WEBVTT 00:00:07.000 --> 00:00:13.000 Welcome. Welcome, everyone. We're going to take a few minutes and just let people filter in. 00:00:13.000 --> 00:00:43.000 We're making an audio broadcast right now, if for whatever reason you can't hear us, please let us know in the chat. Um, we'll wait a couple minutes, and then we'll get started. 00:00:57.000 --> 00:01:27.000 Welcome, welcome, everyone. We're gonna just wait a couple more minutes and let some more people filter in. We're making an audio announcement right now. You can hear that for whatever reason, please let us know. We'll get started in just a few minutes. 00:01:56.000 --> 00:02:05.000 Welcome, welcome. Just one more quick announcement. We're gonna wait another minute or so and let some other people filter in here. 00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:35.000 Of course, if you can't hear us, please let us know in the chat, but we'll get started in just a moment. 00:02:45.000 --> 00:03:02.000 All right, without further ado, we'll get this webinar started. Thank you all for joining us today for our latest edition of our NROC webinar series. Our webinar today is Dismantling Math Barriers for Future STEM Leaders with EdReady. 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:12.000 Uh, we'll be discussing this concept with, uh, Audrey Thompson, who's the founder and executive director of the Engineer Factory, based in South LA. 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:27.000 We'll get started here just with a couple of housekeeping tips, um, and just some sort of logistics for the webinar. Of course, if there's… at any time you have any issues, please don't hesitate to drop a line in the chat, and a member of our staff will get in contact with you to help out. 00:03:27.000 --> 00:03:42.000 Uh, just to get started here, if you have any questions throughout the entire, you know, course of the webinar, please feel free to drop them either in the Q&A box or in the chat box. We'll filter through those as they're received. If we don't get to them live when. 00:03:42.000 --> 00:04:06.000 When you, uh, submit the question, we will also have a Q&A section at the end to round back to those, so… If we don't get to it immediately, just know we will… we will for sure get to it later on. Um, this webinar is being recorded. Uh, the recording, the transcript, as well as the presentation slides will all be available to you via our website after the webinar. 00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:21.000 You'll also receive a follow-up email with a link to that recording. So, um, you'll have access to it afterwards. If you have any other issues, please don't hesitate to reach out to a member of our team at community@nrock.org. We'll hopefully help you get that, um, those issues figured out. 00:04:21.000 --> 00:04:29.000 Just to get started, as per usual, we like to have a welcome poll here, so if you could drop your name, um, your title. 00:04:29.000 --> 00:04:45.000 What institution, maybe where you're calling in from today, uh, in the chat, that way we can all sort of get to know each other. Uh, one other note there, though, please make sure that you flipped your chat over to everyone, so that everyone can see your messages, as opposed to just hosts and panelists. 00:04:45.000 --> 00:04:52.000 Um, so… You should be able to do that, um, just by clicking on that blue button in the chat box. 00:04:52.000 --> 00:05:10.000 As you all are doing that, uh, I'll go through a brief history of the NROC project slash EdReady, and then we'll dive into the actual, uh, the main section of the webinar. So, um, EdReady is an offshoot of the NROC project, which is our nonprofit. 00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:25.000 Uh, which was founded all the way back in 2003, originally operating in the Open Education Resource space, um, as they were sort of developing this fun thing called the Internet, and all of the associated resources that came with that. 00:05:25.000 --> 00:05:45.000 We really decided to dive deep into making free, open educational resources that could be used by, you know, a mass audience. As that progressed, that led to us founding Hippocampus, which was our first OER offering, then developing into our Algebra 1 Developmental Math and Developmental English programs. 00:05:45.000 --> 00:06:01.000 As we sort of work through that, though, we realized that there was really a need for a more robust technology product to address the readiness needs for students across the country. That led to the founding of EdReady, which was launched in 2014, which is an adaptive. 00:06:01.000 --> 00:06:22.000 learning platform for students to study math and English. We'll, of course, dive more into that a little bit later on, where you'll get to see the applicability of EdReady in this scenario, but, um, you know, we're currently being utilized by millions of students across the country at thousands of institutions, so we've really seen that footprint grow over the past. 00:06:22.000 --> 00:06:37.000 10 plus years now with EdReady, and we're really excited to see that mission grow even further. So, in case you haven't had a chance to get into EdReady, it really works on an initial diagnostic, which gives a sense of mastery for students. 00:06:37.000 --> 00:07:02.000 From there, then they're able to decide if they're ready, if they still need to work, or if they've mastered various subject areas. Um, the way that that sort of manifests, as you can see as an example here, this is with math. You can see the different breakdown between different subject areas. So, with whole numbers, with fractions, with decimals, there's obviously a lot of room for improvement here with this student. It's all color coded. There's also shapes. 00:07:02.000 --> 00:07:23.000 Um, are available for students for accessibility. Essentially, this forms the backbone of the program, allowing for the student to have a customized adapted learning pathway for them to be able to work through math and English. As we go through, we'll talk a little bit more about some of those details and how they've impacted the engineer factory and the program that they have going on. 00:07:23.000 --> 00:07:36.000 But with all that being said, I will turn over and introduce our speaker for today, who is the founder and executive director of the Engineer Factory, Audrey Thompson. Welcome, welcome. Thank you. 00:07:36.000 --> 00:07:50.000 Good morning! Thanks for having me, William, and everyone. Good morning coming from sunny Los Angeles, 87 degrees already. 00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:51.000 Well. 00:07:51.000 --> 00:08:08.000 But thank you for thank you for having me. I didn't want to share how Ed Ready has played a really critical part in the engineer factory program. And and to let you know how it can be used as an extremely effective tool. 00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:24.000 for motivating students, especially so students that might have some math challenges and students from underserved communities who may have some math barriers, institutional or individually. 