advisor@eastbaynsbejr.org

The East Bay NSBE Jr. program distinction is that the math and science tutoring available to this group is very costly averaging upwards of $125 per month, for example, at Kumon© a private tutoring entity. These students cannot afford to pay for tutoring, so we offer up to two hours of tutoring in math as part of the weekly curriculum. Further they charge $349 a weekend, $799-$1,249 per week per student for the robotics engineering design training. Our facilitators receive their training from engineering departments at universities such as Tufts, Brandeis and Carnegie
Our PCI program provides activities to help students discover firsthand how engineering and technology relate to the world around them and discover the excitement of academic excellence, leadership, technical development and teamwork. Through robotics students plan, build, design and program an autonomous robot based on a real world problem, wherein students get to use LEGO MINDSTORMS® technology, apply real-world math and science concepts, research challenges facing today's scientists, learn critical thinking, team-building and presentation skills, and real-world engineering challenges by building LEGO-based robots to complete tasks on a thematic playing surface.

We focus our outreach on male and female low-income, at-risk, underserved, underrepresented, minority students in grades K-12 public schools and their families living in Contra Costa County. There are 128,197 students enrolled in Contra Costa County Public Schools; of those 8,469 African-American, mixed-race minorities. This group has historically ranked below their grade point average in math, science, language arts, and other academic subjects. Our PCI program provides activities to help students discover firsthand how engineering and technology relate to the world around them and discover the excitement of academic excellence, leadership, technical development and teamwork. Through robotics students plan, build, design and program an autonomous robot based on a real world problem, wherein students get to use LEGO MINDSTORMS® technology, apply real-world math and science concepts, research challenges facing today's scientists, learn critical thinking, team-building and presentation skills, and real-world engineering challenges by building LEGO-based robots to complete tasks on a thematic
US FIRST®LEGO® League www.USFIRST.org

We collaborate with California Alliance of African American Educators, Contra Costa County Workforce Development Board, Pittsburg Chamber of Commerce, Pittsburg Unified School District, Contra Costa County Intel Science Fair, Los Medanos and Diablo Valley Community Colleges in recruiting and retention of this target group.

To increase the number of culturally responsible Black Engineers who excel academically, succeed professionally and positively impact the community by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering, math and technology skills. Gracious professionals learn and compete like crazy, but treat one another with respect and kindness in the process; involves learning from teammates, teaching teammates, learning from mentors, and managing and being managed.

The vision is to establish the Pre-College Initiative (PCI) of NSBE as an incubator for our youth, where they and their families can receive nurturing, mentoring, and guidance in their academic careers. Focus is on enhancing the education received by this group, expanding the science education received, as well as influencing these youth to become tomorrow's corporate executives, entrepreneurs, and leaders, by creating a world where science and technology are celebrated.

"National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) Jr. Pre-College Initiative (PCI)" is the formal membership category for NSBE's pre-college students. Volunteers, parents/guardians, teachers, counselors or school administrators act as advisors to provide support, guidance and assistance to junior chapters to implement projects and activities.

The East Bay NSBE Jr. PCI Program is the effort to promote college, academics, technology, and leadership to underserved, underrepresented at-risk minority pre-college students in grades K through 12. Our primary focus is to encourage students to develop interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Through the Saturday STEM Program students will receive math tutoring and hands-on robotics instruction. Students will participate in four key initiatives: Kid Zone Competition (KZC) for grades 3-5, MathCounts Competition for grades 6-8, Engineering Design Competition Robotics (EDC) for grades 3-12, Contra Costa County Intel Science and Engineering Fair for grades 7-12. They will also receive a well-balanced lunch prior to the start of each 5-hour session.

The vision is to establish the Saturday STEM PCI Program as an incubator for our youth, where they and their families can receive nurturing, mentoring, and guidance in their academic careers. Focus is on enhancing the education received by this group, expanding the STEM education received, as well as influencing these youth to esteem academic excellence by creating an environment where science and technology are celebrated.

NSBE's Pre-College Initiative is replicated at Universities and Colleges across the United States including, but not limited to A-MAN Saturday Science Academy, NSBE Jr. Chapter in Inglewood California; Madison East High School NSBE Jr. Chapter in Madison Wisconsin; University of New Mexico’s NSBE Jr. Chapter Saturday STEM Program at Albuquerque; and US FIRST Robotics Northern California First Lego League in Fremont, California.

Of the 350 participants we reach each year, we have successfully achieved upwards of 200 members that have at least 90% attendance, 100% high school graduation rates, and 100% college going rates, with 50-70% of that group majoring in the STEM disciplines for the past five years. We also achieve 100% parent participation, gains in basic math skills (75%), writing skills (64%-68%), and basic computer programming skills (97%).

