Compton Unified School District and Child360 have partnered to bring a “cradle-to-career” approach to CUSD’s 15 ECE sites by investing in STEM education—an investment that has become increasingly more important for the survival of our future workforce. Through a grant from Boeing, the partnership will work to improve families and teachers’ confidence and abilities in math, lay the foundation for strong family-engagement, and create practices and materials for use by early education partners across Southern California.

“Child360 has been an essential partner in our work of supporting young learners and this grant truly has given us a boost in our work,” said Telma Bayona, Director of Early Childhood Development, “Our motto in Compton is ‘#Elevate.’ To elevate the services, elevate our teachers, and elevate our families….We really want to grow and to grow students that can be proud citizens in the future and productive individuals in society.”

Part of the elevation effort includes promoting STEM, especially math skills. A recent article in Forbes highlighted that the fastest growing industries require a proficiency in numeracy. In other words, math will be an essential skill for the careers of the future “Finding qualified applicants is such a concern for some companies that they are investing in STEM and digital training, and recruiting for students in college, high school and even middle school,” the article said. CUSD is preparing for the future of its youngest scholars and their families.

The year-long CUSD and Child360 collaboration will promote kindergarten readiness—particularly in mathematics—by building families’ and early educators’ capacities to generate interest and sustained participation in STEM among young children through hands-on, experiential learning, the production of early math-related media, and a thorough program evaluation.

CUSD’s schools have already seen vast improvements under the leadership of Superintendent Dr. Darin Brawley, from facilities upgrades to an increase in student achievement rates. The 2020-2021 school year saw the addition of a year-long Early Math Teacher Institute, in-classroom STEAM coaching, family STEAM fairs, multimedia math activity toolkits for teachers and families, and a comprehensive program evaluation and dissemination. The district is optimistic that the continued support of Child360 will pave the way for academic success for its young children.