00:08:24.000 --> 00:08:37.000 Um, and how we as a nonprofit has been able to partner with larger institutions like Cal State University system to be able to help more students in our community. 00:08:37.000 --> 00:08:49.000 So next slide. Well, that's me. This is our center in South La. We call our center the stem gym. 00:08:49.000 --> 00:08:59.000 We call it the stem gym because it's like here in South La, we're notorious. We're famous for creating world class athletes. 00:08:59.000 --> 00:09:08.000 At our parks and reps and our gyms in the community. And I wanted to create a stem focused gym. 00:09:08.000 --> 00:09:23.000 Um, so that we will be creating D1 students who would go into studying STEM majors. A little of my backstory. I was born and raised here in South Los Angeles. Um, I was blessed with the opportunity to. 00:09:23.000 --> 00:09:38.000 Attend undergraduate and graduate school at Ucla. Go Bruins. I have. Wow, this is aging me, but I have a little more than 35 years of nonprofit leadership experience. 00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:57.000 I founded the Engineer Factory with my family, actually, in 2016. To date, we've served. We met the 10,000 mark last year, actually, in 2025, and we served over 10,000 students here in South LA and surrounding communities through. 00:09:57.000 --> 00:10:11.000 School-based programs, or we push programs into the schools. After school programs and our summer program. I am the mom of 3 amazing kids. 00:10:11.000 --> 00:10:21.000 And the recent grandma or Nana for one adorable granddaughter. Next slide. 00:10:21.000 --> 00:10:32.000 Now you know I had to show that. That's an adorable man. That's Nana's baby right there. Next slide. 00:10:32.000 --> 00:10:38.000 So pretty much what we wanted to achieve with the engineer factory. 00:10:38.000 --> 00:10:54.000 It was basically my oldest son was our muse. He was very interested in engineering. He attended school actually at Inglewood. We're blessed to have had an amazing Mesa instructor who kind of helped to guide him. 00:10:54.000 --> 00:11:05.000 So we were known to have dozens of kids in our backyard at any given time in our garage, shooting off rockets, building robots, you name it. They were doing it. 00:11:05.000 --> 00:11:21.000 Um, and what I found is a lot of our schools, a lot of our younger students hadn't had that type of opportunity, so we wanted to create opportunities for students in our surrounding community, Englewood, South La, to really kind of get immersed in STEM. 00:11:21.000 --> 00:11:34.000 So the way that we do that is through hands-on project based learning. We found that the middle school students who are always too cool for school responded well to competitions. 00:11:34.000 --> 00:11:49.000 So we would like to take the students to local STEM based competitions, and it really helped to build what I call their STEM confidence because they saw that once they were prepared with our teams, they were having success there. 00:11:49.000 --> 00:12:01.000 We'll provide support of academic support, especially in math. We talked about it later, but math is a gatekeeper for getting into stem. 00:12:01.000 --> 00:12:12.000 And we did a lot of that through our summer steam camps and our partnership with Cal State University in the algebra Institute, the Summer Algebra Institute. 00:12:12.000 --> 00:12:21.000 and then we developed another program called Mass Swag. I'll go into that a little later, too. But it's a year-round effort to address math. 00:12:21.000 --> 00:12:38.000 We also worked on professional development, especially for around STEM. Elementary school teachers are what I call STEM skittish. They're always a little nervous about getting involved with STEM, but we showed them how you can have a lot of fun and still teach STEM. 00:12:38.000 --> 00:12:54.000 to elementary school students. Um, and we like to provide exposures and linkages. We're always bringing mentors and professionals in, because for them to be an engineer, they need to see an engineer that looks like them. 00:12:54.000 --> 00:13:02.000 Um, we make strategic alliances, again, like with the Cal State universities, and like with EdReady. 00:13:02.000 --> 00:13:19.000 and other engineering-related programs. And we give small scholarships, but awards to deserving high school students who usually we call them our cogs. They give back. These are our kids who are volunteering in the community to teach younger kids math. 00:13:19.000 --> 00:13:24.000 and science, and it all just, you know, it's us reinvesting in the community. 00:13:24.000 --> 00:13:29.000 Next slide. 00:13:29.000 --> 00:13:41.000 So everyone knows the disparities in in stem. But this is just one of them. We saw that there was very little minority representation in STEM, and I wanted to work to combat that. 00:13:41.000 --> 00:13:56.000 We would go to this competition since last year with Mason, my son, and or he would go and he would text me back. Oh, well, you know, there's six of us, or there's, you know, 5 of us, and I knew that to mean that they were either. 00:13:56.000 --> 00:14:11.000 the 6 or 5, you know, students of color or African American. So I wanted to directly impact that by kicking down barriers that, you know, our kids in our communities might have had to having success instead. 00:14:11.000 --> 00:14:16.000 Next slide. 00:14:16.000 --> 00:14:23.000 So I always teach our kids how to think glass half full. So what might be a challenge is actually an opportunity. 00:14:23.000 --> 00:14:41.000 And we all know the stats, you know, less than 20% of working engineer are women. So we're real big on really encouraging our young ladies to pursue the career. 18% of engineers are black and Latinx. 00:14:41.000 --> 00:14:56.000 The one thing that kind of stood out to me was I had read a report that indicated that 65% of females, Black and and Latino students at the Csu. The 2017 report. 00:14:56.000 --> 00:15:06.000 would change their major from a STEM major to a non-STEM major within their first two years. And one of the most frequently cited, um. 00:15:06.000 --> 00:15:20.000 reasons was what the kids joyfully call killer calculus. It was hard for them to get past calculus. And what we found is that a lot of the schools really hadn't provided them with, uh. 00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:40.000 The. the foundation to really excel at that. And what I found is that in going through the Summer Algebra Institute programs with the Csu that we were able to identify where students were falling short and be able to fill in those gaps and everybody played a really critical role in us doing that. 00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:47.000 So we're getting close to Department of Labor says we'll need around a million. 00:15:47.000 --> 00:15:54.000 STEM professionals by 2030, and we've been at this since 2018. 00:15:54.000 --> 00:16:03.000 And so the engineer factory wants to make sure that our students are one of those millions. 00:16:03.000 --> 00:16:08.000 Next slide. 00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:22.000 So some of the challenges that we're having in our community, even prior to the pandemic, the average math proficiency in our schools in our community were usually under 20%. 