General FAQs
2. Why 100,000 teachers in 10 years?
5. How does 100Kin10 focus on quality in its goal to reach 100,000 in 10 years?
6. Is the focus just on new teachers?
7. How is 100Kin10 different from other groups working on STEM education?
Funder FAQs
1. What does success look like, and how do you intend to grow over time?
2. What are the roles and responsibilities of 100Kin10 funders?
3. I'm interested in joining as a funding partner. What do I do?
General FAQs
100Kin10 is a collaborative movement created in response to our nation's need for 100,000 new, excellent science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) teachers in 10 years. So far, over 160 partner organizations have committed to increasing the supply of excellent STEM teachers; hiring, developing, and retaining excellent STEM teachers; and building the 100Kin10 movement.
2. Why 100,000 teachers in 10 years?
In the 2011 State of the Union Address, the President put out a call to action: To train 100,000 new, excellent STEM teachers over the next 10 years to keep America vibrant and prosperous. The nation’s capacity to innovate for economic growth and the ability of American workers to thrive in the global economy (and at home) depend on a broad and strong foundation in math and science that is currently lacking. Research demonstrates that the nation’s prosperity, America's standing in the world, and our ability to grow our economy all rise or fall based on the quality of education American students receive.
100Kin10 is a growing partnership of over 160 cross-sector partner organizations unified by a single ambitious goal: to prepare all students with the high-quality STEM knowledge and skills needed to address our most pressing national and global challenges. Partner organizations - including but not limited to corporations, school districts, museums, institutes of higher education, foundations, federal agencies, professional associations, states, and nonprofit organizations - have the capacity and will to improve their efforts to put effective STEM teachers in classrooms and help retain strong teachers who are already in classrooms through both the expansion of current programs and new, collaborative, and innovative commitments. Commitments focus on increasing the supply of excellent STEM teachers, developing and retaining excellent STEM teachers, and building the 100Kin10 movement.
100Kin10 is looking for new partners who are committed to bringing more, excellent STEM teachers to American classrooms. To reach the 100Kin10 goal, we plan to build upon the commitments of our current partners with commitments from new, strong partners. Currently, partnership is restricted to official nominations from existing partners, but please e-mail info@100Kin10.org if you wish to be placed on our mailing list for updates and additional information.
5. How does 100Kin10 focus on quality in its goal to reach 100,000 in 10 years?
100Kin10 is not just about numbers. The movement is focused on excellence. The true end goal is to dramatically increase the quantity and quality of STEM teaching so that all students have access to first-rate STEM learning. University of Chicago Urban Education Institute and Center for Elementary Mathematics and Science Education (UofC) oversees the 100Kin10 vetting process to ensure that accepted partners have both high-quality commitments and a capacity to execute them with excellence. Additionally, UofC is developing a learning and R&D infrastructure, as well as tools for 100Kin10 partners to measure the quality and impact of their commitments. Throughout the next years, UofC will undertake regular, rigorous reviews of all programs, will provide real-time feedback on implementation, and will share best practices to drive improvement across 100Kin10 partners and the STEM teaching field at large.
6. Is the focus just on new teachers?
No. Though increasing the number of new, excellent STEM teachers in the pipeline is important, 100Kin10 recognizes that to achieve these ambitious goals we also need to keep our best STEM teachers in the classroom and encourage commitments that change the circumstances in which STEM teachers work – from how they are recruited, hired, evaluated, and paid to the support they receive and the opportunities they have to grow in their careers.
7. How is 100Kin10 different from other groups working on STEM education?
100Kin10 is a growing movement to respond to the national imperative to prepare, deploy, and support 100,000 new, excellent STEM teachers over the coming 10 years. It is neither a paper coalition of similarly-minded allegiances nor a command-and-control, centralized effort. Instead, it is an effort to invite a wide array of players—from federal agencies to states, museums to corporations, universities to school districts, individuals to associations—to identify their assets and apply them creatively and strategically to solving one of our country’s most vexing challenges: how to give every child a first-rate STEM education so that we can regain our competitive edge in the STEM fields and address the national and global challenges that will define this century.
Funder FAQs
1. What does success look like, and how do you intend to grow over time?
The simplest and most specific answer is that we aim to respond to the nation’s need for 10,000 new, excellent STEM teachers over 2 years and 100,000 over 10 years, working closely with partner organizations as well as the Department of Education and the White House to ensure positive, measurable growth. The purpose is to reverse our country’s decades-long decline in STEM subjects, to ensure that all children have the basic STEM literacy to be full participants in our economy and democracy, and to enable our country’s students to address the most pressing national and global challenges. We are mobilizing an expanding, multi-sector group of organizations to strategically apply its collective assets in a coordinated way to solve a complex, national problem. We are doing this by creating an “enlightened marketplace” that doesn’t rely on any centralized entity having all the answers to complex questions related to teacher preparation or local demand for STEM talent. Instead, funders with their own expertise can identify and partner with pre-vetted organizations with deep knowledge of local, statewide, and national needs.
2. What are the roles and responsibilities of 100Kin10 funders?
Funders play a key leadership role in the 100Kin10 movement. Funders will commit a minimum of $500,000 over three years to support any of the 100Kin10 partners (all of which must have passed the vetting bar established by UofC to be included). Funders will maintain total independence of decision-making in choosing which organizations to fund among those that are a part of this effort. Unspent dollars can be rolled over from year to year. Funders will have complete visibility into all applications and will be able to communicate freely with each other.
3. I'm interested in joining as a funding partner. What do I do?
Organizations are welcome to join as funing partners at any point throughout the year. There is no need to follow the nomination and application process. To learn more, email registry@100Kin10.org
100Kin10 invites everyone to join the movement. Teach, donate, or participate to get involved today.