A Decade of Impact
Celebrating CME Group Foundation's 10th Anniversary
For a decade, the Foundation has supported under-served Illinois communities and advanced the economy by supporting education from cradle to career. Hear from our grantees over the years and learn more here.
CME Group Foundation brings a legacy of innovation and a commitment to leading-edge education for students.
Loyola University Chicago
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Empowered by Computer Science for All
Chicago is the birth place of Computer Science for All (CS4All), a movement to bring computer science education to every student. This innovative computer science education program provides equity, empowerment, and opportunities that maximize the innate potential of every student.
For the third year, CME Group Foundation was sponsor and host to the CS4All Spring Leadership Workshop for principals of K-8 Chicago schools. Twice a year, CS4All brings elementary principals together to provide opportunities for them to network with each other and learn about leading-edge computer science curriculum options.
Melissa Cobian of the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) CS4All team said the goal of the workshop was to inspire, encourage, and support principals in building a vision for implementing computer science curriculum in their schools. "In order to contribute to our economy and society, it's critical that our children progress from being technology consumers to technology creators. In computer science, students learn how to use computing as a problem-solving tool to create, analyze and innovate.”
"CME Group Foundation has been an early supporter of CS4All initiative because we believe every student should have the opportunity to learn computer science skills and explore careers in the field," said Kassie Davis of CME Group Foundation. "We also believe that principals, as the school leaders, set the tone for their teachers and can facilitate excellent computer science teaching and learning in their schools."
As part of the workshop, principals participated as "students" in a lesson about data analysis and got a glimpse of some best practices from computer science classrooms around the district. Britton Piciolinni from Google was also a guest speaker, and presented about ways to integrate Computational Thinking into all content areas.
Principals also got a chance to hear from CME Group technology professionals about the importance of providing quality computer science experiences for all CPS students.
Khadijah Mumin of our Data Center Engineering department was excited to sit on this panel as she is a CPS grad herself. "I had a good experience at public school and I wanted to share that," she explained. "I went to a public school in a different community and was exposed to different opportunities. I wish that children had the same educational opportunities no matter where they lived."
CME Group Foundation is Honored by Christopher House
Christopher House Chicago is a family of schools that help low-income, at-risk families succeed in school, the workplace and life. Their goal is to close the opportunity gap through a continuum of personalized education with immersive family support, starting at birth.
Recently, Christopher House hosted their 28th Annual Benefit, their largest fundraiser of the year. The event featured a performance by the Christopher House Elementary School Choir, a live and silent auction, dinner, and a presentation to honor organizations and individuals who exemplify Christopher House values. This was also the 28th year they gave out the Corporate Citizenship Award and CME Group Foundation was pleased to receive this award.
"The Corporate Citizenship Award is awarded in recognition of a long track record of giving back to the community and constant championing for the education and success of all Chicago children," explained Penne Silverman of Christopher House.
"We seek an organization that has given leadership and resources to many organizations in Chicago, not just Christopher House."
Kassie Davis of the CME Group Foundation added, "CME Group Foundation was honored to receive this award from Christopher House, one of the highest quality and innovative early learning center networks in the city. Christopher House has been on the cutting edge of developing family engagement in early math."
The Foundation began investing in early math in 2010 because research showed that the ability to do math at grade level in third grade is the most important predictor of future academic success. Since 2013, the CME Group Foundation has invested more than $500,000 into Christopher House and their mission.
"As part of the Foundation Early Math Education Initiative, this support has helped close the opportunity gap for at-risk children through teacher professional development, and educating parents on how to build math skills at home," said Kassie.
For more information on early math initiatives and other CME Group Foundation focus areas and grantees, you can visit their newly updated website here.
Chicago Tribune Features CME Group Foundation Grantee
“We’ve been living with an education system that is very one-size-fits-all,” Phyllis Lockett, LEAP Innovations founder and CEO.
Read the Chicago Tribune's article about personalized learning.
Parents Read to Their Kids. Why Not Do Math Together?
“I’m just not a math person.”
We’ve all heard that phrase from friends, family, or colleagues. Though usually presented as a harmless personality quirk, it conceals math anxiety, insecurity, and potentially a belief that math isn’t as valuable as other areas of study. This has real implications: Research shows that merely expressing math anxiety can damage math performance.
Yet we rarely hear people say they’re not a “reading person.” Why is reading viewed differently than math in this way? One reason is that most people don’t know how to support math skill development in young children. This affects low-income children and children of color the most. Fewer than 10 percent of children from low-income families can count to 20 in preschool — a skill that correlates strongly to math achievement in first grade. This contributes to significant racial and socioeconomic math gaps before students enter kindergarten.
Family math can help solve this problem by addressing early math gaps before they form. Family math refers to activities that happen outside the classroom and within the context of family relationships, the community, and everyday life that support young children and families to strengthen their math awareness, understanding, and confidence. If practicing math with young children were as
Congratulations to Our 2018 Grantees:
- Advance Illinois
- Illinois Network of Charter
- STEMConnector
- New Schools for Chicago
- University of Chicago Becker Friedman Institute
- ReadyNation
- Communities in Schools of Chicago