00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:33.000 Some were at single digits and then the problem was only exacerbated after during the Teach at home shutdown during the pandemic. 00:16:33.000 --> 00:16:40.000 We also found that one of our key school districts no longer offered algebra. 00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:59.000 to their middle school students of algebra 1, and, you know, as you know, if you're working in stem, you know, you have to at least get to calculus in high school so that you can be on track and getting rid of algebra in middle school or in eighth grade really started setting some of our students back. 00:16:59.000 --> 00:17:21.000 Um, and again. Bath is the gatekeeper can get past the math. I'm going to have a challenge. So we decided that we would try to fill in that gap, try to create a niche. Try to find mechanisms which more bringing our students up to speed so that they would be algebra ready. 00:17:21.000 --> 00:17:34.000 By 8th grade. And one of the key roles, key tools that we use for that has been and ready and working with our students. 00:17:34.000 --> 00:17:49.000 That's great. Um, just to jump in here, when it comes to, you know, the sort of removal of that Algebra 1 program, is there… is there a certain method that you're going about to partner with schools, or to. 00:17:49.000 --> 00:17:58.000 get students from schools who maybe don't have access now to Algebra 1 into your programs? How do you navigate getting students involved in that? 00:17:58.000 --> 00:18:19.000 Well, if you guys ever knew me. I'm kind of a pushy one. I'm I'm like the mama bear. That particular school district. My kids went through that school district. So I was able to reach out to the administration. I voiced my concern about the algebra, and they did allow us to implement a pilot program. 00:18:19.000 --> 00:18:36.000 We're going to speak on it later called Math Swag. And basically, like my kids say, don't say math swag by just so played out. But it's like, Hey, I don't care. I'm old, and it hits the point. I wanted our kids to have a certain amount of swagger about their math ability. 00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:53.000 So Matt Swag is actually kind of us building upon the summer algebra Institute program that happened in the summer to expand it through the school year. So we did have a pilot at the school district that we had mentioned. I didn't want to. 00:18:53.000 --> 00:19:06.000 Name them out right now, but we did have a pilot program with them where we were working with 5th through 7th grade students three days a week on their campuses. 00:19:06.000 --> 00:19:21.000 implementing our math swag program that included live instruction, gamified math, try to make it a little more fun, and we used EdReady to take a snapshot of where they were. 00:19:21.000 --> 00:19:38.000 It gave them a tool to be able to kind of move at their own pace. We were able to watch the reports to see where they were having the biggest challenge, and then we could create one-on-one or small group opportunities for the students to work on that. 00:19:38.000 --> 00:19:58.000 And that first year of implementing mass swag in that district. We saw that 97% of our students had an increase in math proficiency. 00:19:58.000 --> 00:20:04.000 sewer. So you want next slide. 00:20:04.000 --> 00:20:21.000 So the engineer factory was fortunate to have been a part of the CSU summer Algebra Institute from 2018 all the way through last summer. I believe when we first came on, when we applied. 00:20:21.000 --> 00:20:37.000 One of our our application was a little unique, because previously a lot of the applications have been done by churches, or I guess local schools. But I think we were one of the 1st community based organizations who made the argument that there is a nexus between. 00:20:37.000 --> 00:20:45.000 STEM preparedness and practical applications of math, and that we could do both. 00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:56.000 Um, and they said they found the application intriguing. Um, they brought us on in 2018. We operated a site in Southern California. 00:20:56.000 --> 00:21:11.000 Um, and in fact. I know, Jason, right? And in fact, we did have extraordinary great increase in proficiency for our students, and we sparked an interest. 00:21:11.000 --> 00:21:26.000 in STEM. And we had been fortunate enough to be able to operate each summer with the summer algebra Institute and their structure of having live instruction by. 00:21:26.000 --> 00:21:45.000 Black prudential teachers and the incorporation of Ed ready really helped us to be able to one gauge progress to give our students various ways of learning, but then also having empirical data that helped us. 00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:57.000 to be able to inform lessons each week. Um, and as a result, um, cumulatively, more than 92% of our middle and high school students demonstrated improved math. 00:21:57.000 --> 00:22:05.000 proficiency while we were operating our our CSU Summer Algebra Institute sites. 00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:21.000 That's great. Um, and just to clarify here, the CSU Summer Algebra Institute, it's like a six-week program, um, over the course of the summer, right? Could you describe a little more about how they engage with EdReady specifically through that part of that process? 00:22:21.000 --> 00:22:25.000 They take the initial diagnostic, they work through the whole 6 weeks. How does that work? 00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:42.000 Absolutely. So they do participate. The program either goes 5 or 6 weeks. And part of their day is spent with live instruction, and part of their day is they utilize Ed Ready. And. 00:22:42.000 --> 00:22:57.000 What are teachers and our teacher assistant? One of the key things for our program is that we raise additional funds for our program to make sure that each class had at least 2, we call them, you know, Tas or coaches. They're usually college students. 00:22:57.000 --> 00:23:12.000 Um, and so we would simultaneously, while doing EdReady and monitoring the reports and seeing where each student was, we would have these college students who were able to kind of pull them out weekly. 00:23:12.000 --> 00:23:24.000 and kind of gauge where they were, and most of these students didn't have. They were coming from schools that were like pretty crowded. So they had never had that level of direct engagement. 