Jade Solomon is a computer science and math teacher at Everett Middle School in San Francisco, CA. With a master of arts in teaching mathematics from Stanford’s Graduate School of Education, Jade is committed to making STEM education inclusive and engaging. Outside the classroom, Jade’s approach to teaching is shaped by her experience with training her energetic puppy, Rutabaga, through positive reinforcement. She also cares for seven pet snakes, each in its own bio-active terrarium. Jade spent a decade as an active member of the Noisebridge Hackerspace, a nonprofit dedicated to community-driven education and innovation.
Working in a school where 75% of students are Latinx and 75% are multi-language learners, Jade has made it her mission to use culturally relevant CS education to support her students’ education. This requires not just units that speak to her students’ backgrounds and interests, but true dedication to providing bilingual support. Over the last year, and with the support of an SF-CESS equity coach, she worked hard to translate all materials and provide resources and instructions in both English and Spanish for all her classes. She’s proactive about seeking out resources to ensure that her students feel represented and engaged in the coursework she offers. “Through this journey,” says Jade, “I have grown significantly as a teacher, deepening my understanding of the unique challenges faced by newcomer students and discovering innovative ways to support them.”
Jade takes special care to identify and remove barriers to access for her students. When designing lesson plans, she creates highly scaffolded projects that enable students to participate and feel successful no matter their skill level. Students are encouraged to progress at their own pace, which enables them to build confidence, rather than feeling overwhelmed by an assignment that may begin far beyond their current competency level. Jade also welcomes student and parent feedback as a crucial way to understand when her students are thriving or when they’re falling behind. In the upcoming school year, she plans to partner with the Resource Specialist Program (RSP) teacher to integrate computer science into math lessons, thereby ensuring that students with disabilities are getting the support and equitable CS education they deserve. She says, “My goal is to cultivate a classroom culture where every student feels seen, heard, and empowered to succeed in computer science.”
As a CSTA Equity Fellow, Jade hopes to develop her leadership skills by learning from and collaborating with her cohort. “I aim to deepen my understanding of identity-inclusive practices and enhance my ability to promote equity in computer science education,” she says. Recognizing how much she’s learned from her teaching journey so far, she’s eager to continue learning best practices for creating inclusive CS classrooms, especially ways to continue welcoming multi-language learners and disabled students into computer science.
She’s bursting with ideas for possible projects to pursue in collaboration with her cohort. Building on her own efforts with bilingual coursework, Jade would love to work on creating a comprehensive bilingual computer science curriculum for use at schools like hers with large populations of multi-language learners. She also envisions great possibilities for professional development workshops that focus on equity in CS education and the use of AI productivity tools, as well as “community tech nights” to invite students and their families to learn about computer science together.
“Ultimately,” says Jade, “I want to use this fellowship to become a more effective and knowledgeable educator, capable of making a significant difference in the lives of my students and contributing to the broader movement for equity in computer science education.”