Compton Unified School District (CUSD) and Child360 recently announced a continuation of their work on creating a cradle-to-career pathway in STEAM education, through an early math initiative funded by Boeing. The ongoing collaboration promotes kindergarten readiness, particularly in mathematics, by building families’ and early educators’ capacities to generate interest and sustained participation in STEAM among young children through hands-on, experiential learning, while at the same time, working as a community to increase educational equity, particularly in regards to STEAM.

“We expect to increase families’ and teachers’ self-efficacy in math and educational equity; lay the foundation for sustained family-engagement practices in Compton’s 15 early education sites; and create and document replicable practices and materials for dissemination to diverse early education partners across Southern California,” stated Telma Bayona, CUSD’s Director of Early Childhood Education.

CUSD’s motto is #Elevate. This means elevating services, elevating teachers, and elevating families so that students receive the well-rounded support and education they need to become informed and contributing members of society. Under the leadership of Superintendent Dr. Darin Brawley, CUSD’s schools have undergone a transformation marked by a significant increase in student achievement rates, facilities improvements, and a focus in STEAM throughout all schools—with a particular focus on math literacy.

Child360 supports early education programs like Compton Unified from every angle—addressing the quality of instruction, the capacity of the teachers, and the way programs involve families in their children’s learning. To that end, Child360 is partnering with Boeing (and potentially PBS) to launch a comprehensive, district-wide early math initiative during the 2021-2022 academic year comprised of the following services:

• Education Equity Institutes for CUSD Teachers and Staff
  An 8-part, live, café-style series in which participants will engage in 2.5 hour “courageous” conversations in a safe space. Topics discussed range from the realities of systemic racism, implicit bias, priviledge, trauma, identities, and the links to each within early childhood education. Child360 facilitators will ask participants to examine the importance of critical analysis about equity and justice and the early educator’s role in creating change. Participants will discuss interpersonal bias and how educators can create culturally relevant and equitable practices in the early childhood learning system. In addition to CUSD, Child360 has extensive experience conducting the Education Equity Institutes with other Districts to overwhelmingly positive reviews. Each café session contains historical context or data analysis, courageous conversations, reflection, activity, and self-care

• Professional Development on Culturally Relevant STEAM Teaching with Reflective Learning Communities for Teachers
  Delivered in four, two-hour modules, this service will promote STEAM concepts, research-based characteristics of effective math instruction, alignment with California Preschool Learning Foundations, and effective instructional support approaches. It also incorporates the latest research in early math pedagogy, including doctoral research conducted by Child360’s Head Start Graduate Research Fellow from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. It will share strategies for creating effective family engagement systems that promote a families’ ability to build early math skills with children at home, and opportunities to learn about unique practices and resources (i.e. chess, robotics, and coding) that can enhance children’s math literacy.

• Family STEAM Nights, with a Special Focus on Bridging the Math Gap

• Community STEAM Cafés

• Comprehensive Program Evaluation and Dissemination
  In the final three services listed above, Child360 will provide real-time, reflective conversation and feedback to teachers as they plan for implementing training content in their classrooms and integrate STEAM into their sites’ quality-improvement goals. Four professional development sessions will occur every other month, while Child360 offers on-going reflective learning communities to Lead Teachers in CUSD’s 21 ECE classrooms, tailored to the needs of each site.

CUSD is proud to incorporate this program as part of its continued commitment to providing a quality early education program that serves as a bridge to a bright and successful future in school and ultimately in life.