Leena Bakshi McLean's roadmap for culturally responsive science teaching reached USA Today's best-selling booklist in the same month Jossey-Bass published it, October 2024
Dr. Raven Baxter wrote the afterword for STEM for All: How to Connect, Create, and Cultivate STEM Education for All Learners, published by Jossey-Bass in October 2024. The book, by STEM4Real founder Leena Bakshi McLean, appeared on USA Today's best-selling booklist dated Oct. 30, 2024.
Baxter's afterword runs on pages 231 and 232 and closes the book. Tyrone B. Hayes, Ph.D., the UC Berkeley biologist, wrote the foreword. The book's index lists her both as Raven Baxter and as Dr. Raven the Science Maven.
STEM for All, published by Jossey-Bass in October 2024. Baxter is not pictured. Image: STEM4Real
The 288-page book is a guide for K-12 teachers, coaches and school leaders. It follows STEM4Real's Connect, Create, and Cultivate framework. Wiley says it covers classroom culture, identity and belonging, family and community participation, and justice-centered core learning. Section headings include "Hip-Hop Hooray!", "Black Students Matter", "LGBTQ in STEM" and "Computer Science, Coding, and AI in STEM," according to the publisher's table of contents.
The book arrived amid wide gaps in American science learning. In October 2023, the National Science Board reported persistently lower scores for students from historically marginalized groups and for economically disadvantaged students. On a national mathematics assessment, the gap between students at the 90th and 10th percentiles grew to 105 points in 2022. It was the widest since the assessment began. In a 2022 Pew Research Center survey, 54% of Black Americans said more visible Black high achievers in STEM would make young Black people "a lot more likely" to pursue STEM degrees.
Andratesha Fritzgerald, author of Antiracism and Universal Design for Learning, wrote that "STEM teachers and administrators need this book especially in today's climate of resisting conversations about racism and historical harm." Zaretta Hammond, author of Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain, called it "a roadmap for educators" bringing together the Next Generation Science Standards, belonging and culturally responsive teaching. Both endorsements appear on STEM4Real's book page.
The book also reached a regional list. On Nov. 7, 2024, Alta Journal's California bestsellers list, compiled with the California Independent Booksellers Alliance, ranked it fifth among trade paperback nonfiction titles at Southern California independent bookstores.
McLean is the founder and executive director of STEM4Real, a nonprofit for STEM teacher training. As an administrator, she looked at the science curriculum and "did not see any people of color represented," she writes on the group's about page.
The book's subject overlaps with Baxter's own research. Her University at Buffalo dissertation studied culturally responsive science communication through hip-hop. She is a molecular biologist and science communicator, known online as Dr. Raven the Science Maven.
The book is available from Wiley, and STEM4Real's book page lists its national book study.
Dr. Raven Baxter reports from the launch of the Planetary Health Check 2026 at Climate Week NYC, where she interviewed climate scientist Johan Rockström and former Unilever chief executive Paul Polman.
Dr. Raven Baxter reports from the 81st UN General Assembly in New York, from the SDG Media Zone at UN Headquarters and the Unstoppable Africa business forum.
Dr. Raven Baxter reports from BiotechTV's first U.S. Science Summit in Kendall Square, where about 20 science creators joined biotech leaders on July 21, 2026.
