Four Lessons Learned from My Year As a STEM Education Nonprofit CEO

Around this time last year, I was starting in my new role at the National Math + Science Initiative with excitement and determination to help grow the impact of the organization in bridging the STEM education gap for students furthest from opportunity by providing their teachers with resources and support through our professional development programs.  I connected early with NMSI’s mission and vision to transform the face of STEM, and I got to witness firsthand the impact quality STEM education can have on underserved communities. From that first moment in my position through today, I have begun to understand at a deeper level the inherent need for quality professional development in our schools.

My how I have learned a lot in this first year on the job!

The Lessons I’ve Learned

The amazing team at NMSI understands firsthand the impact that high quality teachers can have on math and science outcomes for all students in all schools.  That is why we focus on providing some of the highest quality professional development in the nation to STEM teachers.  A lot of what I have learned is illustrative of what I have heard across the country related to some of the disconnects in our K-12 education pipeline. 

Having worked for more than two decades with education Governors, Legislators, and education leaders across the country, I have a unique perspective on the inner workings of policy and funding for STEM education and professional development. There are a lot of well-intentioned policies and funding streams, but the mere existence of these streams does not indicate that they will be implemented in an equitable and adequate manner. In many cases, these supports are instead going to schools and communities which already receive adequate funding, policy support, and professional development for their teachers and staff, while schools and communities which are under supported are consistently left out of all-important policy updates.

These disparities are key areas that we as a country need to address to ensure we have the high-quality STEM educators needed to teach our future workforce. With millions of STEM positions open right now and millions more expected to open in the next several years, there is a huge opportunity to impact the next generation of STEM professionals and innovators. Creating those opportunities for them starts in one place: with STEM educator professional development.

Realizing this over the past year has opened my mind to new opportunities to continue learning about the STEM education world myself. These are just four of the lessons I’ve learned over my first year as NMSI’s CEO.

Lesson 1: Your zip code may determine the quality of your STEM opportunities.  It shouldn’t be this way.

We have all seen and experienced inequities in funding and services at different schools. One of the most important lessons I’ve learned this year though is that STEM opportunities are more inaccessible than others, especially to students of color, women, and other students traditionally underrepresented in STEM. Student access to STEM opportunities can be partially determined merely by the zip code in which they live. The National Science Foundation report outlines the STEM workforce demographic and the equity by gender, ethnicity and race are pretty telling. Not all American students have the access to high quality STEM education opportunities that they deserve, and we have to correct that for the future of our economy, and our nation’s security.

^{Figure from the National Science Foundation}

We at National Math and Science Initiative know that students furthest from opportunity don’t just succeed in STEM fields when given equal opportunities. They thrive. Opportunities to explore your passions and find the thing at which you excel is an innate right, and we aim to ensure that every student in our country receives that right, regardless of their zip code.

Lesson 2: We have AMAZING teachers; they deserve high quality professional development.

Before I ever joined NMSI, my life was deeply affected by educators and their unwavering commitment to their students. I was raised by two amazing teachers who combined have more than 70 years of classroom experience. My wife is a teacher. One of our daughters is a teacher. I not only understand the amazing impact teachers have on our future workforce, but I also get to see it in action everyday thanks to the teachers who have impacted me and the teachers I have gotten to know through my time at NMSI. Through this, I also understand that teachers are rarely provided the resources and training they need to enhance their impact. And in the past year, I have learned a lot about the lack of meaningful professional development that is provided to so many of our highly capable teachers.

We design our professional development services with teachers in mind. We want them to walk away from their NMSI experience feeling fulfilled, empowered, and equipped to inspire the next generation of STEM professionals. We focus on strengthening their skills and providing them with resources they can use in their own classrooms, from practical lesson activities to AP mock exam prep to vertical curriculum integration. The outcomes from our professional development are specifically chosen by district leaders to suit the exact needs of their students, so teachers know coming into our program that they will be getting resources tailored to their specific classroom needs. Teachers everywhere deserve this level of care and support in their professional development.

Lesson 3: Students across the country want to succeed and want high quality instruction and training from teachers that give them real world experiences.

A recent study from the Walton Family Foundation highlights that just over half of the Gen Z students in middle school and high school believe they are thriving in their lives.   The vast majority believe they have a great future ahead of them and I have seen that in the schools I have visited and toured across the country this past year. The problem is that as I have heard, and the Walton study highlights, these students are less confident that they have received the preparation they need for the future. Only 46% of students feel adequately challenged by their school and course work, and students need to be challenged to develop important critical reasoning and critical thinking skills.

One of the ways we ensure NMSI-impacted students are prepared for their life and career beyond high school is through our College Readiness Assessment, which measures the critical reasoning skills students need to succeed in their chosen career, as well as their likelihood of pursuing higher education.

We must enhance engagement between school and workforce development to ensure Gen Z remains optimistic about the future. This is our future workforce and they are seeking supportive engagement with their teachers and curriculum that excites them!

Lesson 4: Americans overwhelmingly believe that we must prepare students for careers and must help attract and train the top teachers through professional development.

Across the country on my travels, I heard from cities and towns, governors and teachers, and they all coalesced around the importance of investing in high quality teacher professional development and prioritizing how we prepare our students for the future jobs of America.  The PDK poll that was just released a few weeks ago highlights these priority areas of consensus for most Americans. Overwhelmingly, voters from all points on the political spectrum are in favor of preparing students to enter the workforce, with the PDK Poll revealing 84% of all Republicans, Democrats, and Independents alike are in favor of this. In the next most agreed upon category, 81% of those polled said they believe attracting and retaining good teachers is vitally important. It’s very clear: our country cares about education and our future.

For teachers facing burnout and frustration, more professional development is usually the last thing they want. We want our services to aid in this goal of retaining the best teachers, so we work hard to ensure that our content workshops, 1:1 training, and even our online courses are places where teachers feel valued, rested, and respected. With so many of my family members being educators themselves, it’s important to me to see teachers getting the help and care they have deserved for so long.

What These Lessons Mean For Our Future

As we all prepare for an important Presidential election this Fall, we must take the time to step back and consider how we as a country are preparing our students for an economy and workforce that will be dramatically different then what many of us experienced. AI and technological advances will change the way jobs are created and in some cases which students are best equipped with the training and excitement to motivate them into the future.

As a country, we must prioritize high quality teacher professional development to ensure we have the qualified graduates to fill jobs of the future in the STEM economy and guarantee that access is not a barrier to success for all students.

At the National Math and Science Initiative, we are dedicated to elevating educators and expanding high quality STEM education in schools across our great nation. We are bridging the STEM education gap for those students furthest from opportunity by providing their teachers with the resources and support through our high-quality professional development. These professional development programs focus on strengthening teachers’ skills and equipping them with strategies that inspire the next generation of STEM professionals and innovators.
In the last year, my tenure at NMSI has reaffirmed my firmly held beliefs surrounding the support of educators and the importance of investing in students as our future. But my time with NMSI has also taught me so many things about the true value of quality professional development and its impact on students furthest from opportunity. I have learned how extenuating circumstances can negatively impact students’ access to quality STEM education which is in turn impacting our future workforce and potential for innovation. Perhaps most importantly though, I have learned that this no longer needs to be the case. Those of us with the power to do so need to fight for every teacher’s right to quality professional development, and every student’s right to accessible STEM education.

I am proud to stand beside all educators and alongside my team at NMSI. I’ve already learned so much from them, and I can’t wait to see what else I learn over the next year.

I know that together, we can reach all students, every student, and truly transform the face of STEM.