About Us
Mary’s Story
What if your child was overwhelmed by school, but you didn’t know how to help? What if you spoke four languages, but the language of your child’s school wasn’t one of them? From a very young age, I knew I wanted to teach English language learners (ELL). For many years, I had the privilege of working in high-needs communities helping families of ELLs who faced difficult challenges. I already understood that all parents want their children to succeed, but I soon learned that how they are expected to support their child academically often isn’t clear or in some cases, simply impossible.
For the past several years, I worked with families of young children to support intergenerational language learning. As the Program Coordinator of an Early Literacy Program for families studying English, I witnessed first-hand the barriers parents faced as they tried to support their children academically. The sacrifices they made for their children to have a bright future were often misunderstood and underestimated.
Jay’s Story
My first exposure to early childhood education was through my mother who as a Montessori teacher believed that children have equal potential, but often unequal opportunities. She planted the seed of educational equity in me, but it lay dormant for much of my life. In 2015, I came across Raj Chetty’s research from Opportunity Insights, and it confirmed my mother’s belief that a child’s future is most often determined by the opportunities they are presented in early childhood. Around the same time, the “Nations Report Card” released their annual report, which showed test scores for students from low socioeconomic backgrounds were far below the national average, especially in mathematics.
My decision to focus on early math learning for children from under-resourced communities was inspired by these and other findings. My first opportunity to serve young learners was provided by Café of Life, a soup kitchen in Florida. Café of Life allowed me to set up a learning center for young children who accompanied their parents for meals. It was a short-lived experiment (closed due to COVID) that opened the door for a new beginning.
Our Story
Our paths merged in the summer of 2020, when we met in a post-baccalaureate online Family Literacy Certificate program through the Goodling Institute for Research in Family Literacy at The Pennsylvania State University. Mary, a self-described “Cheerleader for Reading,” saw a link between strong early academic skills and later success. Jay held a strong belief in the predictive power of early mathematics on later academic success. Our end goal was the same, and our research showed that there was a way to approach mathematics for young learners by focusing on how math and language intersect. We also shared a core desire to help families from under-resourced communities. Within a year’s time, we joined forces to create the Early Math and Language Initiative (EMLI).
Study after study indicates children in poverty in the United States are missing out on critical early math skills that hinder their ability to take higher level math courses later. These courses are the key to successful careers in some of the highest paying positions in the country. The realization that we are weeding out those from poverty backgrounds from the very fields that could change their economic trajectory before they even start formal schooling was a powerful one. EMLI is an attempt to mitigate social, cultural and economic barriers and to prepare children for the academic rigors in later years.