From our Executive Director Dear Friends and Supporters, When our founder Lois Loofbourrow introduced the model of students-teachingstudents, it seemed unlikely that her vision would be as progressive and unique three decades later as it was then. In reimagining how and by whom we learn and teach, Lois set us on a course that has changed the lives of over 40,000 students and teachers across the country. Today, Breakthrough is a national network of 25 Affiliates. Every year, we prepare thousands of middle and high-school students to become college graduates, recruit and train hundreds of high-school and college students to become teachers, and support exceptional educators to become instructional leaders. This year, as we celebrate 35 years of Breakthrough’s work, we have a chance to reflect on how we can grow, stretch, and increase our impact on US education. In the past few years, as the discourse around education has increased in volume, it has been marked by significant consensus: the quality of a teacher is the single greatest in-school determinant of student achievement. What has always seemed intuitive is now conclusive:
a great teacher can make the difference between a student who enters college and a student who slips through the cracks.
In response to this research, there has been unprecedented demand for better training, evaluation, and support for teachers entering the classroom and those already at work. At the state and federal levels, among foundations, and even within the private sector, there are urgent calls for greater numbers of qualified and committed teachers.
The urgency and scope of these efforts reflect the severity of the issue. To understand the depth of the problem, consider that half of all teachers leave the profession within their first five years and that the US will need 1.5 to 2 million new teachers over the next decade – the largest growth in the demand for teachers in America’s history. But where will these new teachers come from? How do we attract the best and brightest young people to a career in education? And, crucially, how do we prepare them to succeed before they step into the classroom? In contemplating these questions, we have come to recognize Breakthrough’s unique role in preparing the next generation of aspiring teachers. For 35 years, we have successfully recruited and trained thousands of talented young adults to teach their younger peers. In the past decade, they have been sought after by schools and non-profits in record numbers. As many more of the young people we train and mentor choose to enter education in the role of teachers, we are discovering the potentially crucial, and sizable, role that Breakthrough could have in the current landscape. In fact, we have come to realize that the Breakthrough teaching experience is the basis of a tremendously ambitious vision: what if every aspiring teacher were expected to spend a summer teaching underserved students in his or her own classroom? What if the path to education were defined by this experience: by the skills, confidence, empathy, and sheer tenacity gained by a student-teacher leading his or her own classroom? And what if Breakthrough were to lead this effort, transforming how aspiring teachers are trained and mentored and what we can expect from them as they enter the profession? In the following pages, we will describe how we plan to embark on this effort and the significant strides we took in 2012 to make this vision a reality.
For 35 years, Breakthrough students have entered into, succeeded, and graduated from high schools and colleges across the country. Year after year, they have demonstrated that where they live or even what school they attended would not limit what they could achieve. And they have achieved. Breakthrough students have consistently outperformed their peers, attending four-year colleges at three times the rate of low-income students nationally. And yet even as Breakthrough continues to provide transformative experiences for thousands of young people every year, the need for our services is greater than ever. Only 8% of lowincome youth graduate with a Bachelor’s degree by the age of 24. As the achievement gap widens, there are fewer and fewer educational opportunities for the 23 million students who come from disadvantaged backgrounds.
