Evidence-based practices for early career STEM teachers

Research shows that students’ learning experiences improve when their teachers reflect the diverse communities they serve. However, the profession fails to retain workforce diversity: up to 50 percent of teachers leave the field within the first five years of teaching, and the attrition rate is highest for teachers of color, educators in underserved schools, and math and science teachers.

In 2015, Trellis Education and the Trellis Teacher Scholar Program was launched to support STEM educators by providing an effective, focused six-year peer mentorship program that concluded in 2023. Trellis Legacy is a resource library that offers education leaders access to the tools and methodologies developed to support the Trellis mentorship programs, which prioritized diversity and teacher retention.

The Trellis approach is mentorship for STEM teachers by STEM teachers. In this model, mentors share their experiences to help new teachers learn to navigate the joys, challenges, and opportunities of the teaching profession.

These kinds of mentorships are designed to equip STEM teachers with the knowledge and skills that sustain success and teacher retention, which help build a skilled and diverse workforce that reflects the communities that teachers serve. This approach centers teacher supports to create positive conditions for learner success.

We believe that diversifying the teacher pipeline is key to closing the equity gap in education. By applying the Trellis model and other promising practices, education leaders can build their own mentorship programs that help ensure diversity, equity, and inclusion in education by improving teacher pipelines and working to close opportunity gaps for teachers and students alike.

This site aims to provide teachers, school administrators, and community members access to a resource library that can inform their teaching practices to further support student success in
STEM learning.