Community Ethnicity
1% American Indian or Alaska Native
1% Asian or Pacific Islander
84% Black or African American
13% Hispanic or Latino
1% White or Caucasian

The program distinction is that the math and science tutoring available to this group is very costly averaging upwards of $125 per month, for example, at Kumon© a private tutoring entity. These students cannot afford to pay for tutoring, so we offer up to two hours of tutoring in math as part of the weekly curriculum. Further, they charge $349 a weekend, $799-$1,249 per week per student for the robotics engineering design training. Our facilitators receive their training from engineering departments at universities such as Tufts, Brandeis and Carnegie Mellon.

Kid Zone Competition is an academic competition program (grades 3-5) that requires pre- and post-assessment tests. Curriculum includes problem solving, history facts, math, science, language arts, and age-appropriate engineering concepts. This is a Jeopardy-Style answer/question format for teams of four students. Each team competes against other NSBE Jr. chapters at local, regional, and national competitions.

Try-Math-A-Lon and MathCounts are programs designed by NSBE engineers and Raytheon Corporation, meant to foster good study habits, help students prepare for standardized tests such as the ACT and SAT, promote competition and good sportsmanship. The purpose of the TMAL competition is to increase students' capabilities when preparing for standardized tests that will allow them to excel academically and succeed in college. TMAL provides encouragement, motivation, and incentive for high school (grades 9-12) students to sharpen their interest and STEM skills in order to prepare them for SAT/ACT and standardized tests. Teams of 4 each compete at local, regional and national competitions.

Engineering Design Competition (EDC) is a Robotics program adapted from Drexel University's IEEE Lego Robot Competition and modeled on the US First Robotics Lego Mindstorm NXT 2.0 Software. The purpose of the Team Engineering Design Competition is to expose high school (grades 9-12) students to a hands-on, team oriented, collaborative activity that involves mathematics, physics, mechanical engineering, software engineering, computer engineering, electrical engineering, and industrial engineering. Upon completion of the design project, teams will exhibit their autonomous robot designs at local, regional, and national competitions.

Through robotics competition, gracious professionals learn and compete like crazy, but treat one another with respect and kindness in the process; involves learning from teammates, teaching teammates, learning from mentors, and managing and being managed. They avoid treating anyone like losers. Knowledge, competition, and empathy blend as part of pursuing a meaningful life.

Contra Costa County Intel Science & Engineering Fair: 7th -12th Grade students will submit entries into the annual Fair as teams of three students on each project. They will work with science and engineering professionals as mentors to plan, design, research and implement their projects.

Funding for the Saturday STEM Program used for items such as, robotics kits, robotics training for teachers, collegiate engineers and volunteers, weekly handout materials/supplies, program brochures, printing; stipends for our collegiate volunteers and schoolteachers, and costs associated with hosting local competition events.

The services and activities we provide are based on need in Contra Costa County documented by the California Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR), California Department of Education for Ethnicity for Economically Disadvantaged/Black or African American 2nd-12th graders, Summary Reports By Economic Status and Ethnicity Revised 6-Jan-2011.*

In each category, Language Arts, Mathematics, Algebra, Geometry, Chemistry, Physics, Health Science, and Biology, African American students scored Far-below or Below their grade averages; while in most categories, an average of only about 10% (and often less) were in the Proficient and/or Advanced levels. The statistics show that in math the gap in achievement between Hispanic or Latino students and white students decreased by 4 percentage points from 2004 to 2010; the gap in achievement between African American or Black students and white students declined by 1 percentage point from 2003 to 2010. These are grim statistics and we address these issues with the implementation of our core STEM programs. There is also a 31% dropout rate amongst high school students and our programs address that problem as well by engaging parents in our programs. *http://star.cde.ca.gov/star2010/SearchPanel.asp?ps=true&lstTestYear=2010&lstTestType=C&lstCounty=07&lstDistrict=&lstSchool=&lstGroup=11&lstSubGroup=200 ; California Department of Education Assessment, Accountability, & Awards Division 2010 STAR Test Results Contra Costa County Ethnicity for Economically Disadvantaged/Black or African American - California Standards Test Scores

NSBE activities include tutorial programs, group study sessions, high school/junior high outreach programs, technical seminars and workshops, a national communications network the NSBE Bridge Magazine, The Career Engineer (a supplement in the NSBE Magazine), resume books, career fairs, awards, banquets and an annual national convention.

Our workshops coincide with Pittsburg Unified School District calendar and begin the last Saturday in August for 10 to 14 consecutive Saturdays in the first semester and resume on the third Saturday in January for 10 to 14 consecutive Saturdays. Each workshop is five hours long. Our workshops are an additional 4 weeks each semester that leads up the Intel Science and Engineering Fair held in the Spring. Through these hands-on projects, students receive a variety of academic and technical learning.