100%
Gaps in College-Going & College Completion Between Low- and High-Income Students
100% 100% 80% 80% 80% 60% 60% 60% 40% 40% 40% 20% 20% 20% 0% 1978
1990
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2005
0%0% 1990
1978 1978
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Low-income students enrolled college Low-Income Students Enrolled ininCollege Low-Income Students Enrolled in College Low-Income Students Enrolled in College High-Income High-incomeStudents studentsEnrolled enrolledininCollege college Low-Income Students Graduating fromfrom College Low-Income Students Graduating College Low-Income Students Graduating from College
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High-Income Students Enrolled in College Low-income students graduating from college Low-Income Students Graduating from High-Income Students Enrolled in College High-Income Students Enrolled in College College High-Income High-incomeStudents studentsGraduating graduatingfrom fromCollege college High-Income Students Graduating from College High-Income Students Graduating from College
At the start of 2012, we challenged ourselves to determine how we could do more. We questioned what larger role Breakthrough might play in improving our schools and helping more students to succeed. We thought about what we could do to achieve even greater impact on a broader scale given the capacities, wisdom, and expertise we’ve developed over the past three and a half decades. To find an answer, we started with what we know and what we’ve seen. We know the interaction between teachers and students is the primary factor for student success. We know great teachers catalyze great outcomes because we see it every summer. With our training, support, and guidance, Breakthrough teachers learn how to set high expectations, challenge themselves and their students, adapt to change, communicate ideas, and work well with others. And we see the outcomes: improved test scores, increased learning, and more successful students. We also know that when our aspiring teachers do enter the field of education, they are accepted at leading organizations across the U.S. at three to four times the national average. They represent a uniquely diverse, passionate community of student-leaders recruited from the top third of their class from 160 competitive colleges around the country. As aspiring teachers who learn and practice the skills necessary to become excellent in the classroom, Breakthrough teachers have proven to be enormously successful as professionals in schools across the country. Through the hands-on teaching experience we provide, and the guidance that accompanies it, our aspiring teachers are better prepared, more committed, and equipped with the experiences needed to be great professional teachers.
The Impact of the Breakthrough Teaching Experience
98%
91% 86%
Alumni who became because of their Alumnieducators who became Breakthrough experience
educators because of their Breakthrough experience
Alumni who werewho very satisfied with their Alumni were very Breakthrough experience
satisfied with their Breakthrough experience
Alumni whose Breakthrough experience helped Alumni whose Breakthrough decide whether to become an educator
experience helped them decide whether to become educators
As we considered our impact, we realized that the best way for us to serve a larger number of students more effectively, today and for years to come, is through our teachers. The better equipped Breakthrough teachers are, the more resources they have, and the more guidance they receive, the better our students will perform. An investment in our teachers is the best investment we can make in our students.
2012 highlights In 2012, we continued to refine and improve our “ladder of engagement” for our Intern Teachers while building an even stronger pipeline for recruiting, selecting, training, and placing them into the field of education. To accomplish this, we focused on fostering the skills and leadership of our alumni; broadening and deepening our Pipeline Partnerships; and identifying and cultivating opportunities for engagement with Affiliates throughout the Collaborative.
Campus Leaders
In November, we convened our most effective, passionate, diverse Intern Teachers for our inaugural Breakthrough Leadership Summit. From a pool of more than 500 Breakthrough teachers, the inaugural cohort of 43 alumni represented 21 Affiliates and 38 universities across the country. The Summit fostered the emerging leadership skills of our alumni, while providing an opportunity for them to explore new ways of raising awareness of the Breakthrough experience.
Pipeline Partners
Through a highly selective network of partners, we prepare and help place our Intern Teachers into leading residencies and accreditation programs in 29 states across the US. To maximize the impact of our expanding cohort of teacher alumni and to create a stronger pipeline into education for them, we continue to formalize new national partnerships with top teacher training organizations. In 2012 We’ve more we tripled the number than tripled of our Pipeline our number Partners to include Academy for Urban of Pipeline School Leadership, Partners in Urban Teacher Center, the past year. Rocketship Education, and Achievement First, among others.
Work Group Model
In 2009, Breakthrough created a new model for increased collaboration amongst our Affiliates. Since then, the Work Group Model has become a featured forum for our national and Affiliate staff to meet and share best practices, develop new curricula, and improve programming across the country. Work Groups had met regularly, but in small subject-specific cohorts. This past November, we convened over 45 Affiliate directors for our first Work Group Conference. Participants spent four days strengthening their connections to colleagues, learning new strategies for collaboration, and sharing innovative practices related to teacher training and curricular initiatives.
