Early Math Project

About Early Math Project

Our history and evolution

In 2015, California was chosen to receive a technical assistance grant from the National Governors Association (NGA) designed to strengthen math instruction from preschool to third grade and to raise awareness among educators and policymakers about the importance of early math.

This grant opportunity was offered in part because of Greg Duncan's research, which found that early math is a strong predictor of children's later academic success and literacy ability.

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With support from the NGA, representatives from the California State Board of Education, the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, the California Department of Education, and First 5 California formed the Early Math Project (EMP). The Department of Social Services joined the Early Math Project Team soon thereafter.         
                                                                                      
In 2018, EMP members engaged in a series of conversations with policy makers, leaders at institutes of higher education, and researchers focused on actions to support teacher comfort and confidence in math content and pedagogy.

The conversations considered how to bring families on board as partners in their children’s mathematical development and change the negative perceptions and messages associated with math. These dialogs influenced California’s decision to allocate funding for an early math initiative to support professional development, resource creation, and communications.

California released a competitive grant application that was open to all the state’s county offices of education. The Fresno County Superintendent of Schools (FCSS) was selected to lead this work and later chosen to expand the scope of the work to include science and computer science. EMP has partnered closely with FCSS and their partners since 2018. EMP co-develops and co-brands a variety of resources with FCSS and Count Play Explore.
 

Advocacy

EMP focuses on improving math outcomes (and more recently on science outcomes) for children statewide and making connections between people and agencies interested in early math. EMP advocates for philanthropic and government support of early math, science, and computer science and pursues financial support for early math professional development, family engagement work, resource development, resource sharing, and early math communications. EMP also serves as a connector between groups, agencies, and individuals interested in stronger STEAM outcomes.

Events

Since 2017, EMP has been involved in planning free annual professional symposiums and learning events for adults in the lives of children from birth to age eight. The symposia have been funded over the years by the California Department of Education and the AIMS Foundation. Currently the Fresno County Superintendent of Schools (FCSS) funds these events from money allocated by the state legislature to improve math, science, and computer science outcomes for children from birth to third grade. In 2020, these professional learning events shifted from in-person gatherings with some live cast presentations to a fully virtual model. The events now attract a California, national, and international audience.

Resources

EMP creates resources related to early math, science, and computer science. Resources are often based on children's literature, which provides a familiar and comfortable way to support children's early math, science, and computer science development. This focus is intentional to dovetail with existing everyday family activities and routines.

EMP also responds to the needs of families, communities, and educational agencies, offering early STEAM and growth mindset resources that are developmentally appropriate, culturally/linguistically sensitive, and inclusive.