Overall points for this section should consider the organization’s capacity to take on the proposed project. There will be an opportunity to consider the other demographic and number of participants in future sections.
Preschool math skills have been shown to be "more predictive of general scholastic achievement than language, attention span, or social skills" (Duncan et al 2007). However, over 50% of children in the state of Washington are arriving to kindergarten without the math skills typical of their age group, thus beginning their formal education at a disadvantage (Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction 2012/2013 WA State Report Card). In addition, there are unsettling disparities between the educational achievements of Washington children based on race and socioeconomic status, which has created a growing achievement gap. Here in Seattle, a national hub of technological and scientific innovation, only 51% of low-income students in the Seattle School District are meeting state math standards, compared to 70% of their peers district-wide.
Zeno believes that one reason for these troubling statistics is that many families lack an awareness of the importance of early math literacy and resources to provide an engaging learning environment for math in the home. This is why Zeno is developing MathWays for Early Learning -- a set of training seminars for early learning providers, designed to provide tools and support to encourage math exploration by families of children ages 3--5.
5
Describe the project for which you are requesting funds, and explain how your project addresses the need described above
MathWays for Early Learning will be a set of two training seminars and materials designed to equip early learning providers with activities, tools and training skills so they can encourage families to explore math at home. This allows families to instill in their children a sense of curiosity around math and give them the opportunity to arrive at kindergarten with experience in foundational math concepts. Reaching families of children ages 3-5 is crucial, as they are particularly receptive to math and spatial reasoning concepts. Because the need is so great in low income communities, Zeno aims to work with providers in Seattle and South King County first, engaging early learning providers and community liaisons already working directly with families in preschools, preschool co-ops and through organizations such as the Filipino Community Center, Jewish Day School and Child Care Resources.
These seminars will focus on 1) ways to explore math concepts through everyday experiences and 2) sharing low/no cost activities that families can easily incorporate into their day consistently. The content will be informed in part by nationally-recognized objectives for early math concepts, including those assessed by Washington Kindergarten Inventory of Developing Skills (WaKIDS) such as:
•Increasing use of number concepts and operations (including counting, quantifying and connecting numerals with their quantities)
•Learning to explore and describe spatial relationships and shapes
•Learning to measure and compare
This will ensure that the activities presented are not only enjoyable, but are helping children explore the concepts that allow them to begin their formal education prepared to learn. Additionally, by supplying early learning providers with follow up activities, talking points and take home resources such as an Early Learning calendar of activities, they can help families continue to explore these concepts with their children on an ongoing basis.
Our current elementary Mathways program has proven to be an effective model in giving families easy to use games and activities they can play at home consistently. Using that success as our template, Zeno will begin this program by developing and testing specific activities with families for effectiveness and enjoyment (October 2014 -- March 2015). We anticipate recruiting focus group families through our partnerships with Filipino Community Center, South Park Community Center and the Jewish Day School. This work will be the basis for the training seminars for early learning providers. At the same time we will develop an Early Learning calendar of activities which will include up to 30 additional fun activities to do at home, and we will map out an evaluation plan to measure the usability and effectiveness of the workshop material over time. Once recommended adjustments are made, we will pilot MathWays for Early Learning to early learning providers (April 2015). Following the pilot and any necessary changes to the material, our initial project implementation will begin May 2015 and will run for one year, facilitating up to 6 training seminars for providers. Through these providers we will continue to gather data on effectiveness, and sustained use as well as family feedback.
5
How many children will be served by this project?
440
3*
How many parents will be served by this project?
220
How many childcare professional will be served by this project?
*Consideration for score should be based on the total number of participants—children, parents and child care. Projects may support one or all three audiences.
SECTION III: IMPLEMENTATION (35 TOTAL POINTS)
Application Question
Grantee Response
Pts. Possible
Pts. Awarded
Reviewer Notes
Please describe any specified STEM and Early Learning skills that the current staff, families, board, organization, and/or community might bring to this project.
Zeno has been bringing unique and engaging math experiences to elementary schools for over 10 years in King County and employs both Mathematicians-in-Residence and a Director of Math Education on staff who have combined over 80 years of experience teaching students and educators how to be enriched and empowered by math. One tool we have used to share the fun and power of math is Zeno's other successful training model for elementary math support called Family & Professional MathWays. We also have an Advisory Council of local educators and community members to inform our work and help us keep up-to-date with curriculum and methods, including Dr. Elham Kazemi, Associate Dean for Professional Learning at The University of Washington and local expert on student learning and mathematics education and Ginger Warfield, retired principal lecturer of Mathematics at the University of Washington and director of Washington Teacher of Teachers of Mathematics. Past and current board members include individuals with STEM-focused careers in technology, mathematics and science who are passionate about the need for children to embrace math in order to be successful in life.
10
Are you intending to hire new staff to implement this project? If so, please describe the position and hiring timeline.
Zeno has been primarily involved in elementary-level education in schools and community organizations since our inception in 2003. To ensure that our activities are effective and mapped to current, established Early Learning developmental principals we will work with both an Early Learning Consultant and an Assessment Consultant in the development phase for MathWays for Early Learning. The Early Learning Consultant will work closely with Zeno to validate that activities will be effective and appropriate for the age level focus of our workshops. Our Assessment Consultant, Veronica Smith from data2insight, will help us design a development evaluation plan and will help to create a short-term tool to measure effectiveness and to reveal necessary adjustments to the program. We expect to contract with both of these professionals by November 2014. Both consultants will remain on our team as long as needed to ensure success of the program.