Innovation Fund
We launched the Breakthrough Innovation Fund in 2012, awarding grants to four Affiliates for developing and sharing innovative practices to improve student achievement. Winning practices include Breakthrough New York’s after-school programming model, which features research-based vocabulary development and tutor training; Breakthrough Silicon Valley’s pilot of Khan Academy math tutorials; Breakthrough Greater Boston’s expansion to a second site through a partnership with an innovative public school; and Breakthrough Manchester’s implementation of a Professional Learning Community among Instructional Coaches at Breakthrough Manchester. We are grateful to the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation for seeding the Innovation Fund.
Leadership Training Initiative
In 2012, as part of our ongoing evaluation of teachers and students and the factors that lead to their success, we launched the Leadership Training Initiative. The Initiative is focused on teaching those skills – critical thinking, adaptability, problem solving, oral and written communications, collaboration and teamwork, creativity, responsibility, and professionalism – that we know are critical for success. The framework we developed will provide measurable actions and behaviors associated with each of these and will lay the foundation for several associated tools that will enable us to more effectively select, develop, evaluate, and promote these skills throughout the Collaborative.
Curricular Alignment
2012 was the second of a three-year project to develop curricula in math, science, literature, and writing for grades six through nine. The curricula aligns with the Common Core State Standards, which have been adopted by over 40 states and are designed to reflect the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and to compete successfully in the global economy. For the 2012 summer session,
we developed or revised curricula for sixth, seventh, and eighth-grade literature; seventh and eighth-grade writing, chemistry, and biology; and sixth-grade math, pre-algebra, algebra, and geometry. From the 2012 summer session, we collected best practices and lessons, and we will build those into the updated curriculum for 2013.
College Bound
College Bound is Breakthrough’s targeted intervention for high-school students for which we typically offer a range of services such as tutoring, grade monitoring, college counseling, financial aid workshops, and test preparation. At the November Work Group Conference, we introduced new initiatives including high-school course planning and selection, the College Board’s online college search process, and college affordability. After two years of meeting, sharing practices, and evaluating materials as a Work Group, the College Bound Team rolled out these practices for implementation across the Collaborative.
EVALUATION & EFFICACY To measure our organizational impact and determine how well our Intern Teachers are training our students, we use a series of metrics, of which preand post-math testing is of particular importance. In 2012, we assessed nearly 90% of all Breakthrough students using the Mathematics Diagnostic Testing Project (MDTP). The results were incredibly encouraging. Over a single six-week summer, using pre-and post-testing, on average, we saw increases across the board.
11%
Increase in Algebra
27%
11%
Increase in Algebra II Increase in Geometry
We also saw evidence that Breakthrough students were making particular progress in mathematics subtopics such as fractions, exponents, and decimals. In fact, Breakthrough doubled the number of students who are at proficiency level in Algebra readiness.
35 years of breakthrough This year, we will be inviting you to celebrate Breakthrough’s 35th year and attend the 10th anniversary of our annual Breaking Bread for Breakthrough event. In the months ahead, we will offer even greater insight into how our model offers one of the greatest opportunities for high-school and college students to learn and practice the skills necessary to become successful teachers. In continuing to improve the odds of academic achievement for our underserved students while increasing the pool of highly qualified, trained, and passionate young people entering the field of education, we will advance – with your help – their collective opportunities to succeed in schools across the country. We are grateful for your continued support and generosity without which our work would not be possible. It is with great pride that we reflect on our hard work these past three decades, and it is with real excitement that we look ahead to the promise of the coming year. With great appreciation,
Lior Ipp National Executive Director
board of trustees Nadine Terman – Chair San Francisco, CA
Matthew Gunn San Francisco, CA
Van Sapp Chicago, IL
Melissa Buckley – Vice Chair San Francisco, CA
Elizabeth Hannaford Wayzata, MN
Michael Schweitzer New York, NY
Susan Harper San Francisco, CA
Elissa Spelman Cambridge, MA
Charles Johnson Redmond, WA
Nerine Torres San Francisco, CA
Sheila Larsen San Francisco, CA
Glen Tripp Oakland, CA
Elizabeth Fisher Marshall San Francisco, CA
Mike Van Leesten New Haven, CT
Eve Niquette – Vice Chair San Francisco, CA Trevor Watt – Treasurer San Francisco, CA José Davila – Secretary San Francisco, CA Andrew Ach San Francisco, CA Timothy Barton Atlanta, GA
Robert Morse Portola Valley, CA
Alex Bender San Francisco, CA
Kausik Rajgopal San Francisco, CA
Mark Desjardins Houston, TX
June Rimmer San Francisco, CA
Joanie Wattles Denver, CO Lior Ipp San Francisco, CA
2012 year in review At the core of Breakthrough’s innovative students-teaching-students model are two key constituencies — underserved, middle-school students and Intern Teachers — high-school and college students who teach and advise their middle-school peers during multiple six-week academically rigorous summer sessions. A third and critical set of actors are our Instructional Coaches, professional educators drawn from public and private schools, who supervise and guide Intern Teachers as they embark on their first steps as educators.
