STEP summer learning program receives community partnership award

A partnership between the Stanford Teacher Education Program (STEP) and the Sunnyvale School District to fight summer learning loss was one of three campus-community partnerships recognized at a ceremony on March 1.

The 2024 Stanford Community Partnership Award, organized by the Office of Community Engagement, spotlights people and partnerships that forge meaningful collaboration between Stanford University and local communities. Stanford President Richard Saller welcomed more than 100 regional leaders and Stanford community members at the el PRADO Hotel in downtown Palo Alto to celebrate those at the heart of engagement work.

“Those of you who are receiving a Community Partnership Award today represent people and organizations that have stepped up and come together with the belief that problems have solutions,” said Martin Shell, vice president and chief executive external relations officer.

Celebrating more than a decade of service in Sunnyvale

Since 2010, the Sunnyvale School District has partnered with STEP, a 12-month master's program at the Graduate School of Education, to offer a summer program for 600 to 800 students each year. The partnership is a reciprocal relationship, affording an academically enriching summer for K-8 students that instills confidence and a learning mindset, and the opportunity for Stanford graduate students to work with teacher-mentors who equip them to hit the ground running in subsequent teaching placements.

The local collaboration has involved more than 9,000 K-8 students, over 1,000 STEP students, and 400 classroom teachers and summer school leaders.

“The STEP-Sunnyvale Summer Explorations program has truly been a sustained, mutual, and impactful partnership effort," said GSE Professor and STEP Faculty Director Ira Lit. "The shared ambitions of STEP and the Sunnyvale School District have been to support the learning, engagement, and growth of Sunnyvale students, while simultaneously offering a rich opportunity for professional learning for STEP teacher candidates and the participating Summer Explorations summer school teachers and mentors."

In addition to the STEP partnership, the awards honored a project of the Stanford Jail & Prison Education Project and the San Francisco Sheriff’s Office that brings learning opportunities into San Francisco jails, and a partnership between Stanford Medicine’s Office of Child Health Equity and Second Harvest of Silicon Valley to make food access part of health care delivery. 

Assistant Professor Christopher Piech also received the Miriam Aaron Roland Volunteer Service Prize for launching Code in Place during the pandemic, a program where volunteers instruct the free-to-all online introductory programming course.

Launched in 2004 by the Office of Public Affairs, nominations are made by campus and community leaders, and the selection committee awards projects that demonstrate excellence in three criteria: meets a need; creatively connects campus and community; and engages students, staff, and/or faculty in service.

"The award is a meaningful recognition of the impact that such a deep collaborative endeavor can have on a community of learners,” Lit said.

This article is adapted from the original by Lisa Chung and Gabriela Herrera in Stanford Report.