Celebrating Innovation

This past January, President Obama encouraged the nation in his State of the Union address to "out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world". Much of the President's focus was on the innovation and technology that America has been known for, particularly in the fields of math and science. And as the President mentioned, the state of our math and science education across the nation is not where we want it to be. Unfortunately, those statistics are even worse for Hispanic children, particularly those facing the additional obstacles of living in poverty and having to learn English as a second language.

 Only 3.4% of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) jobs in the United States are held by Hispanics. In 2009, only 44% of Hispanic fourth graders were able to test even at a basic skills level on the NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress). That means 1 out of every 2 Hispanic children in fourth grade essentially failed science. A Carnegie Report puts thirteen year old Hispanic children four grades behind in science skills.

 

It is absolutely crucial that we start intervening in these gaps at a young age. According to the U.S. Department of Education, only 32% of “at-risk” children (from families where English is not the primary language, live below poverty level, or whose parents did not get past high school education) were able to demonstrate basic math skills in kindergarten, compared to 65% of non at-risk children. These children are coming into kindergarten at a disadvantage not just in literacy and language skills but also in math and science. Focusing on these skills during preschool could make a dramatic difference—what takes only thirty minutes a day in catching up at the age of 4 or 5 takes two hours at the age of 8 or 9.

 

Each Mi Escuelita site held a Math and Science night on April 8^th, where the parents came to the school and participated in Math and Science activities with their children. It is important to show our parents how easy it is and what it might look like to engage their children in math and science learning at home. Our teachers have been tackling this issue of improving our math and science curriculum with a lot of innovation themselves. In fact, this year, our Bethany site had a particularly special night: they had a science fair with all the parents and the children! The teachers sent home different ideas of science experiments that the family could do together. The families worked on the experiments at home, and presented their findings to the other parents and children during Math and Science Night. It was a very special time to see the parents so engaged in what their child is learning. There are some pictures below of proud parents and children and their experiments.

As President Obama said, a quality education “begins not in our classrooms, but in our homes and communities. It's family that first instills the love of learning in a child. Only parents can make sure the TV is turned off and homework gets done. We need to teach our kids that it's not just the winner of the Super Bowl who deserves to be celebrated, but the winner of the science fair.”