our Students
our teachers STEM Majors
92%
students of color
Nationally
5%
Breakthrough
16%
71%
People of Color 16%
low-income students
58%
44%
Male Teachers 24%
speak English as a second language
34%
62%
will be the 1st in their families to graduate from 4-year colleges
Teachers from Selective Colleges 7% 65%
our staff Lior Ipp, National Executive Director Skye DeLano, Managing Director, Development & Communications Laura Zahn, Managing Director, Teaching & Learning Heidi Erbe, Director, Teacher & Leader Development Kate Jones, Director, Talent, Training & Design Elisabeth Cutler, Senior Analyst, Research & Policy Cormac Harkins, Analyst, Strategic Research
Rachel Martinez, Manager, Teacher Recruitment Daphne Napoe, Manager, Finance, Human Resources & Operations Christina Perrino, Manager, Communications Rosalind Holland, Specialist, Database Jonathan Rubinsky, Specialist, Development Kim Ferrari, Assistant, Teaching & Learning
our finances Corporations $546,030
Foundations $453,770
22%
In-kind contributions $421,800
19%
Events $330,051
17%
13%
Individuals $286,620
Government, Trustees $227,070 dues & earned income $185,832
12% 9% 8%
Revenue Site support, training & conferences $400,003 Academic excellence $393,203
17%
16%
Teacher recruitment & training $380,862 Fundraising $315,128
16%
13%
Research, evaluation & policy Administrative $255,005 $287,297 Brand development & New site communication development $97,776 $265,912
12% 11% 11% 4%
Expenses 0%
100%
2012 donors With sincere gratitude, we recognize the following individuals and organizations who made breakthroughs possible in the past year. $100,000+
$5,000+
GAP Foundation John A. and Cynthia Fry Gunn Jack Kent Cooke Foundation May and Stanley Smith Charitable Trust
Martha and Bruce Atwater John C. Atwater and Diana L. Nelson Lily and Thomas Beischer Alex* and Holly Bender Lyne Brown* and Pat Williams Chubb & Son Ernst & Young Randi and Bob Fisher Marianna and David Fisher Elizabeth Fisher Marshall* Linda and Jon Gruber Mimi and Peter Haas Fund The Hellman Family Foundation Brenda and George Jewett Jewish Community Federation Charles* and Debra Johnson Sheila* and Tom Larsen Laura and Michael Lazarus Microsoft Matching Gifts Program Robert* and Susan Morse JaMel and Tom Perkins Phoebe Snow Foundation Toni and Arthur Rock Van* and Donata Sapp Laura and Greg Spivy Nerine* and JC Torres Lauren Dutton and Glen Tripp* UBS Financial Services Susy and Jack Wadsworth Leigh and William Matthes Zalec Familian & Lilian Levinson Foundation
$50,000+ Bank of America Cisco Inc. Eve Niquette* and Charles Pohl S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation Toyota USA Foundation
$25,000+ The Dinan Family Foundation, Inc. Doris Fisher Betsy* and Jule Hannaford Lumina Foundation for Education Susan and Bill Oberndorf The Sato Foundation W.L.S. Spencer Foundation
$10,000+ Anonymous Andy* and Linda Ach Timothy Barton* Mrs. Melissa Buckley* and Mr. Raj Atluru Dodge & Cox Dana and Bob Emery First Republic Bank Laura and John Fisher Gap Inc. Grousbeck Family Foundation Matthew Gunn* Leslie and George Hume Terry and John Levin Oracle Corp. PepsiCo Philanthropist, LLC Nadine* and Alex Terman TopSpin Fund Grace and Steven Voorhis Teri and Trevor Watt* Joanie* and Tom Wattles
