Family Math — Project Documents

With a purpose to improve meaningful outcomes for children and communities by leveraging the power of early math skills and unlocking the potential of family engagement, PBS SoCal is committed to growing our understanding of the communities we serve. To set the groundwork for positive experiences with our families, we are developing guiding principles that put them at the center, co-designing the program with parents, and documenting our progress to share with community partners. Below, you will find project documents outlining what are seeking to achieve with this initative and how we plan to accomplish it.

Compton Community Survey
Findings from a survey of Compton parents
In January 2020, PBS SoCal reached out to families in the City of Compton and asked them to share their views on the level of support local organizations provide in children's math learning.

Designing Family Math // Diseñando Matemática Familiar (Spanish version)
Recommendations for co-designing a Family Math curriculum with parents // Recomendaciones para co-diseñar un plan de estudios de Matemáticas en Familia con padres
PBS SoCal worked with the Early Learning Lab to explore the needs of parents and caregivers to support their young children in math. The result was a report with design principles and curriculum recommendations revealed by the families we seek to serve.

Stanford Evaluation of the National Expansion of PBS SoCal’s Family Math Initiative
Findings from research led by Stanford and PBS SoCal
PBS SoCal partnered with the Stanford Center on Early Education to study the national implementation and impact of Family Math. From the pre-series survey to the post-series survey, both parent/caregiver and educator/provider participants reported significant increases in all three core metrics of Family Math: math positivity, math confidence, and knowledge of children's foundational math skills.

Family Math Annual Impact Report 2024-2025
Annual impact of the Family Math initiative
Since 2019, the Family Math initiative has successfully expanded caregivers' knowledge of foundational math skills, increased their math confidence, and grown their spositivity about helping their children ages 2-5 with math. Family Math has reached over 60,000 parents, caregivers, children, and educators through workshops and events, while partners have distributed more than 72,000 Family Math educational resources, including activity kits and books to families and communities across the country to date. The Family Math YouTube channel surpassed 1 million video views and gained more than 46,000 subscribers.

Exploring Parent Learning and Growth in aFamily Workshop Series
A Case Study of Three Moms in the PBS SoCal Family Math Parent Academy
This case study explores powerful stories depicting three mothers' transformative experiences as they went through the Family Math Parent Academy workshop series. All three of the parents in the case study became more confident about doing math with their children,realizing how simple and easy it was to fit math into their existing routines.

How a Family Math Workshop Series Helped Families Bond and Learn Together
A Case Study on the PBS SoCal Family Math "Peg + Cat" Family Community Learning Workshops
This case study explored three families' experiences as they learned and played alongside their children in an interactive family workshop series. Family and Community Learning (FCL) is a series of workshops that engage families in active, hands-on learning experiences, while "Peg + Cat" is an animated series on PBS KIDS. Developed by PBS SoCal, the Family Math "Peg + Cat" FCL consisted of four bilingual (in English and Spanish) one-hour, virtual sessions that each explored a different early math concept through child-centered activities and media.