Amazon targets Title I schools to provide STEM education

Amazon’s Future Engineer (AFE) initiative arrived at LAUSD in 2022 with the help of non-profit organizations to provide computer education. 

The childhood-to-career initiative is designed to increase computer science and STEM education access for students from underserved and underrepresented communities to explore their potential. The program first launched in November 2018. 

“It was critical for us to help increase access to STEM education opportunities that help students build life-changing skills that leverage computer science and coding,” said Victor Reinoso, Global Director of Philanthropic Education Initiatives at Amazon. “To bring their dreams to life.” 

With the help of BootUp, a non-profit organization specializing in elementary school computer science development,  “the program is reaching 35 schools, reaching over 300 teachers and impacting over 10,000 students,” according to the BootUp PD website.  

Hagaman is the facilitator who works with LAUSD and says that when California went into quarantine, they learned how to better educate teachers about computer science, so much so that they started implementing this new curriculum throughout their other districts.

According to the U.S. News Report, 74% of Hispanic/Latino students make up the student body of LAUSD. 

“When we started working with LAUSD, they knew their teachers very well with limitations and restrictions, and they asked to do a module with 8 workshops in one year instead of 6 courses over the span of 3 years,” Hagaman said. 

AFE said that any district is eligible to receive the program's benefits but also states that schools in lower-income areas get added benefits.  

“We provide additional benefits to educators serving underserved and historically underrepresented students in STEM fields,” Reinoso said.

Title 1

Teachers from schools known as Title 1 schools, a federal program that supports and funds the educational needs of students in California schools, receive a ‘swag kit’ complete with merchandise from AFE. Also, it provides a one-year CSTA+ level membership for the Computer Science Teachers Association, a membership organization for teachers supporting the teaching of computer science to understand better, teach and learn in the computing disciplines. 

According to Ed Source, in LAUSD, 481 out of about 6,600 schools are getting Title I federal aid for low-income students. 

Hagaman says that throughout her career as a facilitator for LAUSD at BootUp PD and a high school computer science teacher, she noticed the partnership benefits students at an elementary school level. Specifically, she said, “kids who have never been successful in one way or another.” 

“In LAUSD, what we are targeting first are those Title 1 schools,” said Hagaman. “That is what is allowing those students to succeed when they don’t have parents at home who don’t have the time, tools, or awareness of computer science.” 

She adds that high socioeconomic communities already offer computer science STEM education access because many people have jobs in that region. She says it is crucial to provide “that opportunity to all students who might not have an outside voice advocating for this.”    

According to the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Kids Count Data Center, out of 481 Title 1 schools in California, 9,712,648 students enrolled in these schools are Latino.    

Reinoso says that the program aims to increase student access to computer science education

and careers of the future. They believe students should have primary computer science exposure to discover new passions and make informed decisions on their educational and career journey.

“Extending access to lower-income communities and other communities of marginalized or underserved students remains one of our top priorities for Amazon Future Engineer,” said Reinoso. 

Early elementary and high school kids learn about virtual and hands-on projects inspired by real-world experiences and hands-on computer learning opportunities.

Students explore computer science through the school curriculum and project-based learning, using code to make music, programming robots and problem-solving. According to Amazon, the program has reached 3.2 million students from underrepresented communities globally since 2022. 

AFE also awards hundreds of students each year with four-year, $40,000 scholarships and paid industry internships to promote diversity and inclusion in the field. Students can apply for the scholarship in their senior year of high school, complete a summer internship,p and receive mentorship from leaders at Amazon, such as co-interns, managers, and mentors.

The program also allows students to see how algorithms work at their Amazon fulfillment centers with a virtual field trip—learning how machine learning power works within the fulfillment center and meeting engineers who bring computer science technology to life. The AFE program offers more than just internships and scholarships; it allows teachers to learn about STEM and computer science and incorporate them into their classrooms. 

Amazon incorporates hands-on learning and introduces key concepts to grow interest in STEM opportunities further, though they know not all students have similar access to these tools. That’s why Amazon Future Engineer has partnered with organizations like BootUp PD and ProjectSTEM to bring free computer science programming to schools and districts nationwide. 

BootUp PD provides long-term professional development for teachers and other district members. They are offering free live and asynchronous weekend training to teach their students about computer science education throughout the district’s many schools. 

“Our goal is to train teachers to empower students,” said Melody Hagaman, Senior Professional Development at BootUp PD. “That’s a big reason why we have a district-wide implantation.”

They offer services throughout the country, including Las Cruces Public Schools, Dallas Independent School District, and Chicago Public Schools. Many of these districts are sponsored by AFE and BootUp PD can also be hired through other means. 

“We also have districts that will hire us through grants or research-practice partnerships like at the Wind River Reservation,” Hagaman said.