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PBS SoCal’s Early Learning Programs

From left: A woman, toddler boy, young girl and a man engage with a tabletop building block activity at an outdoor education event.
A family engages with a tabletop activity at an outdoor PBS SoCal event in the community. | Mae Koo
December 12, 2023
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PBS SoCal’s Early Learning Initiative prepares children for kindergarten and beyond by providing the adults in their lives with training and resources, including fun and interactive learning experiences. We partner with schools, community organizations, and nonprofits to improve access to early education opportunities in Los Angeles and Orange Counties. We make technology, curriculum, bilingual parent workshops, family learning events, and educator training available to our partners for free both virtually and in-person, strengthening services in the neighborhoods of Southern California with the highest need. Using age-appropriate hands-on activities, we empower parents and caregivers with tools and skills to be their children’s first teachers.

Strategies include

  • Creating co-designed digital content and curricular resources for parents and caregivers
  • Providing access to virtual and in-person family workshops that equip adults with skills and strategies to enhance their child’s learning
  • Expanding our collaboration with the early childhood community locally, while engaging families across Southern California
  • Utilizing the power of media for the public good by airing high-quality educational content on broadcast and via streaming via the PBS KIDS App for free

Below you'll find a summary our three primary initiatives and their impact.

Family Math

PBS SoCal’s Family Math initiative is a research-based, multiplatform, bilingual program (in English and Spanish) that focuses on building math positivity, confidence, and knowledge of foundational math skills for families with children ages 2 to 5. Family Math equips parents and caregivers with strategies and resources to facilitate meaningful math experiences at home through playful learning and hands-on activities.

In addition to providing opportunities for the entire family to engage in workshops and events across Southern California, PBS SoCal expanded Family Math nationally with the release of the Family Math Toolkit, which includes over 350 bilingual, research-based, math-focused assets. Public media stations and community organizations have free access to the Toolkit’s workshop materials, facilitator guides, printables, broadcast videos, and activity videos to bring Family Math to the communities they serve. Ten PBS Stations nationwide received grants from PBS SoCal to support their implementation and evaluation of Family Math in their local communities.

Impact

  • Family Math workshops, family engagement series, and community outreach events have reached over 16,000 parents and caregivers across Southern California since it was first launched in 2019.
  • Data collected from 8,500 caregivers shows Family Math successfully grew caregivers' knowledge of foundational math skills by 11% while increasing caregivers' confidence by 13% and math positivity by 10%.
  • PBS SoCal distributed over 17,000 educational resources including activity kits, books, iPads to families and communities across Southern California.
  • Learn more: Family Math Annual Impact Report 2023-2024
Now my daughter says, 'Mom, let's play,' and then she grabs whatever she can find, like colored pencils, and starts counting. She's been learning a lot about sorting and putting things together that go together. She wants to start activities on her own now. She tries to include math in almost everything. When she's walking, she's counting the lines. I think the workshops are making her think more about numbers and more about math. Now she sees everything as a math activity.
Family Math Mom

Ready to Learn

The PBS SoCal Ready To Learn (RTL) Learning Neighborhood is an innovative model of community engagement. Through the 2020–2025 Ready To Learn grant, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and PBS SoCal provide resources that support intergenerational learning and skill development for children in literacy, critical thinking, and collaborative problem solving, while providing opportunities to explore “world of work” knowledge and skills in age-appropriate ways.

Grounded in listening to and honoring the history and culture of the East Los Angeles community, PBS SoCal and local partners engage parents and caregivers in the co-design of family engagement experiences. The Learning Neighborhood provides access to a comprehensive set of touchpoints, content, and learning resources to encourage the sustained use and impact of the Ready To Learn Initiative. In addition to our on-the-ground work, we reach a large audience with Ready To Learn content over-the-air and through the PBS KIDS app.

Impact

  • PBS SoCal Ready To Learn workshops and outreach events have reached over 5,600 parents, caregivers, and children in East Los Angeles since 2013.
  • After participating in the Molly of Denali Family and Community Learning Workshop series, families experienced a 10% increase in their confidence in using informational texts to help their child solve real-world problems.
  • After participating in the Play & Learn Science Family and Community Learning Workshop series, families experienced a 12% increase in their confidence helping their child learn science concepts such as cause and effect, lights and shadows, the weather, and properties of water.
  • Research demonstrates that PBS KIDS multiplatform content helps prepare children for kindergarten. Children who used media content from “Peg + Cat” showed improvement in critical math areas involving ordinal numbers, spatial relationships, and 3D shapes.
  • PBS SoCal’s broadcast channels provide access to educational content to 1.8 million families. Our 24/7 KIDS Channel reaches a large Hispanic population from lower-income households.
  • We reach an average of 500,000 total monthly users across PBS KIDS platforms, including the PBS KIDS Video and PBS KIDS Games apps, and pbskids.org, which connects families with RTL content.
  • Learn more: Early Learning Annual Impact Report 2023-2024
We learned about shadows, how to bring the book more alive to my child, how to help my child be more engaged, and how to be more creative and think outside of the box. We learned how to make a puzzle using tape and how to use water to have so much fun. I practiced different puzzles. It was so much fun! Thank you so much for all your support.
RTL Mom

STEM

PBS SoCal’s STEM Learning Neighborhood Program provides access to content and resources for parents, caregivers, and their children ages 2-8 to support STEM learning and interactions at home. We aim to create a sustainable STEM learning community that supports families and children to improve school readiness and student achievement, especially for high-need students. We provide opportunities for parents and caregivers to increase their knowledge of STEM concepts, with a goal to increase awareness of at-home learning practices, positive attitudes towards STEM learning, and confidence and comfort in their abilities to select age-appropriate, educational media/resources for children.

Impact

  • PBS SoCal STEM Learning Neighborhood workshops, family engagement series, and community outreach events have reached over 49,500 caregivers and children since 2013.
  • After participating in STEM Introductory workshops, parent confidence in helping their child learn STEM concepts, such as hypothesis testing, bioluminescence, coding, and the solar system, rose by 13%.
  • After participating in the five-week STEM Parent Academy, parents and caregivers experienced a 5% increase in their feelings of enjoyment in practicing STEM learning at home with their children.
  • Learn more: Early Learning Annual Impact Report 2023-2024
La oportunidad de aprender, y poder enseñarle a mis hijos lo aprendido me emociona saber que hay tantas cosas con las que pueden aprender y no necesitan ser complicadas, lo mejor de esto es que puedo enseñarles con cosas tan sencillas y eso me gusta. | The opportunity to learn, and to be able to teach my children what they have learned excites me knowing that there are so many things with which they can learn and they do not need to be complicated, the best thing about this is that I can teach them with such simple things and I like that.
STEM Mom