00:23:24.000 --> 00:23:43.000 Um, with qualified teachers and having a tools that we could use to consistently gauge their process and identify not just general points, but it allowed us to pinpoint the EdReady tool allows us to pinpoint specific areas like, okay, they're having challenges with. 00:23:43.000 --> 00:24:03.000 decimals, or they're having, you know. a higher level functions or pin bus. So we were able to find exactly what it was that the students were able to have having trouble with, and our teachers and our coaches were able to help the students at a really small intimate level, and it helped our kids. 00:24:03.000 --> 00:24:18.000 I guess gain more mass swag, because they were able to kind of see the immediate results. You know, our kids, we're… these are video game playing kids. They're used to rapid results, and they were able to see. Okay, I've gone through the section. I've completed the test. 00:24:18.000 --> 00:24:37.000 Previously, I had, you know, 46% correct, but then once I worked through this section and the various ways that everybody allows them to learn and with coaching and with the live instruction, and then when they retook the test in that section, when they are, you know, we're getting 80s and 90s. 00:24:37.000 --> 00:24:51.000 You know, they… it's a tangible look. They're like, okay, I'm really able to conquer this math thing. There's tremendous amount of math here, but we try to create mass flag for our students. But the program goes through 6 weeks, and we. 00:24:51.000 --> 00:24:55.000 That's great. 00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:59.000 We work with EdReady daily in the program. 00:24:59.000 --> 00:25:27.000 That's awesome. Um, from those data insights, I mean, I'm assuming it's informing some of what the instructing you're doing day in and day out, right, with the coaches and… What you're deciding to really focus on based on the data you're seeing, has it also informed year-over-year what you sort of focus on? Has it altered at all what you… what sort of live instruction you're brainstorming about going into each program, um, to sort of engage students? 00:25:27.000 --> 00:25:43.000 Yeah, another one of the key things about this is that we, because we've done it for such a long period of time. We've been able to identify trends in our data. We know that, you know, school, we take kids from all schools throughout South La. 00:25:43.000 --> 00:25:53.000 Winglewood, Bardena, Watts, Compton. But we were able to see certain trends when the kids were doing their their initial assessments. 00:25:53.000 --> 00:26:09.000 We were able to see that there were a lot of commonalities, especially from certain school districts. We were able to see, oh, these kids are coming in. They're having challenges with fractions. So that would also inform our ability to be able to kind of contact some of the. 00:26:09.000 --> 00:26:26.000 the schools that we're removing from and say, Hey, you see that your kids are coming in with these particular challenges. This is what we've worked on kind of a heads up. You might want to invest a little more time in in these particular topics. So it has been value added. 00:26:26.000 --> 00:26:33.000 But it was a tool that we use not only the instructors use, but we brought our kids in, too. 00:26:33.000 --> 00:26:50.000 So they were made aware of the the charts that show performance and in which areas. And we would have discussions about, okay, well, looking at the chart, I think on the next page, if you can look. 00:26:50.000 --> 00:27:00.000 Oh, no. This kind of discusses all of the stuff that we do with Ed Ready. But if you go to the next one. 00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:13.000 We show our kids this. So at the initial after the initial assessment, we're able to aggregate the data, and it kind of from the numbers that the color coding that you had showed previously. 00:27:13.000 --> 00:27:16.000 our kids were like, okay, we're going for grade. 00:27:16.000 --> 00:27:34.000 So they're looking at where they're green and where they have the most red. Red means that those are the areas that need the most work. And we would have discussions, and they would have a description of… there's the little codes at the bottom, but it tells you, okay, these are, you know, addition, subtraction, these fractions, you know, all of the areas that they might have trouble. 00:27:34.000 --> 00:27:51.000 And we say, okay, well, where are you having? As a group? Where's the class having the most trouble? You know, what do we want to attack first? And they were like, Okay, well, how about, you know, since this one is the bigger, you know, let's go after, you know, fractions or decimals. We're like, okay, well. 00:27:51.000 --> 00:27:54.000 at least one of the days that you guys are working. 00:27:54.000 --> 00:28:08.000 everyone's going to focus on this one thing. Um, so we would take this snapshot at the beginning of the session, and each week we'd show them their progress. And if you go to the next slide. 00:28:08.000 --> 00:28:16.000 This is by the 4th week. You see that they've gotten a lot more agreed and a lot less red. So. 00:28:16.000 --> 00:28:32.000 I mean, I think this is one of our coaches who had come up with this, but she was like, you know, the kids are as invested as we are, so let's let them see, you know, the bigger picture of what we're trying to accomplish. And they would celebrate wins like this. They would feel… because then they would feel like, okay, as a group. 00:28:32.000 --> 00:28:46.000 we're having, you know, a lot more, um… uh, progress, and they felt like they were part of that planning and the strategy. So that was another unique way that we were able to use it ready. 00:28:46.000 --> 00:29:11.000 That's fantastic, yeah. Um, which I can… I can backtrack a little bit here, um, and go… head us back to… to here, just to talk about maybe some of the other ways that you're utilizing it as well, and some of the other programming that you have going on, right? Because the math swag, you know, builds out even from, you know, the Summer Algebra Institute model to really help support students year round. So if you want to talk a little more about that, that'd be great. 00:29:11.000 --> 00:29:15.000 Sure. So, um, definitely the math assessment and the diagnostic. 00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:30.000 Where the kid is, but what it also does for me as a small nonprofit, it gives me empirical data to be able to go fundraise. My proposals are stronger because I'm not just saying, yeah, the kids learn a lot. 00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:37.000 Now, I can say 86% of my kids increase their math proficiency by at least 90%. 00:29:37.000 --> 00:29:46.000 Or, you know, so I'm able to make the the the the argument, not only. 00:29:46.000 --> 00:29:52.000 you know, with great stories, but with strong quantitative data. 00:29:52.000 --> 00:30:04.000 And each of the students are placed on their own individualized learning path. We usually don't divide kids like within mass swag by grade levels, because there were some of our kids. 00:30:04.000 --> 00:30:21.000 who were in seventh grade, but really at a 4th grade math level. And we didn't want to embarrass that kid. So they, at the beginning, you know, we do the assessment, and then we just kind of group them, and we tell them, okay, it's like, uh, Harry Potter. Name your house. 00:30:21.000 --> 00:30:38.000 I'm hopeful puff. Or, you know, one year they're like, um, I'm, you know, we're Wakanda, and we're Captain America, whatever, but they get to name their team so that it's not a stigma if you're in individual team. And that was based upon. 00:30:38.000 --> 00:30:44.000 Their initial assessment and their personalized learning path, and being respectful of their feelings. 