement and believes that all students can learn.

I remain in awe of the amazing STEM professionals who are transitioning to teaching. Each one is an inspiration to me; their presence and

teaching will positively affect so many students.

Sincerely,

LETTER FROM LEADERSHIP

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EnCorps was recognized as a US2020 Excellence in Volunteer Experience award winner at the White House complex in August 2016. Winners are selected for exceptional work in STEM mentoring based on survey results submitted by their own volunteers, indicating great pride among our Fellows. In 2017 our program was declared a winner of the Annenberg Challenge for Innovation in Technology for our long-term solution to the shortage of high-caliber STEM teachers. For the second year running, we have recruited our largest ever cohort (172) of STEM professionals transitioning to teaching, including 82 female STEM experts. Our new 172 Fellows will impact nearly 9,000 students in their pre-service tutoring and guest teaching placements in the 2017-2018 school year and 21,500 students per year when they become full-time teachers. We also proudly welcomed new board member Marc Freedman, whose illustrious public service history includes helping to establish the AARP Experience Corps, spearheading the creation of the Purpose Prize to recognize social entrepreneurs in the second half of life, and instituting the Encore Fellowship for second acts focused on social impact.

IMPACT

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During our 2016-2017 program year, we offered a robust professional development program, including 55 events. Fall Institutes were hosted by University of Phoenix in Southern California and Arise High School in Northern California. Seminars covered topics ranging from “Developing Maker Mindsets” to “Discipline Over Punishment.” Our Spring Institutes had the largest attendance to date, with 48 Fellows participating at Brandman University, Irvine Campus and 46 Fellows taking part at Leadership Public Schools, Hayward. Educational sessions included "Common Core Math Instruction for the 21st Century” and "Culturally Relevant Pedagogy and Tools for Creating a Safe and Reflective Classroom." We rolled out a slate of 25 professional developmental webinars as the year progressed, providing more frequent and consistent support to our Fellows. We also launched and managed professional learning circles, recurring meetup style development events, in all regions to facilitate interactive fellowship. Our annual signature professional development event, Summer Residential Institute, was hosted by San Diego State University, featuring the theme “Difference Makers for a Decade.” More than 160 EnCorps Fellows attended, diving into working sessions on “Thinking Outside the Box: Using Upcycled Materials to Teach the Engineering Design Process,” and “Culturally Responsive Pedagogy,” among others.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

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SUMMER RESIDENTIAL INSTITUTE June 2017

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• What began with 10 Fellows in 2007 has resulted in a Fellowship of over 750 EnCorps STEM Fellows, impacting more than 60,000 youth through teaching and tutoring in under-resourced schools. In our 2016-2017 program year, 172 additional STEM professionals joined the EnCorps STEM Teaching Fellowship.

• 91% of teachers who hosted an EnCorps Fellow as a tutor or guest teacher in their classroom agreed that working with an EnCorps

Fellow: o increased students' excitement about math and science o increased students‘ academic achievement in math and science o increased students‘ understanding of math and science concepts o contributed to better understanding of students' real-world connections with math/science

• The Sacramento service region expanded to Stockton/San Joaquin County while gaining 10 new program partners, including the Twin Rivers Unified School District, Folsom-Cordova Unified School District, Aspire Public Schools, and College Track Sacramento. In addition, the regional Director, Roger Andersen, was appointed Honorary Commander of the Travis Air Force Base, bolstering EnCorps’ access and impact with the military community.

• Focused on process and protocol improvement, SF Bay Area Program and Recruitment Director, David Taus, completed a two-year

internal evaluation of EnCorps’ new cohort model, with results validating new program and recruitment strategies. In addition, placement partner memorandums of understanding and site orientation meeting protocol were codified.

2016-2017 PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

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• EnCorps’ delivered its first fee-for-service training to first year teachers at MetroEd in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area.

• In Southern California, 21 Fellows were hired as first-year teachers and 7 new program partners were added: College Track Watts, Canoga High School, Pacific High School, DeAnza (DATA) Middle School, Ventura High School, Alliance Marine-Innovation & Technology 6-12 Complex and Alliance Tennenbaum Family Technology High School. The Southern California service region expanded to include Ventura County.

• In Orange County, EnCorps STEM Teacher Jennifer Ibrahim started an Engineering Club at our partner school Magnolia Science Academy, Santa Ana.

• In Los Angeles, EnCorps was invited to speak with the Structural Engineers Association of SoCal, the Society of Petroleum Engineers - Los Angeles Basin Section, UCLA post-docs, Society of Black Professional Engineers, and to attend the Association for Iron and Steel Technology - Southern California Chapter Vendor Fair (among others). We attended the Society of Women Engineers Sonora Region Conference.

• Executive Director Katherine Wilcox presented at the 100Kin10 Summit in New York and the National Summit for Educational Equity

Conference in Washington, DC in April, and was a keynote speaker at the 2017 U.S. News STEM Solutions National Leadership conference in San Diego in May.

• In March, 2017, EnCorps was named a Winner of the Annenberg Challenge for Innovation in Technology.

2016-2017 PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

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Bob earned the 2017 Outstanding Teacher Murphy Award from the Silicon Valley Sunnyvale Chamber of Commerce. He feels teaching was his destiny, saying “I leap out of bed every morning to come to work. My favorite day of the week is Monday.”

Bob Capriles Santa Clara, CA

LaTeira Haynes Los Angeles, CA

Genevive Bjorn San Diego, CA

Genevive, a former biomedical scientist and scientific journalist, received the 2017 Maitland P. Simmons Award for New Teachers from the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA). She attributes her teaching success and related honors to EnCorps’ ongoing support.

LaTeira was named a finalist for Educator of the Year by the California League of High Schools for exceptional contributions to science education. Her principal says, “People think of athletes as role models. Here we have an African-American woman scientist as a role model. She shows what can be accomplished by people who look like her.”

FELLOW ACCOLADES

FUNDING SPOTLIGHT Esteemed individual, foundation and corporate donors make EnCorps’ continued success possible. EnCorps proudly recognizes funding from the following organizations in support of our program in the 2016-2017 academic year. We warmly welcome new funding partnerships with Bayer USA Foundation, Celgene, ECMC, General Motors, Ingram Micro and Western Digital.

CALL TO ACTION

It costs $10,000 to transition a STEM expert into a high needs public school teacher leader. Join the Movement! Please consider becoming an EnCorps advocate, partner or funder in the following ways: Make a donation to EnCorps online at www.encorps.org/donate or mail a check made out to EnCorps Inc. to: c/o SLF, 2121 Avenue of the Stars, Suite 2020, Los Angeles, CA 90067 Participate in corporate sponsorship by emailing grace.mcglade@encorps.org Make an in-kind donation of office or event space by calling 310-272-6854 Host an event with us to support your community and spread our mission Thank you for giving the gift of education!