EF+Math Program - Prototyping Track

Overview

<p>Housed within NewSchools Venture Fund, the EF+Math Program is equity-focused, research-informed and designed with educators at the center.  Every student has the potential to be a powerful math learner, yet only 40 percent of 4th grade students in the U.S. are proficient or advanced in math, and the numbers go down even further in later grades. We may not have made progress because we have been ignoring a key component of how students learn math.</p> <p>Math success is critical to many factors for success in young adulthood, and executive function is foundational for learning math and reading, and for developing other mindsets, skills and habits for success in life. These fundamentals are particularly important for students who have been historically underserved by the education system.</p> <p><strong>What<br></strong>We are focused on unlocking the potential that already exists in each student to build executive functions while learning high-quality math content. Our specific interest is in students in grades 3-8 who have been historically underserved. These students deserve the best tools to build the foundations necessary for excellence in math. EF+Math will fund and support teams to co-design and develop new approaches to build math-relevant executive function skills during high-quality math instruction.</p> <p> </p><p><strong>How<br></strong>We take an inclusive R&D approach with educators at the center. Educators, researchers and developers co-design and then rapidly iterate on solutions together. Teachers are experts — both in content and the contexts in which math is taught. Our approach leans into their knowledge and expertise, particularly those who serve students in historically under-resourced schools. At every step, the multi-disciplinary teams co-create solutions that work in real-world classrooms.</p> <p><strong>Success<br></strong>Our mission is to empower every student, teacher and parent with the knowledge that all students are powerful learners, regardless of opportunities provided by background or circumstance. Every young person is already equipped with the foundational skills of executive functions that are needed to learn anything, particularly rigorous math. By funding new approaches to give students opportunities to practice building math-relevant executive function skills while learning challenging math, we aim to significantly increase the number of students who are proficient or advanced in math.</p> <p>Our five-year program will fund multi-disciplinary teams to co-create solutions that integrate executive function-building activities into high-quality, evidence-based math instruction through 4 tracks: Designing for Use, Prototyping, Applied Research, and Evaluation. </p> <div style="padding-left:30px"><strong>Prototyping Track</strong><br> Prototyping Track teams of researchers and developers will design and develop teacher- and student-centered learning systems that embed executive function training within high-quality math content and instruction. There will be a specific focus on building students’ conceptual foundations in math and multi-step problem solving. We are seeking bold ideas that can achieve breakthrough results by drawing from: (1) rigorous studies on how students learn math and math-relevant executive function skills, (2) educator expertise on how math is taught, within the assets and constraints of real-world classrooms, and (3) knowledge from designers and developers of programs or products that can achieve impact at scale.</div>