$2,500+ Broadcom Foundation Amanda Clarke Edith and William Dagley JosĂŠ Davila* and Meghan Shannon Alicia Engstrom and Hossain Rahman Kaatri and Douglas Grigg Kate Ridgway and Richard Holmstrom Anne and Jeffrey Howson
Raymonde and Douglas Kramlich Marie and Barry Lipman Meg and Stu McLaughlin Celeste and Anthony Meier Polly and Newton Merrill Steven L. Merrill Gretchen and Marshall Milligan Mortenson Family Foundation Will and Julie Parish Fund The Pew Charitable Trusts Lisa and John Pritzker B.T. Rocca, Jr. Foundation Laura and Jim Schlueter Michael Simmons Dian G. and Robert S. Smith Ms. Sarah E. Stein and Dr. Michael Cohn Madeline and Isaac Stein Margrit and Carl Vogt Diane B. Wilsey
$1,000+ Anonymous The Abbey Family Liza Cannata Carolyn Foundation Andrea Higgins and Pete Chung Comerica Bank Patricia S. Dinner The F.A.O. Schwarz Family Foundation Courtney Benoist and Jason M. Fish Shannon and Simon Fleming-Wood Barbara and John Glynn Google, Inc. Anne and John Herrmann James Hormel Liz Hume and Jay Jacobs The James Irvine Foundation Lucinda and Todd Johns Sharon and Elliot Maluth Betsy and Ed McDermott Nion McEvoy Deborah McManus Linda and Tony Meier Payne Family Foundation
Peets Coffee and Tea Mary and Patric Powell Paige Qvale Sarah and Spencer Robertson Sports Basement Roselyne C. Swig The Swig Foundation Angie and Seth Taube Minott and Ashley Wessinger Kay Yun and Andre Neumann-Loreck
$500+ Catherine Armsden and Lewis W. Butler Samuel Book James E. Canales Amy and Brian Carr Clorox Simonida Cvejic Jacqui and Christian Erdman Michael J. Harrington Alyssa and Jonathan Harris Karen Hibbitt Elizabeth Kao Laure and David Kastanis Paul M. Kochis Laura and Gary Lauder Maureen and John Landers Scott MacLeod Lynn and Robert Macrae Marin Community Foundation Jamie McCue Vera and Kenneth Meislin Marla Miller and David Kremer Kim Niquette and Winston Krone Jane and John Pearce Lexa Pope The Rowny Foundation Jane A. Spray Jane Su and Richard Chow Wesley Tanaka Diane and Ted Taube United Way of the Bay Area Mike Van Leesten* Tania* and Jon Wilcox Averel and John Wilson
$1-$499 Anonymous Amy Ackerman and Rob Wexler Dharshani Alles Shirley and Carter Bacot Deborah Bain and Joel Young Barry Barnes Morgan Barth Anna Biondi Michael Birawer Jeanne Blamey and Rob Fram Chris Boettcher Jamie and Philip Bowles Sarah F. Brittman Cabot Brown Robert Brown Colin Cahill Morrow Cater Judy Chagnon Paul Charney Doris and Chin-hsiung Cheng Allison Churnside Katrina and Henry Clark Linda and Norman Cohen Stanley and Sara Cohn Susie Coliver Aaron Cook Angela and Edward Cox Kirsten and Carter Crum Bobby Cupp Patricia and Simeon David Lauren J. Davis Mark DesJardins* Howard Detweiler Ann Dey Michelle Doty Stephen and Diana Elkin Carol and Jim Enright Peter and Athalia Esty Cheryl and Chris Ewers Alan Exelrod Katie and Reade Fahs Janet Ferraiolo Theresa and Eric Fischer Lee and Lauren Fishman Debra Rosenman and Lyle Fishman Ezra Fishman
