On December 7, the U.S. Department of Education is hosting a live event at our headquarters in Washington, D.C. We expect a full house of more than 225 STEM stakeholders from 30 states and territories to convene and learn about the importance of belonging in STEM, to connect with students and educators about their experiences in STEM education, and to develop new partnerships and commitments to support the Department’s YOU Belong in STEM goals:

• Goals #1: Ensure all students from PreK to higher education can excel at rigorous, relevant, and joyful STEM learning;

• Goals #2: Develop and support our STEM educators to join, grow, and stay in the STEM teaching profession; and,

• Goals #3: Invest in STEM education strategically and sufficiently using American Rescue Plan and other federal, state, and local funds.

We invite you to join us virtually for the opening and closing plenary sessions. 

View Opening Session 9:00 AM – 12:15 PM ET featuring:

• Deputy Secretary Cindy Marten
• Senator Mark Kelly (AZ)
• Dr. Pamela Cantor
• Dr. Mamta Patel Nagaraja
• Becky Pringle (NEA)
• Randi Weingarten (AFT)
• Talia Milgrom-Elcott
• Astronaut Ricky Arnold
• Admiral Rachel Levine
• additional special guests

View Closing Session 4:00 – 4:45 PM EST

• Secretary Miguel Cardona
• Surgeon General Vivek Murthy
• additional special guests

Make an Organizational Commitment to Support YOU Belong in STEM

The U.S. Department of Education also invites STEM education entities to use this form* to share your bold commitment(s) to advance STEM education in America.  Please share how your organization will advance at least one of the three YOU Belong in STEM priorities (noted above) by December 31, 2022.

We encourage you to address the following parameters in your commitment submission:

• Equity & Belonging: How does our work support ecosystems to cultivate rigorous, culturally relevant, and joyful STEM classrooms with a focus on belonging that meets the needs of underrepresented students and educators?
• Measurable Impact: How will we know and track the number of stakeholders who will be impacted by this commitment, including states, districts, schools, educators and students?
• Outcome-Oriented: How are we changing and improving the experiences of students and educators because of our work?
• Force Multiplier: How will our commitment advance impact across the STEM ecosystem?
• Transparent: How do we plan to achieve the outcomes and why do we think our approach will work?
• Time-Bound: How will we accomplish our commitment(s) by January 2025?

*Excerpts from early commitments: 

1. Code.org will develop and offer a set of Computer Science Connections curriculum modules and lessons to raise awareness of computer science through integrated learning with other elementary school topics, reaching at least 250,000 students by the Fall of 2023…
2. The EPIC (Expanding Pathways in Computing) program at UT Austin’s Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) will recruit, train, support, and stipend 30 Black or LatinX educators new to computer science education by January 2025 as part of our Computing Educator Diversity Initiative (CEDI)…
3. Battelle’s goal is to reach 1,000 educators (200 educators per year) who work in Title 1 schools and 500 Black teachers (100 per year) by 2027 through direct education work and philanthropic efforts in communities where our employees live and work…

*Please Note: This form contains example resources that are provided for the user’s convenience. The inclusion of these materials is not intended to reflect its importance, nor is it intended to endorse any views expressed, or products or services offered. These materials may contain the views and recommendations of various subject matter experts as well as hypertext links, contact addresses and websites to information created and maintained by other public and private organizations. The opinions expressed in any of these materials do not necessarily reflect the positions or policies of the U.S. Department of Education. The U.S. Department of Education does not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of any outside information included in this form.