00:30:44.000 --> 00:30:59.000 So yeah, another thing that we really appreciated is the multiple ways that students can learn on Ed Ready. Some like videos better, some like, okay, let me just walk me through, walk me through the. 00:30:59.000 --> 00:31:11.000 The question, and it's just someone, you know, writing down the assignment they're walking through that. So I like that that gave flexibility in regards to how the student was able to learn. 00:31:11.000 --> 00:31:29.000 And again, all of those tests were able to inform the the live instruction or the or the tutoring in a small group instruction. It might be as a group, you know. Some were doing okay, and some are doing great infractions. If they're doing great infractions, we're not going to keep harping on that. 00:31:29.000 --> 00:31:33.000 Let's take you to something that is giving you a challenge. 00:31:33.000 --> 00:31:42.000 Um, and the weekly progress reports were great, not only for our team, but also it was a way for us to bring our parents in. 00:31:42.000 --> 00:31:55.000 it. They appreciated being able to see the weekly progress that their students were making. And it also helped us to be able to talk to them about. 00:31:55.000 --> 00:32:13.000 how they discussed math with their kids. Not everyone. I mean, a lot of people are masculine, including these parents. And when you know a kid is having trouble with math and if they tell their parents and and if the parent says, Oh, I had trouble with math too. 00:32:13.000 --> 00:32:30.000 That's like green light to give up on math. So we just kind of had to do some, you know, gentle nudging with parents and say, hey, you know, we work from a growth mindset. So just because you're not having, you know, as much success as you would like with math right now. 00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:46.000 You can. You have the capacity, you have the ability, and we're bringing the cultural aspects that the CSUSAI program provided to specifically target black and brown kids. So we would tell them, hey, it's in your DNA to do math. 00:32:46.000 --> 00:33:02.000 You know, they were building pyramids, you know, thousands of years ago. So we're just trying to tap into that. And I think with all of that, that additional support and and connection with math, it helped them to do better. 00:33:02.000 --> 00:33:03.000 Next slide. I didn't go fast on this. 00:33:03.000 --> 00:33:09.000 That's awesome. 00:33:09.000 --> 00:33:24.000 So yeah, so… Our participation in the Summer Algebra Institute showed us a couple of things. One, we were in the right place at the right time, but it also showed us we needed to be there longer. 00:33:24.000 --> 00:33:41.000 So we were able to strike up a partnership with NROC, and ready was like, hey, can we keep our can we keep our access to Ed Ready year round because our kids need this year round. 00:33:41.000 --> 00:34:05.000 and we were so fortunate and blessed that you guys were like, sure, keep it year-round. We're like, okay, what's the cost? And they're like, we got you, it's free. We're gonna let you keep it for free for a full year, and that… That wasn't that that was a deal breaker. It helped, because it allowed us to be able to offer kids from summer to continue with Ed Ready. 00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:21.000 But then, as we recruit kids throughout the school year, neither the school base or at our center, we always had access to the Ed ready to be able to have the empirical data and just have that that math structure. 00:34:21.000 --> 00:34:30.000 in place that allowed us to better track progress and to gather more data that we can use. 00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:39.000 and educated, but then I also used in fundraising, actually. So our MassWag program we're trying to. 00:34:39.000 --> 00:34:55.000 We're trying to teach the kids from every angle. So actually, I was one of those kids who had challenges with math. Just so happens that like when I was, I played basketball, it's funny, I'm 5'4", but that wasn't the greatest. 00:34:55.000 --> 00:35:25.000 But I was pretty tenacious. So my coach was also my algebra two instructor. And he was like, okay, last my last name used to be Henderson. He said, okay, Henderson, you're the jump shots looking good, but… You're getting off with your sines and cosines. How about you sit on the bench, you work on these problems, and if you can get these 5 problems, I'll put you in the game. So that was how he was able to inspire me. But we needed to find different ways of inspiring the kids, so… 00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:36.000 We would always incorporate STEM activities. in instruct and teaching about math. So the kids were built like a marble roller coaster. 00:35:36.000 --> 00:35:45.000 and they would calculate the speed of the marble, and then they would calculate the velocity of the marble, and then they would. 00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:57.000 tested multiple times, and we're like, okay, well, what's the average? What's the median? What's the mean? You know, and they weren't really thinking this was a math lesson. They were thinking, I'm building a roller coaster. 00:35:57.000 --> 00:36:04.000 Um, so being able to incorporate math and a lot of STEM activities helped. 00:36:04.000 --> 00:36:15.000 We had another project called the. mousetrap car use stream to make the car roll. Well, we use various sides lengths of string. 00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:25.000 And we're like, okay, well, how does that affect the distance? So they're testing it out. And then in the middle of the session, one of the kids said, Miss T. 00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:32.000 Various variable is variable sizes of string. This is algebra. 00:36:32.000 --> 00:36:45.000 and I had it. So so that's, you know, part of what we do. We try to gamify the math learning, make it fun. We like to research best practices. 00:36:45.000 --> 00:37:13.000 We'll throw the kitchen sink at it. But my overall goal is to make sure that our kids are capable and competent and confident in their math abilities. And Ed Ready is… Again, one of the effective tools for us to be able to demonstrate it. I mean, they know Miss T loves them and is going to tell them stuff, but it's like, no, you can't, the data can't lie. Look, you were here, now you're here. You're getting it. 00:37:13.000 --> 00:37:23.000 You're good. So that's how we kind of work with MassWag. It's constantly moving. It's constantly changing. 00:37:23.000 --> 00:37:39.000 We're just trying to find. We know that there's no one way that works for kids with one consistent thing is that they are able to use math. Use the Ed ready, and we built in our incentives through Ed ready. So as they go up in points, they get. 00:37:39.000 --> 00:37:54.000 points who follow re books. My daughter is my associate director, so she created these little books that as they gain points, they get to buy things from the Ari store. So it's kind of like that Chuck E. Cheese model where they. 00:37:54.000 --> 00:38:00.000 get excited about buying these little plastic little toys, but it means something to them. 00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:02.000 So. 00:38:02.000 --> 00:38:11.000 That's awesome. Yeah, it's great to hear that, you know, what starts with the instruction model, right, which starts with, you know, tackling the actual. 