Breakthrough Central Texas Announces Partnership with EcoRise to provide sustainable intelligence curriculum for Middle School Summer Academy
EcoRise is a nonprofit whose mission is to mobilize a new generation of leaders to design healthy, just, and thriving communities for all. They offer a range of curricula and programs for students, teachers, school districts, and partners, designed to advance environmental literacy, sustainable schools, and equitable access to green career pathways. EcoRise is currently supporting more than 8,000 teachers in helping over 400,000 students solve real-world sustainability challenges concerning energy, water, waste, transportation, air quality, food, and public spaces.
We are excited to announce a new partnership with EcoRise to support AmeriCorps Summer Teaching Fellows and provide students participating in Breakthrough’s Middle School Summer Academy with the Sustainable Intelligence curriculum.
Sustainable Intelligence will introduce nearly 800 Breakthrough students to challenges and opportunities surrounding five distinct eco-themes and engage youth in developing real-world solutions in their own communities through project-based activities, design labs, and campus Eco-Audits. Lessons will provide tremendous support to Teaching Fellows and Instructional Coaches as it includes comprehensive lesson plans that include step-by-step instructions, advance preparation and teaching tips, cross-disciplinary connections, assessment recommendations, cultural adaptation ideas, technology integration, opportunities for differentiation, and community connections and service ideas. Lessons will also include a range of additional resources, such as presentations with corresponding teacher’s notes, student worksheets, and assessment checklists and rubrics.
“EcoRise is thrilled to partner with Breakthrough this summer to provide AmeriCorps Summer Teaching Fellows professional development opportunities and provide students with hands-on science and sustainability instruction where they will explore themes related to the health of people and the planet through project-based learning and authentic, real-world learning experiences,” said EcoRise Program manager Elizabeth Stephens.
Through this newly developed partnership, we will help promote environmental literacy and ignite a new generation of green leaders.
About Breakthrough’s Middle School Summer Academy
Each summer, Breakthrough welcomes more than 120 AmeriCorps Teaching Fellows from around the country to teach and mentor nearly 800 middle school students during our six-week Summer Academy designed to help them learn, discover new academic interests, and connect with a community that cares deeply about their well-being. This summer, programming will provide hundreds of hours of in-person instruction centered on supporting student and family well-being, developing academic competencies for success in middle school and high school, building community and authentic connections, and engaging students in meaningful activities that build experiential capital and support their goal of becoming first-generation college graduates. This year’s program will also be designed to respond to the pandemic’s ongoing impact on our community, helping students ignite their curiosity, and recover academically and social/emotionally as they rebound from the disruption of the last school year.
