Resource Area for Teaching (RAFT)
Impact
Since opening in 2009, RAFT Colorado has grown to nearly 3,000 teacher members, with over 200,000 students in formal and informal educational settings across 28 counties receiving the benefit of RAFT’s hands-on STEM activities. Teachers participating in our professional development opportunities leave RAFT with significant increases in comfort and readiness to teach STEM content, as well as to incorporate grade-level academic content standards.
Accomplished
- Need Accomplished
- Evaluation Developing
- Sustainability Accomplished
- Replication & Scalability Developing
- Partnerships Accomplished
- Capacity Accomplished
- Challenging & Relevant Content Accomplished
- STEM Practices Accomplished
- Inspiration Accomplished
- Under-Represented Groups Developing
RAFT has so much to offer! As a teacher I am constantly looking for new ideas to help my students interact with the concepts we’re learning. Science is very hands-on, but often times the equipment needed to be hands-on can be challenging to find on a budget. RAFT always has materials that work perfectly for whatever it is that we’re trying to accomplish.”
Teacher
Design Principles
The programs in this database clear a high bar. STEMworks reviewed each program against the Design Principles for Effective STEM Philanthropy. Programs must be Accomplished (
) across all Design Principles, or be Developing (
) in a maximum of three areas.
Overarching Principles
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Need Accomplished
Identify and target a compelling and well-defined need.
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Evaluation Developing
Use rigorous evaluation to continuously measure and inform progress towards the compelling need identified.
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Sustainability Accomplished
Ensure work is sustainable.
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Replication & Scalability Developing
Demonstrate replicability and scalability.
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Partnerships Accomplished
Create high impact partnerships.
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Capacity Accomplished
Ensure organizational capacity to achieve goals.
STEM Principles
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Challenging & Relevant Content Accomplished
Offer challenging and relevant STEM content for the target audience.
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STEM Practices Accomplished
Incorporate and encourage STEM practices.
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Inspiration Accomplished
Inspire interest and engagement in STEM.
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Under-Represented Groups Developing
Identify and address the needs of under-represented groups.
Program Overview
RAFT provides educators—and through them, students—with challenging, affordable, and fun STEM hands-on activities. RAFT collaborates with Colorado businesses, community members, and educators to provide resources, leadership, and support for inspiring the next generation of thinkers, innovators, problem-solvers, and creators. RAFT provides: Innovative Materials. Local corporations donate a variety of items to RAFT, then RAFT’s talented education team works with teachers to develop engaging ways to use the donated materials to teach STEM concepts to students of all ages. These content-rich projects allow teachers to provide quality hands-on STEM opportunities for students on any budget. Quality Educational Content. RAFT has over 500 STEM idea sheets and over 50 STEM activity kits available at our resource center, and are continually creating more. These projects are aligned to the Colorado Academic Standards and provide a list of materials, a step-by-step breakdown of the activity, the relevant content, and links for further study. Inspirational Learning Experiences. RAFT’s formal and informal professional development programs challenge teachers at all grade levels to think outside the box to create a more effective, learner-focused classroom.
Funders and Partners
Our major 2015 funding partners are The Morgridge Family Foundation, The Anschutz Foundation, The Reiman Foundation, and the Rose Community Foundation. Thanks to strategic program partnerships with STEM organizations, qualified staff members and volunteers, and its affiliation with RAFT San Jose, RAFT Colorado’s STEM programs have been supporting thousands of teachers in both formal and informal educational settings with affordable resources that enable them to effectively teach STEM using hands-on projects.