00:38:11.000 --> 00:38:23.000 process of learning math, which is really, you know, what we've spent a lot of time creating robust curriculum to support, right, is the math learning process. Uh, to hear that complimented out with so much, um. 00:38:23.000 --> 00:38:41.000 You know, of the live instruction that makes it a dynamic, confidence-building activity for students is so great to hear. Um, did you originally plan on making that sort of coupling when you brought on EdReady in this model? Did you think that, oh, you know, this will lay the foundation, and then we can. 00:38:41.000 --> 00:39:05.000 Build to more exciting stuff? Like, what was the methodology that you sort of went through thinking about that? Because I'm sure there are many math instructors on this call watching this webinar, who, uh, struggle to get students really inspired and feeling confident with math. I mean, that's a huge hurdle that so many students are dealing with. 00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:21.000 I think it was just the lessons learned in our experiences during the summer with the Summer Algebra Institute, and I would love to take full credit for everything that is positive that came out of that. But a lot of it came. We're really good at tapping into like our. 00:39:21.000 --> 00:39:36.000 Everyone can come to the table with a good idea. And a lot of these ideas have come from like our college teachers, assistants who are saying, Hey, we got to get these kids hooked in. So being able to build a hook. 00:39:36.000 --> 00:39:43.000 into the math learning. But then another part is getting the kids invested in. 00:39:43.000 --> 00:39:52.000 Getting them to understand the big picture. It's like not just drawing, you know, not just throwing the math at them, but helping them understand the why. 00:39:52.000 --> 00:39:58.000 really has helped us to be able to. Excuse me. 00:39:58.000 --> 00:40:17.000 helped us to be able to get the students invested. So that's the part of it, and understanding that there's no one clear thing. Some of the kids are points motivated, and they will eat through all of the lessons, because there might be a prize that they're looking for. Again, the Chuck E. Cheese approach. 00:40:17.000 --> 00:40:35.000 The other ones. We found some real math leaders who who like the idea that we presented them with the overall score for the the class, the chart. And they were saying, Okay, you know, they were strategic. They were like, Okay, I know that most of us have real problems with. 00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:54.000 Again, I'm going to say decimals. So they were the ones who said, okay, well, maybe we can have a little small group of the people who get it can work with those who don't really get it. We'll work with the tutors, and we'll make sure that we all get it. Or they'll say, okay, well, how about we do it, you know, create like a little store so that people can see how decimals work. 00:40:54.000 --> 00:41:02.000 So again, I would love to take credit for all of the ideas. But a lot of it is, once you leave it to you give. 00:41:02.000 --> 00:41:20.000 You give some autonomy to the teachers aides and, you know, the students. You'd be surprised at what some of the creative things, creating that space for them to be able to be know that their voice is heard and that they have, you know, some autonomy to change it. 00:41:20.000 --> 00:41:49.000 Yeah, that's great. Um, have you heard any feedback from maybe the schools that you work with, or the districts that you work with, about, uh… what students are, you know, how they're performing after they're going through a MassFag program, or after your summer algebra Institute program. Like, are… are… does it feel like it's helping make a dent in that, you know, pretty, uh, you know, tough number that we saw earlier about math preparedness, um, of schools in the area? 00:41:49.000 --> 00:41:50.000 Have you heard anything about that? 00:41:50.000 --> 00:42:08.000 We absolutely have. Some of the feedback comes back from the students or the kids. You know we always reach out to our kids after 4 weeks after the summer, they'll say, Hey, you know, how's it going? Because we impress upon them. We want you guys to hit the ground running. 00:42:08.000 --> 00:42:21.000 you know, you guys, we don't want to just bring you up to to speed. We want you to put you ahead, and we'd have kids, you know, when we, you know, reach out to them, either by phone or me email saying, no. 00:42:21.000 --> 00:42:39.000 Yeah, they brought up these, you know, the assignments, and it's like, they were like, this is gonna be new, and you're not gonna understand it, and they turned it out, and they were like, oh, we did this in the summer! You know, we did this with this team, we understand this, and we did because we were working in our pilot at one of the school districts. 00:42:39.000 --> 00:42:54.000 We had teachers who's like, okay, please make sure that the principal refunds you guys. Unfortunately, budgets are budgets, but she's like, please refund it, because she's they were saying that they were seeing math improvement, but they were also seeing. 00:42:54.000 --> 00:43:05.000 Behavioral improvement because just think about it. If you had to go to a job that you were not doing well in, and you just didn't get it. You're going to be grumpy all day. 00:43:05.000 --> 00:43:22.000 But if you go in and you're like, okay, I can handle this. I know how to chop this problem up. I know how to, you know, get the right answer, or at least have some tools to get to the right answer. You feel a little more secure. Most of the acting out is just. 00:43:22.000 --> 00:43:39.000 fear and frustration. But once they feel a bit more confident, and that's one of the biggest reports that we had gotten back from instructors from the schools that we had worked with is that the student doesn't act out as much because they you could tell they have a. 00:43:39.000 --> 00:43:56.000 more of a confidence in being able to find the solutions to the problem. So we're happy to do that and we and again because of EdReady we're trying, we're able to kind of create more empirical data. We're doing more formal surveys. 00:43:56.000 --> 00:44:03.000 after the fact, so that we can demonstrate that we are having impact on the students in our program. 00:44:03.000 --> 00:44:22.000 That's great. Yeah, I think any of those stories that lend, you know, to that feeling of success, and most importantly to building confidence, like, a student can work so much harder to master concepts when they feel a level of confidence going into something that they've never maybe seen before. 