Chicago Pre-College Science & Engineering Program launches Parent Advisory Council Dedicated Parent Group raises funds to support one of the city’s successful math and science programs

Chicago Pre-College Science & Engineering Program launches Parent Advisory Council
Dedicated Parent Group raises funds to support one of the city’s successful math and science programs

(CHICAGO) – Bridgett White’s children have participated in Chicago Pre-College Science and Engineering Program (ChiS&E) since they were in the 5th and 3rd grades. Today her daughter, Brianna is a sophomore at Kenwood taking Pre-Calculus and her 8th grader Tristan is at Sutherland Elementary deeply immersed in algebra.

White serves as Chair of the newly formed Parent Advisory Council for ChiS&E and is an evangelist for the city’s premier STEMM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine) program designed to give Black and brown students entrée to post-high school opportunities in math and science.

Veda Francois, who is the outreach coordinator for the volunteer group, has a son, Zoy Francois, at Kenwood, now a sophomore, who has been in the program since the 8th grade.

A 2004 study by Whiston & Keller says decades of educational and social science research has documented the “influence of parents on the formation of basic educational aspirations.” Parent involvement has always been one of the defining factors of the ChiS&E program. All parents make a commitment to be actively involved with the program alongside their students thereby increasing the likelihood of completion.

The Parent Advisory Council is another step the parents are taking to evangelize for more aggressive STEMM programming in all of Chicago Public Schools (CPS).

The group wants to tout the program to everyone because, over its 14-year history in Chicago they see it making a real difference. The overarching goal of ChiS&E is to prepare students beginning in 6th grade, to excel in algebra, propelling them into higher-level math courses like calculus by the time they are high schoolers. This, in turn prepares them for college-level math courses and lays the foundation for careers in math and science. Eighteen percent of high
school seniors who started algebra in eighth grade planned to major in engineering in college.

The group, which is also focused on fundraising, is soliciting tax-deductible donations in support of the program’s operational costs, most notably programmatic and instructional staff. Last summer, the program staff undertook an aggressive redesign of its curriculum by adding an 18-week 6th grade Fundamentals of Algebra class. The team found that since COVID many students were not grasping the foundational skills to understand the mathematics curriculum
and that overall learning was slower paced. The ChiS&E team added the new 18-week Algebra class beginning with the Fall session, ramping up the instructional time to 18 weeks from the pre-covid eight weeks. Instruction is offered in two nine-week options.

Two of Crystal Gallegos’ three children are now in college. Elyse & Leela Quiroz graduated from Morton West High School are now sophomores in at Southern Illinois University majoring in criminology and zoology and began the program in elementary school. Her youngest is in 3rd grade and also a part of the program which begins in kindergarten. William Penn, another Advisory Council member’s children have been participating in ChiS&E since kindergarten. His daughter Maia is now a junior at Spelman College, with a double major in science and chemical
engineering, and his son William Penn Jr, who wants to major in structural engineering, is a junior at Kenwood. Both parents are active members of the newly formed Council and are evangelist for the role the program has played in their kids’ academic success.

“Focusing on algebra in 6th grade and 7th grade prepares students, not just for advanced high school math but provides them a springboard for college-level math and science courses," says Kenneth Hill, president, and CEO of ChiS&E. He cites a study from Michigan State University that says mathematics is a primary gateway to a STEMM career, beginning with algebra track placement in grades seven and eight and continuing through high school and college calculus courses.

ChiS&E's track record shows that they are up to the task. After 14 years of operation, the program has experienced outsized success with more than 400 students participating each year. In addition to the instructional model, they also expose students to those in the upper echelons of the field who speak with the students several times a year.

To support the Parent Advisory Council, or to learn more about their work and that of ChiS&E visit
https://chiprep.org

About ChiS&E
Now in its 14th year of operation, the mission of the Chicago Pre-College Science and Engineering Program (ChiS&E) is to increase the number of historically underrepresented African American and Latino students who are motivated and academically prepared to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering mathematics, and medicine (STEMM). ChiS&E provides highly engaging, age appropriate, hands-on science, mathematics, computer science and engineering activities and promotes careers in science and engineering. The program is a partnership between Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Colleges of Educatio and Engineering. Other partners include Riverbend Mathematics Community Center (South Bend, Indiana), and the University of Chicago Department of Chemistry. The program includes the following classes: Kindergarten-Little
Civil Engineer, First Grade-Little Chemical Engineer, Second Grade-Little Electrical Engineer, Third Grade-Little Mechanical Engineer, Fourth Grade- Little Structural Engineer, Fifth Grade- Geometry, Sixth Grade- Fundamentals of Algebra, Seventh Grade- Physics and Mathematics, Eighth Grade-Computer Science-Match Program(MIT), and Eight Grade: Organic Chemistry, Chemistry and Bioengineering, Ninth and Tenth Grades- Algebra topics for
Calculus, Eleventh Grade and Twelfth Grade- Electrical Engineering and Robotics. In addition to its Saturday programming, ChiS&E provides several summer programs. They include the following: four-week summer program for rising 6th, 7th, and 8th graders at Kenwood (Mathematics- Algebra, Engineering- Bots, Raspberry Pi-Computer Programming), two-week summer program for rising 9th and 10th graders with a focus on engineering problemsolving
at the University of Illinois at Urbana and a two-week summer mathematics booth camp at Notre Dame University.

The program is free to participants, with the only requirement being that a parent must participate with their child. ChiS&E is a 501©3 tax-exempt organization.

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