Backbone: The Backbone Organization in a Collective Impact effort both helps maintain overall strategic coherence and coordinates and manages the day-to-day operations and implementation of work, including stakeholder engagement, communications, data collection and analysis, and other responsibilities  (Source: Collective Impact Forum)

Belonging: Experiencing appreciation, validation, acceptance, and fair treatment within an environment. (Source: Pennsylvania Department of Education infographic adapted from Cobb & Krownapple, 2019)

Career transferable skills/experiences: Skills developed by a student during an academic or educational opportunity which are desirable to STEM employers and would be applicable and useful in a STEM job or career.  (Source: Informed by knowledge of the Collective and GSK/PEF’s vision for the work; interviews with local STEM stakeholders; and discussions with a working group of Collective members during the development of the Theory of Change.)

Collective Impact: A network of community members, organizations, and institutions who advance equity by learning together, aligning, and integrating their actions to achieve population and systems level change.. (Source: Collective Impact Forum )

Community: Residents/people with lived experience (Source: Informed by Collective Impact Forum meeting presented in January 2021)

Culturally responsive: the ability of individuals and systems to respond respectfully and effectively to people of all cultures, classes, races, ethnic backgrounds, sexual orientations, and faiths or religions in a manner that recognizes, affirms, and values the worth of individuals, families, tribes, and communities, and protects and preserves the dignity of each. (Source: Law Insider Dictionary)

Diversity: any dimension that can be used to differentiate groups and people from one another. In a nutshell, it’s about empowering people by respecting and appreciating what makes them different, in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, religion, disability, sexual orientation, education, and national origin.  (Source: Global Diversity Practice )

Equitable policies and practices: Policies and practices of an employer that are designed to foster a “more diverse, productive workforce; a more equitable and accessible work environment; an inclusive environment where employees are valued; a work environment free from discrimination; and a level playing field for employee success” (Source: UC Berkeley).

Equity: The absence of avoidable or remediable differences among groups of people, whether those groups are defined socially, economically, demographically or geographically. (Source: World Health Organization)  

Expanded Learning Intermediaries: refers to before and after school, summer, intersession learning programs that focus on developing the academic, social, emotional, and physical needs and interests of students through hands-on, engaging learning experiences. (Source: California Department of Education)

High quality: Meeting or exceeding the threshold for quality programming/curricula as defined by an established, vetted framework for STEM programs/education. “High quality” indicates a program/curriculum is being implemented with high fidelity and will lead to intended outcomes for participants. (Source: Informed by knowledge of the Collective and GSK/PEF’s vision for the work; interviews with local STEM stakeholders; and discussions with a working group of Collective members during the development of the Theory of Change.)

Inclusion: Inclusion is an organizational effort and practices in which different groups or individuals having different backgrounds are culturally and socially accepted and welcomed, and equally treated. These differences could be self-evident, such as national origin, age, race and ethnicity, religion/belief, gender, marital status and socioeconomic status or they could be more inherent, such as educational background, training, sector experience, organizational tenure, even personality, such as introverts and extroverts. (Source: Global Diversity Practice )

Latinx: A gender-inclusive term for Latin Americans of diverse identities and orientations - alternative to Latino or Latina. (Source: Pew Research Center Hispanic Trends)

Non-degree STEM program: A curriculum of study for postsecondary students that emphasizes the learning and development of STEM skills and competencies (see STEM definition) within the most common STEM fields without accumulating credit toward a degree. These courses may be recognizable to employers and count toward career transferable skills. Examples include: UPenn College of Liberal and Professional Studies; Temple College of Engineering; and DragonsTeach STEM certification at Drexel University. (Source: Informed by knowledge of the Collective and GSK/PEF’s vision for the work; interviews with local STEM stakeholders; and discussions with a working group of Collective members during the development of the Theory of Change.)

Out-of-School Time (OST): A supervised program that young people regularly attend when school is not in session. This can include before - and after - school programs on a school campus or facilities such as academic programs (e.g., reading or math focused programs), specialty programs (e.g., sports teams, STEM, arts enrichment), and multipurpose programs that provide an array of activities (e.g., 21st Century Community Learning Centers, Boys & Girls Clubs, YMCAs). (Source: Center for Disease Control and Prevention)

Partnerships: Organizations or institutions from different sectors of the STEM ecosystem (OST programs, K-12 education, post-secondary education, and STEM employers) who have working relationships with each other. Criteria for a “partnership” may include: documentation of a working relationship between partners (e.g., MOU, public statement); regularly planning and hosting programs, meetings, or educational opportunities. Partnerships could develop between organizations/institutions in two sectors, or across multiple sectors toward creating a STEM “pathway.”

Philadelphia K-12 schools: Schools of any type – public, charter, private, Catholic – that operate within Philadelphia county. The EdNA database is a resource for identifying schools. (Source: Informed by knowledge of the Collective and GSK/PEF’s vision for the work; interviews with local STEM stakeholders; and discussions with a working group of Collective members during the development of the Theory of Change.)

Philadelphia STEM Education Directory: A searchable map of opportunities in STEM in the Greater Philadelphia area compiled by the Philadelphia STEM Ecosystem. The directory can help K-12 students and their families find out-of-school time STEM programs, as well as teachers and educators locate STEM professional development opportunities. The directory can be found here: https://philastemdirectory.org. 

Post-secondary education: Includes a range of formal learning opportunities beyond high school, including those aimed at learning an occupation or earning an academic credential. (Source: Institute of Education Sciences)

Pre-requisite classes: A course that must be successfully completed prior to entering a STEM field of study or program, or before taking another course in that sequence. Sample pre-requisite classes are: Calculus, Statistics, Computer Science, Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Science, and Physics (Source: The College Board). 

Remediation and preparation: These include any opportunities (i.e., programs and strategies) offered by a post-secondary institution to improve the outcomes of students to enter and excel in STEM programs of study, such as: co-requisite remediation (non-credit courses offered alongside college-level courses to provide academic support) and tutoring (academic support offered individually or in a group setting outside of the traditional classroom curriculum).