00:44:22.000 --> 00:44:30.000 And being able to build that in a program like this is just fantastic. So I'm so happy to hear that. 00:44:30.000 --> 00:44:35.000 So I don't know if there's another slide. Well, that that's me. 00:44:35.000 --> 00:44:53.000 Yeah. Well, there is your, uh, your contact info up on there, so I think that that'll end sort of our presentation section here. We've got a nice about 15-minute segment here to for questions. If anybody has any questions, definitely please feel free. 00:44:53.000 --> 00:44:58.000 to pop those into the chat or into the Q&A box, and we'll get to those. 00:44:58.000 --> 00:45:16.000 Thank you again so much for presenting on this information. I'm so excited to hopefully see even more in the future, um, that you'll get from those data insights, um, into student performance, and then hopefully you'll be able to hear even more about where your students are soaring off to after they get through. 00:45:16.000 --> 00:45:31.000 the programs. Uh, backtracking a little bit, um, you know, I think, you know, you said… you talked a lot about the project-based work that your organization does, really trying to get students engaged with, uh, really dynamic projects that, um. 00:45:31.000 --> 00:45:53.000 That get them involved, right? Uh, and I wonder, you know, how do you manage bridging the gap between an instructional model and the sort of really dynamic program or project-based work, excuse me? Um, do you find that you have to build a lot in at the start of that to get them up to speed, or how do you manage that sort of balance? 00:45:53.000 --> 00:45:58.000 Well, basically, when we work on projects, but we try to. 00:45:58.000 --> 00:46:05.000 work on projects that kind of scaffold upon each other. One of the key things that we want for our students to have is. 00:46:05.000 --> 00:46:22.000 Not only are we teaching them the technical skills of STEM or the technical skills of math. But we understand that a lot of the students in the schools that we're working with, they're always having. I mean, they're clear on the negative narrative that's coming in about who they are in their schools. 00:46:22.000 --> 00:46:33.000 I've had kids tell me, oh, well, you know, we only have, you know, a 9%, you know, proficiency level in math, you know, our schools, we just don't do good in math. 00:46:33.000 --> 00:46:50.000 And to have a kid tell you that is not a good feeling. Um, so basically, a lot of our lessons are not only to build technical skills, but again, to build that STEM confidence and that math swag. We'll start off at a level that we know that they're going to get some. 00:46:50.000 --> 00:47:05.000 get success, and we continue to build upon that. And that's part of just dealing with the psyche, and then they're able to kind of push back on the narrative. But the projects that we do are projects that we. 00:47:05.000 --> 00:47:21.000 have kind of like created and adopted that are grade level and the lessons teach a lot and teaches, you know, patience. If it teaches teamwork, if there's more than one kid working on it. 00:47:21.000 --> 00:47:33.000 Shows me just being able to follow an instruction for more than 15 and 20 min is a win nowadays with a lot of our elementary school students. 00:47:33.000 --> 00:47:48.000 So we do have a series of projects that we work on that build upon the student skill sets and helps them build confidence, and then ultimately, when they get older, we're able to kind of give them. 00:47:48.000 --> 00:47:59.000 more complicated projects, like right now we're working with some 7th to 8th graders. We're there building underwater robot. 00:47:59.000 --> 00:48:07.000 So it takes a lot of the skills that they had from earlier on in building like a simple robot and and things like that. 00:48:07.000 --> 00:48:11.000 But we like to make sure that they know that. 00:48:11.000 --> 00:48:19.000 There is a connection between real life and some of the projects that they're working on. And I think that makes it easier for them. 00:48:19.000 --> 00:48:31.000 Instead of saying, well, this is not just some esoteric thing that we have to do. It really does connect to this project. The math that you're doing connects to success with this project. 00:48:31.000 --> 00:48:44.000 So we we like to make sure that we have a good integration. It is channel. It is challenging sometimes when they just have to sit with a lesson. But sometimes they have to learn that, too. Sometimes you just have to sit. 00:48:44.000 --> 00:49:03.000 With the lesson, there's no tricks, no lights, no bells, you know, you just have to learn this part, and try to provide them with tools, or have them try to provide us with tools. It's like, we've had sessions where we've had kids, you know, sit in the class. It's like, okay, well, I think you're going to be responsible for making sure that this entire class. 00:49:03.000 --> 00:49:21.000 understands what pin bus is. So you and your teammates have to get together and come up with a strategy to make sure that all of your classmates understand what it is, and you can teach us however you want. So I've had wraps. I've had video games. I had. 00:49:21.000 --> 00:49:28.000 Skits acted out, but those lessons kind of stick with you. 00:49:28.000 --> 00:49:46.000 Um, because it'll definitely stick with that kid, because that… those kids, because they had to put the lesson together, but it sticks out with the other kids, too, because they're like, oh, okay, that was Gary's project. Penn bus, you know, the thing with the… So we'll just learn about different strategies for success for the students. 00:49:46.000 --> 00:49:59.000 That's great. I mean, especially that, like, bottom-up approach where students are literally dictating and integrating their learning as they want to, I think, again, it builds so much of that confidence. 00:49:59.000 --> 00:50:15.000 you know, sort of looking bigger picture now, um, you know, obviously this is a… as you pointed out earlier, these are big numbers in terms of making a difference in representation in STEM, in making sure that students are prepared. I know that, you know, math preparedness. 00:50:15.000 --> 00:50:39.000 by and large across the country has gone down in recent years. Um, we're seeing a decline in that. So, if you were to say, you know, what's sort of the biggest challenge in front of you, or what's the biggest sort of area for improvement that you see, um, that maybe you'd love to make more progress against, or… 00:50:39.000 --> 00:50:54.000 Well, part of part of my personal challenge is understanding that there's a huge like you said, there's a huge problem with a huge scale, and I have a staff of 4. I'm not going to solve the math problem in South Los Angeles. 00:50:54.000 --> 00:50:59.000 By myself, but I'm gonna try to make a big dip in it. 00:50:59.000 --> 00:51:07.000 If I can, and any lessons I learn or, you know, lessons gleaned to be open to sharing. 