CSforALL’s Member EnCorps Shares Their Work on Addressing the Large STEM Equity Gap in California and Beyond
California is a leader in the tech economy, and yet, just 39% of California schools offer computer science education and there are large equity gaps in access. EnCorps Teacher, Joshua Stempel, recently began the Fellow-Led Computer Science Community of Practice to focus on translating Fellows’ real-world STEM experience into engaging and equitable computer science pedagogy.
Since 2007, EnCorps STEM Teachers Program has been working earnestly to fill one of those gaps — access to an excellent STEM teacher. What better way to learn something, than to hear it straight from someone who has lived it? This is the philosophy behind bringing former STEM industry professionals into middle and high school classrooms in low income communities through the EnCorps STEM Teaching Fellowship. EnCorps Teachers are former engineers, programmers, scientists and accountants, bringing academics to life.
“Los Angeles teacher Julius Gawlas says, ‘I had an amazing career as a computer scientist and engineer and I want my students to see how great it is to use computer science to solve problems. I want them to see the ability to create things out of nothing.”