Culture of Belonging

Rocketship cultivates a culture of belonging to unleash the full potential of our incredible staff by purposefully pursuing representation in our communities, breaking down barriers to power, and creating a safe, collaborative environment that celebrates our differences. We recognize the inequality of opportunity in our society and seek to address those disparities.

We create a diverse collective of change agents with voices, experiences, backgrounds, and identities (at all levels), that authentically represent the communities that we serve.

We acknowledge that advantages and barriers exist in our society and we work to break down those barriers to ensure all staff, families, and students have equal access to opportunities regardless of identities.

We cultivate a culture of belonging where people of different values, backgrounds, and identities are valued and respected, as well as heard in decisions that impact our collective work.

Educator Representation Benefits Students

An increasing body of research shows that student achievement and attendance go up and suspension rates go down when students have at least one same-race teacher. Yet America’s teaching force has not increased in community representation over the years with only 20% of public school teachers in the U.S. who are people of color.

The majority of our educators at Rocketship identify as people of color. Excellence in education is about providing each student with what they need to succeed. This includes learning from teachers who offer both windows and mirrors—people who bring new perspectives, as well as reflect their own background and experience.

Multilingual Learners Program

We help our multilingual students make steady progress toward English language proficiency and achieve grade-level standards in all content areas. Beyond academic success, Rocketship also celebrates multiculturalism in the classroom through its Los Dichos program, a multilingual literacy and reading program ran by parent volunteers, which exposes Rocketeers to new cultures and helps instill a strong sense of cultural identity and pride. Learn more about Los Dichos here.