Sean Foley Erica and Gregory Fortescue Terry and Chris Fortescue Elizabeth Fortune Michael Fraade Diane and Charles Frankel Samantha and Nicholas French Dana Frieman Robert C. Friese Catherine Goldenheim Tali Griffin Erica and Norton Grubb Margery and Michael Hartley Julia Hartung Jessica Heard Janice and Theodore Hellman Sara and John Hendrickson Ann Henry Anne and Breck Hitz Kirstin Hoefer and Robert Brown Glenn W. Holsclaw and Donna Hubbard Suein Hwang and Mike Dierks Phyllis and David E. Jackson Patrick Jennings Nancy and William Kales Latonia and Adam Karr Colleen Kavanaugh Kathy Korsen Nicole Krassner Mr. and Mrs. Stanford Kuroda Marrion and Norman Livermore Patricia and James Ludwig Sterling Mace Margaret and Bruce Madding Paul Mann Ben Martinez Paula and David Matheson JR Matthews Ieesha L. McKinzie Angela Moody Bruce and Gala Mowat Shari Moy Melissa Murphy and Sam Wilkins Aki Naito Doug Nicholas Eleanor and Robert November Kevin and Penny O’Brien
Irene Pam Mary and Billy Peebles Christina Perrino Elyse and Jeff Perry Barbara Pickens Florence D. Polikoff Anthony and Denise Presutti Leonard and Erica Queiroz Roxanne and Albert Richards Jane L. Richards Kim and Jim Rizzo Mary Robinson Kimberly and Seth Rosen Saint Luke’s Parish School Cynthia and David Saitta Amy Sawelson-Landes Devika Saxena Abby and Gene Schnair Frederick A.O. Schwarz, Jr. Rebecca Searles John Seelke F. Mitchell and Lisa V. Sewell Barbara Sobel and Jonathan Rubens Carol Solomon Laura Steele Monahan and
Brian Monahan Joan and Rob Stein Allison Stephens Liz and Jim Steyer Deborah Stipek Tina and Gordon Strause Elizabeth and Stephen Sutro Maria C. Taft Isabel and Alan Tarshis Dorothy Terman Ruth Hubbard Raser Timbrell Nicholas A. Tonelli In Honor of Zachary Tracer Townson Tsai Debbie and David Tsang Jeffrey Urstadt Felicia and Joel Vargas Leandro Veltri Emily Vernon Caroline Barlerin and Hunter E. Walk Leslie Walker Vera Weintraub Caryl Welborn Craig and Young Welch Emily Williams
Kathe G. Williamson Allison and Alex Wong Hazel and Leland Workman Jessica and Bertrand Yansouni Jacqueline Young Laura S. Zahn
In-Kind Donors Cal-Mart ACI Event Group Digital Sight The Fairmont San Francisco Gap Inc. Leadership Initiative Gap Inc. Legal Team Volunteers National Public Radio Salesforce.com Foundation To our knowledge, this list is accurate and inclusive of all donations between July 1, 2011 June 30, 2012. Please contact us if there are any omissions or errors. * Member of the Board of Trustees for FY2012 or FY2013
Manchester Greater Boston
St. Paul
Providence New Haven New York
Pittsburgh
Minneapolis Sacramento San Francisco
Cincinnati
Philadelphia
(SF Day School)
San Francisco
(University High School)
Denver
Norfolk
Silicon Valley
San Juan Capistrano
Hong Kong
Santa Fe
Atlanta Fort Worth Austin
Houston
New Orleans
Miami
Photos courtesy of Mike Munhall Photography, Orange Photography, Spector Photography, True Image Photography by Aby Cisneros, and Winni Wintermeyer Photography.
545 Sansome Street, Suite 700 San Francisco, CA 94111 415.442.0600 www.breakthroughcollaborative.org