Seven Lessons for Transforming the Future of Early Math Education
With 12 years of early math grantmaking under its belt, the CME Group Foundation’s successes and challenges point to lessons for education funders, policy advocates, researchers, and organizations seeking to improve early childhood education systems and outcomes, both within Illinois and in other states.
The Foundation recently partnered with Arabella Advisors, a philanthropy advisory services firm, to create a comprehensive report on its early math education initiatives. Arabella conducted in-depth interviews with seven individuals who played critical roles in the Early Math Initiative and Elementary Math Specialist pilot. Interviewees are affiliated with early education funders, academic research institutions, and the Chicago Public Schools system.
Key takeaways include:
1. Recognize that changing educational practices and systems is a long-term play. It is important for funders and advocates to recognize that the education field changes slowly, as shifts in educational practice, training, and systems are typically based on field-tested research and depend on state-level legislative action.
2. Advocates for statewide EMS credentials should identify and build partnerships with
state-level allies early in their efforts. Several interviewees who had advocated for statewide EMS credentials in Illinois said these efforts would have benefited from identifying and engaging state-level allies earlier on, before they had submitted their proposals. Investing time and funding up front to research the landscape of relevant stakeholders and learn from comparison can save time.
3. Advocate for elementary math specialization as a field priority ‒ both in pre-service teacher training and in professional development for certified teachers. The initiative and pilot demonstrated that providing intensive, math-specific professional development for elementary teachers can powerfully impact their classroom practices and children’s learning.
4. Help school districts develop the resources to shoulder the additional costs of teacher specialization. In the near term, funders can step in and identify opportunities to help support the schools with the greatest needs, and should partner with school districts, and work with state agencies and universities, to develop solutions and explore grant opportunities that allow districts to train and staff math specialists.
5. Promote equitable access to ongoing professional learning for educators. In designing professional development programs for working teachers and funders, credentialing institutions should consider and identify ways to address barriers that may deter participation, such as access to transportation and childcare.
6. Increase educators’ access to existing professional development resources. Initiative-funded resources, such as the Early Math Counts website, have made free online teaching resources widely available to caregivers and educators. Educators also have an increasing need for research and professional development materials that address the math learning needs of children who are not native English speakers.
7. Build collective knowledge and disseminate learnings via convening and networks. Network- building in the spirit of “convening, not competition” was critical to the initiative’s successes and helped build partnerships and infrastructure that increase the likelihood that grantees will continue to advance this work.
Read the report