00:51:07.000 --> 00:51:25.000 sharing those. I think some of the biggest challenges that we foresee is a lot of the schools in our area are seeing budget cuts. So a lot of the resources that had been set aside to be able to support students and math learning and. 00:51:25.000 --> 00:51:40.000 Um, both types of activities, some of those are being cut. But my job is, I guess the biggest job is just trying to mobilize as big an army as you can. And that's our next phase for mass swag. 00:51:40.000 --> 00:51:45.000 is that we want to start training, um, high school students. 00:51:45.000 --> 00:51:57.000 and giving them formal instruction on how to be effective, culturally responsive tutors or instructors or coaches. 00:51:57.000 --> 00:52:04.000 A lot of them need, you know, community service hours, so that can impact budget. 00:52:04.000 --> 00:52:24.000 Um, or we could pay smaller stipends, and then we have to pay them each hour, which I prefer paying each hour, but… But making sure that we're maximizing all of the resources in the community and being able to deploy that resource wider and bigger than I could by myself with my four team members. 00:52:24.000 --> 00:52:39.000 So I think that, you know, part of the biggest challenge is, one, me not getting overwhelmed by the fact that, you know, I'm a crazy overachiever, and I want to solve all the problems, but understanding that I can't. 00:52:39.000 --> 00:52:52.000 Um, but creating what we call legacies. Our high school students are called our cobs. They keep us rolling, and that's why I'm thinking of them to deploy into the community, because they're underutilized resource. 00:52:52.000 --> 00:53:09.000 Um, so they keep things going, but upon completion of high school, we call our kids our legacies and our legacies are those students who go on to college. Hopefully to study STEM, but our priority is to have them is going to college and have those kids. 00:53:09.000 --> 00:53:15.000 sending back their, you know, cap and gown pictures and telling us where they're going off to college. 00:53:15.000 --> 00:53:31.000 That, again, that's part of my legacy. I know that I've touched the lives of, you know, those 15 or 20 kids each year. And that they're going to continue to test. I always tell them is going to call you back. You owe me a debt. We need to come back and help. 00:53:31.000 --> 00:53:42.000 No, the younger kids, so building that mindset. I'm going to come back and help is another way I think we're going to combat part of the problem. 00:53:42.000 --> 00:54:01.000 Yeah, I think that's so important in terms of building community as well around education, right? The sense that somebody belongs in an educational community and and therefore that the community wants them to succeed, I think is a big part of empowering students to feel as though. 00:54:01.000 --> 00:54:30.000 They can take on the challenging things, the things that maybe they didn't think that they could achieve before, right? That, you know, they can master STEM areas, or become an engineer, or any of those sorts of things. So, um… That's all fantastic, and I'm so happy to hear that you've got that great legacy being built, and I'm excited to see it grow even further in the future. Um, if there are any last other questions, please feel free to pop them into the chat here. We'll get to those in just a few. 00:54:30.000 --> 00:54:42.000 Uh, minutes as they come in, but, um, they do, again, you know, for all of this wonderful information that you've presented for us, um, Audrey. It's been really special to learn about. 00:54:42.000 --> 00:55:02.000 This program, and, you know, how creative I feel like it is. That's what pops out to me is that you're using EdReady, which is, uh, you know, obviously a program that we have prided ourselves on, on making a difference in teaching math to students, but you're building out that creativity with the live instruction and the project-based work that. 00:55:02.000 --> 00:55:32.000 That really helps make students engaged and build that confidence. So, um, in case there are any other questions in here, um, we'll get to those, but… One last thing I think I want to touch on is just about, you know, we're a non-profit, we're a mission-based organization, we want to partner with other nonprofits and mission-based organizations. Um, is there an area of room for growth that you see with the nonprofit space about, you know, creating that greater collaboration? 00:55:33.000 --> 00:55:44.000 Um, like we have here, is there some version of that that you foresee for the future, uh, that would help build out that community aspect, help build out the educational community that we talked about? 00:55:44.000 --> 00:56:01.000 Yeah, absolutely. Again, like I said, I'm a small ship, but I'm able to play big because of some of the partnerships and collaborations we have. One of the big best collaborations we had was with the CSUs, and they've not been able to. 00:56:01.000 --> 00:56:14.000 get us into to other doors. Um, there's other STEM-based nonprofit organizations that we like to, you know, partner with or exchange, um. 00:56:14.000 --> 00:56:27.000 No best experiences or worst experiences, or resources, or look at collaborating to be able to get additional resources to teach all of our organizations, um, students. 00:56:27.000 --> 00:56:42.000 Um, so yes, collaboration plays a big part, especially for a small organizations, and especially where it may sit. And most STEM organizations, you know, recognize that math. 00:56:42.000 --> 00:56:53.000 Again, it's the gatekeeper, and wherever we can find success in that we need to work together to make sure it's available to as many students as possible. 00:56:53.000 --> 00:57:18.000 That's great. Thank you so much. Um, Walter, the information is up there, um, in case you want to get in contact with Audrey. We'll also page over in just a few moments to some of our contact information, um, and a couple last… last little notes, but thank you so much again for… for sharing all of this with us, Audrey. This is great. I know that everybody on the NROC team and with that ready, we're looking forward to just continuing. 00:57:18.000 --> 00:57:43.000 grow our partnership as we move forward here. So, we may have another webinar at some point in the future with even more information about all the great work you're doing. So, um, thank you so much for that. Just a couple reminders here, if there's any last couple questions that are coming in here, we will certainly get to those, but we will have another webinar with our folks at the Tennessee Sales Program on April 23rd. Please check out our website if you'd like to check. 00:57:43.000 --> 00:58:00.000 That webinar, um, this webinar, of course, will be archived on our website. You will also receive a follow-up email with that. And here, if you want to book a demo, please definitely scan that QR code to talk about the Summer Algebra Institute more with us, to talk about. 00:58:00.000 --> 00:58:11.000 at ready, what at Ready could do for your institution, um, and so on and so forth. But again, I just want to thank you, Audrey, for taking the time to speak with us today, and thank you all for joining us. We appreciate it very much. 00:58:11.000 --> 00:58:13.000 Well, thanks for having me. 00:58:13.000 --> 00:58:43.000 Yep. Look forward to seeing you all, hopefully on another webinar, and to our future collaboration. So, thanks very much.