5
Describe new partners (e.g. parent groups, libraries, housing authorities, community organizations) that your organization would like to build in order to create a successful project?
Through a partnership between Zeno and Thrive by Five we anticipate several short and long-term needs to execute on the MathWays for Early Learning workshop model. In the short term, a grant from Thrive by Five allows our organization to spend a full 6 months building the necessary relationships and the plans needed to develop a successful program. In addition, we would gain a great deal of knowledge and insight from being part of the current Discoveries in the Field cohorts to share learnings as our program develops. This group provides industry experts and program providers a chance to work together, to share their successful programs and to learn from each member of the diverse cohorts.
In a broader scope, a partnership with Thrive by Five could help us access necessary metrics and measurements that Zeno has struggled to access in the past. We are looking for an opportunity to get plugged into impact data and measured outcomes regarding kindergarten assessment initiatives statewide. To date, we have encountered barriers to accessing standardized test scores or assessment data from the groups we serve. We hope that a partnership with Thrive by Five may help us show a long-term connection between our Early Learning initiatives and academic success. Finally, towards the conclusion of our 18 month partnership, we anticipate Thrive by Five may be able to provide key guidance as we work to distribute this model outside of the Road Map area so MathWays for Early Learning may be in-use more widely beyond Zeno and its current partners.
10
What are the challenges that you anticipate in planning and implementing this proposed project?
Zeno has identified pilot partners in the Filipino Community Center, South Park Community Center, Jewish Day School and Child Care Resources. We are using our existing network of south King County school partners to create additional partnerships with south Seattle and south King County early learning providers as this is the key to reaching the families that need our program the most. However, we do see a challenge in connecting with additional early learning providers in our most needy communities who can participate in this training. We plan to continue building new relationships to better identify these early learning providers during the Development phase of our project. Additionally, during our 18 month grant period, we will be seeking partnerships that will allow Zeno to plug into impact data and measured outcomes regarding kindergarten assessment initiatives statewide. Commitment to providing consistent data has been a roadblock to accessing standardized test scores or assessment data from the schools we serve. We hope that a partnership with Thrive by Five may help us show a long-term connection between our Early Learning initiatives and academic success.
5
Are there any organizational priorities that may affect the outcome of this project? If so, please explain.
Zeno has been partnering with schools and community organizations to build sustainable math cultures in elementary school communities for over 10 years. Throughout those years, we have seen how great the impact can be though our programs that focus on empowering educators and families with the tools to inspire their students to succeed in math. Placing importance on the behavior and capacity of the adults in a child's life in-turn creates the best environment for kids in their home and their learning community. We have realized our unique position to influence adult attitudes and as an organization have decided to make it a priority in developing new programs going forward. Additionally, our board has identified Early Learning as an important direction for our organization in fulfilling our mission to create an environment where kids are inspired to love math. MathWays for Early Learning will be the newest Zeno program and the first one to focus on families of preschoolers.
How will your project support Thrive’s goals to increase STEM successes for children birth to five and/or their parents/families in a culturally responsive way?
MathWays for Early Learning's ultimate goal is to give children the opportunity to have future STEM success by giving families tools to support building foundational math concepts at home. If kids embrace math and build math confidence at a very early age, their probability of persevering in math increases. Yet, given the demographically diverse nature of the South King County community where we work, it would be impossible for Zeno to fully understand on our own the cultural nuances necessary for this material to help all families. For this reason, the focus of these seminars will be to empower those early learning professionals in our partner organization(s) who work directly with families in their community and understand how present the materials in a culturally effective way.
During our project development phase we will first pilot this material with providers, and will collect feedback to help us adjust our materials to be as universally appropriate as possible. Materials will be translated into 4 languages so the providers who are already familiar with our target families, can administer the material in a culturally appropriate way thus allowing the materials to be accessible to the diverse cultures we seek to reach.
10
How does this project represent an innovative approach that is unique to the learning of children and/or families?
MathWays for Early Learning focuses on providing engaging activities that can be enjoyed with a child's family at home. Research shows that when engaging activities, such as board games, are used to teach math concepts, "children made lasting improvements in their mathematical ability" (Whyte and Bull 2008; Ramani and Siegler 2008). At Zeno, we feel strongly that the culture around the way math is presented is critical to this success: it has to be fun, engaging and consistant. That is why we place a high priority on choosing the right activities, and presenting these activities in a way that is hands-on and lively for families, which increases their enjoyment of the activities, the discussion around the concepts and the repeated use of them in the home. Additionally, with our focus on engaging with existing providers in South King County, Zeno aims to reach far more families than if we worked alone, and allowing the program to spread more quickly.
5
How does this proposed project represent a community-driven approach?
While MathWays for Early Learning will be developed by Zeno, the program is ultimately designed to empower those working directly with families with the knowledge and tools necessary to be the champions of early math literacy in our community and with the opportunity to disseminate this information in a way that their community can make it their own. It's the collective impact of all members the community -- service organizations, parents and teachers -- that work together to meet bold change. And as the MathWays for Early Learning program is disseminated by our partners in the community, we will use learnings along the way to inform measurability and scalability of this project it the years to come.
