Trellis Education

In order to ensure that ALL students have access to the jobs of tomorrow, we need effective, secondary STEM teachers. Trellis’ theory of change is based on research that shows high-quality mentoring and professional communities are the two most powerful contributors to the development of an effective new teacher. Trellis trains and supports a professional learning community of exceptional, in-service STEM teachers to build and mentor a professional learning community of beginning teachers. These teacher mentors – “Mentor Fellows” – provide long-term (five years!), individualized support to new teachers – “Teacher Scholars” – including targeted support to develop their expertise to enact the core teaching practices that have been proven to facilitate student learning.

Effective teacher mentoring is the primary impactor on the development of “ambitious teaching practice,” or pedagogy that “aims to get all kinds of students—across ethnic, racial, class, and gender categories—not only to acquire, but also to understand and use knowledge, and to use it to solve authentic problems.” As a result of doing this work this way, Trellis can expect Teacher Scholars to grow and be more likely to stay teaching, and for the Mentor Fellows to refine their own practice and become leaders in teacher education in their schools and districts. When students have better, more committed teachers for their STEM courses, they are more successful in them and are more likely to pursue STEM electives, majors, and careers.