LEGO Mindstorms educational robotic systems provide a tailor-made solution of hardware, software and educational resources for use in classrooms, after-school club environments, and home schooling. Students learn to design, program and control fully functional models and robots that carry out life-like automated tasks. The Introduction to Mobile Robotics, Robotics Engineering curriculum is designed to use the motivational effects of robotics to teach science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) concepts. As students work their way through the curriculum they learn how math and science are applied to control robots at the same time as they learn to build, program, and troubleshoot their NXT mobile robots. The focus of this curriculum is on the development of 21st century skills: teamwork, problem solving, innovation, communications, and project management. To this end, we utilize the computer labs at Pittsburg High School to implement our programs.

We focus our outreach on male and female low-income, at-risk, underserved and underrepresented, minority students in grades K-12 public schools and their families living in Contra Costa County. There are 128,197 students enrolled in Contra Costa County Public Schools; of those 8,469 African-American, mixed-race minorities. This group has historically ranked below their grade point average in math, science, language arts, and other academic subjects. Our PCI program provides activities to help students discover firsthand how engineering and technology relate to the world around them and discover the excitement of academic excellence, leadership, technical development and teamwork. Through robotics students plan, build, design and program an autonomous robot based on a real world problem, wherein students get to use LEGO MINDSTORMS® technology, apply real-world math and science concepts, research challenges facing today's scientists, learn critical thinking, team-building and presentation skills, and real-world engineering challenges by building LEGO-based robots to complete tasks on a thematic playing surface.

The first half hour we provide a nutritional lunch and the next hour of each Saturday is spent tutoring the students on math and language arts, using their classroom work and/or math tutorials. The remaining three-and-a-half hours are engaged in robotics activities. Engineers, teachers, technical professionals and volunteers facilitate the tutoring and other projects. Our second semester includes four additional workshops of 5 hours each to prepare for the Contra Costa County Intel Science and Engineering Fair. Fall 2011 Semester -- 8/27/11 through 11/5/11; Saturdays from 11:30 - 4:30 p.m. Spring 2011 Semester -- 1/21/12 through 3/31/12; Saturdays from 11:30 - 4:30 p.m.

The program results we are committed to achieving are that they will demonstrate a stronger ability to think, analyze and communicate Over a period of one school year (Fall 2010 to Spring 2011), for students who fully participate in at least 85% of the sessions:
- 85% will increase their GPA by at least one-half point (e.g., on a scale of 4.0 a student with a 2.5 GPA would improve his/her GPA by .50 to 3.0 GPA).
- 60% will enroll in advanced math, science, and language arts classes.
- 75% will increase their basic math skills.
- 65% will increase their writing skills.
- 95% will advance to the next grade level.
- 90% will pass the California High School Exit Exam on their first attempt
- 100% will graduate high school
- 100% will enroll in college or university
Number of Students reaching the desired program results is 200

We use pre-test, post-tests, periodic quizzes and embedded assessments to evaluate various aspects of student learning in the context of the learning experience. We use pre-tests for the baseline of each student to assess their needs and to design appropriate curriculum at the beginning of the program year. We utilize periodic quizzes to determine whether any adjustments are needed in curriculum. Our post-tests determine effectiveness.

We compare student grades at the fall semester and spring quarter, requiring that they turn in their report cards and/or transcripts twice in a program year.

Additionally, there is a certain amount of rigor that successful teams must apply to their research in the robotics challenge topic, and in learning how to build and program a robot. When the students successfully design, build, and test the robotics, we know the concepts have been learned. Our success has been realized in many ways, including, but not limited to, taking three consecutive first place EDC wins during NSBE Conferences and Annual Conventions. Our chapter has experienced consistent growth, success, and accomplishments since 2005 due to the unrelenting dedication of NSBE Professional Engineers, NSBE collegiate students, our coaches, volunteers, and parents.

Broader gains and benefits that will be realized if we achieve our results:
- help students have a positive attitude toward academic excellence;
- increase high school graduation rates of at-risk, low-income, underserved, underrepresented minority students;
- stimulate enthusiasm about science, technology, engineering and mathematics;
- encourage K-12th graders to pursue degrees in engineering and other technical fields;
- increase the number of African Americans attending and graduating from college;
- encourage and support parental commitment to children's education;
- raise cultural awareness among students;
- reduce the number of high school dropouts of at-risk minority students;

The pre-requisite for participation in the robotics program is one-hour participation in math tutoring each Saturday. As a prerequisite for participation in the robotics program, 3rd through 5th graders must also participate the Kids Zone Conference Competition (KZC), hands-on science, language arts and history curriculum developed by NSBE Engineers. Tutors and parents observe the educational growth and academic improvement in the students during the 10-14 week sessions.

In addition, parents’ complete surveys at the beginning end and periodically during each program year to determine their level of expectations for their child, including their comments and concerns; in past years 100% of parents with students attendance of 90% or better are very pleased with our programs and would recommend to others.