Tandem, Partners in Early Learning holds a vision of an equitable and just society where all children enter school ready to succeed. To that end, our mission is to engage the whole community to ensure all families have the resources, skills, and confidence they need to support their children’s early brain development and kindergarten readiness. 

Since 2003, our programming has emphasized interactive reading and literacy and language development, reflecting our history as a Raising a Reader affiliate.  Our core program, StoryCycles, is a school-to-home book sharing program with a focus on getting books into the hands of families and their young children. The goal was, and still is, to support all children to be Kindergarten ready. We know that educational disparities start even before children enter school and they only deepen as children continue within the formal education system. To end that disparity, Tandem works with families, educators, and community organizations to help adults uncover and strengthen practices that prepare children aged 0-5 for success in school.

In the last few years Tandem has expanded our programming to focus on several other early learning domains. In addition to our beloved book sharing program, StoryCycles, we have added curriculum to support other Kindergarten readiness skills. Our families and communities are always eager to learn more and share strategies about how to best support their children. And, research has confirmed what many of us already knew intuitively – that other skills including early math, social-emotional development, and trauma-informed practices support Kindergarten readiness.

One of these areas we are excited to dive into is early math. Early math is highly predictive of children’s later academic achievement[1] as the mathematical concepts and skills that children learn in preschool, like sorting and patterns, lay the foundation for concepts they will encounter in later grades, such as algebra and computational thinking.  Tandem is partnering with the Development and Research in Early Education Network, or DREME Network to develop high quality early math activities and information  for children and families. The DREME Network is comprised of academic researchers from  twelve universities across the nation. DREME shares their cutting-edge research and thoughtfully designed math activities with Tandem, and Tandem designs supporting curriculum, pilots the curriculum with diverse families, and helps with design improvements. Tandem is delighted to be an implementing partner of DREME’s and to learn more about early mathematics. 

As we engage with early math, it has become a priority for the Tandem team to expand our own capacity for developing and delivering early mathematics content to children, families, and educators. To build on our knowledge, four Tandem staff attended the Early Math Symposium organized by the Early Math Project this past June, where we had the opportunity to learn from several experts in the field. Tandem’s Executive Director Savitha Moorthy shared, “My personal highlight was keynote speaker (and DREME researcher) Megan Franke, who spoke eloquently about the importance of noticing what young children know and can do in mathematics, even when their understandings are not yet complete.” 

To continue with the theme of advancing our professional learning in mathematics, Contra Costa County Program Supervisor, Kaitlin Young and Deputy Director Sara-Rizik Bear flew to Portland, Oregon for the 2019 Teacher’s Development Group Symposium on Early Childhood Mathematics Professional Development for two days of workshops. We learned about the early math gap- that children who hear more number words at home do better on number related tasks.[2] Susan Levine, one of the authors of the study shared in her workshop, “It’s not that some kids are better at math, it’s that they have more experience [with math]”.  This concept is the key driver of all of Tandem’s work: children are born with unlimited potential; they only need to be given the opportunities to thrive and learn.

Tandem takes all that we have learned and is sharing it with our community. We have independently developed an educator workshop, Making Math Meaningful, that focuses on California’s Math Preschool Learning Foundations, with fun games and activities that support the development of the five key early math skills.

Through a grant from the Evelyn & Walter Haas Jr., Fund Tandem and the DREME network are engaged in three early math projects: 

(1) a family workshop, Stories that Count, that supports families in using storybooks to support their children’s understanding of number concepts; 

(2) videos for families & educators that uncover the math in everyday activities and help adults to modify math activities to be more or less challenging

(3) take home book marks with math tips for families and brochures for educators

We are also concurrently developing a second family workshop, Games that Count, in partnership with Boston College. Games that Count uses a deck of cards and fun games to teach foundational math skills to children between the ages of 4 to 8 years old. 

With more and more research coming out about the importance of early math, Tandem is excited to be thoughtfully engaged with the nation’s experts about how to bring this knowledge home to the families and children who will one day be our future mathematicians, scientists, and leaders.

Want to stay in touch? Join us on Facebook or sign-up on our newsletter to learn more about upcoming workshops and events.

[1] Duncan, G. J., Dowsett, C. J., Claessens, A., Magnuson, K., Huston, A. C., Klebanov, P., . . . Japel, C. (2007). School readiness and later achievement. Developmental Psychology, 43, 1428 –1446.

[2] Levine, Susan C, Suriyakham, Linda Whealton, Rowe, Meredith L., Huttenlocher, Janellen, Gunderson, Elizabeth A., (2010). What Counts in the Development of Young Children’s Number Knowledge? Developmental Psychology, 46, 1309-1319.