Dreams For Schools
PROGRAMS
STEAM Curriculum Development
In order to ensure effective outcomes, DFS develops K-8 STEAM curriculum for all program areas such as: (1) Professional Development for Educators / Teacher Training; and (2) all of DFS K-8 STEAM classes, including Let's Explore STEAM, Engineering Inventors, Sphero Robots, Coding Games with Scratch, Mobile App Development, and Web Development. All curriculum is the intellectual property of DFS and submitted for copyright protections on a regular basis.
All of DFS curriculum enables both the successful implementation educator / teacher training as well as the training of DFS Instructors who in turn successfully implement DFS K-8 STEAM classes. This has enabled DFS to use the curriculum to train approximately 2700 educators and implement over 350+ programs for K-8 students with partners since 2016.
K-8 STEAM Classes
DFS' flagship program has been the implementation of K-12 STEAM classes in order to fill gaps in STEAM programming for students in underserved communities. DFS K-12 classes include: Let's Explore STEAM (1st - 3rd grade), Engineering Inventors (3rd - 6th grade), Sphero Robotics (3rd - 6th grade), Coding Games with Scratch (3rd - 6th grade), Mobile App Development (6th - 8th grade), and Web Development (8th - 12th grade). All of these courses afford students opportunities for exposure to STEAM education and STEAM career pathways teaching both the hard and soft skills needed to advance in STEAM.
DFS provides STEAM and technology experiences for over 4,500 K-8 students in after-school year and year out.
DFS' primary monitoring and evaluation activity is conducted through pre-and post-surveys given to students and mentors. All surveys are based on a Likert Satisfaction Scale, yielding numerical value responses to produce valid sets of descriptive statistics. DFS cross-references responses by school/district sites using inferential statistics to engage with faculty and gain deeper insight regarding student satisfaction, academic progress, improved behavior, and other outcomes.
Short-term outcomes are revealed by students' finished app demonstrations at a finale showcase event. Student success with this cumulative task reveals levels of skills acquisition and confidence/self-efficacy in computing/programming.
Middle-term outcomes include students' technical skills to independently create mobile apps, coding competency, programming skills, and greater awareness of technology professions.
To determine long-term outcomes / impact, DFS is currently working on a data collection system to ultimately determine how many of our program alumni have matriculated into STEM-related fields in higher education or vocation.
Vocational Opportunities for Higher Ed Students
K-12 STEAM Classes program service delivery is executed through a cohort of DFS-trained instructors recruited from undergraduate and graduate STEAM programs at institutions of higher education. By hiring and training instructors recruited from local institutions of higher education, our secondary client community of college students are offered employment opportunities as well as a valuable experience in education and the STEAM fields. Ultimately, these opportunities benefit both the instructors’ academic careers and professional development. Instructors receive 30-40 hours of training on how to teach the curriculum and cultivate a growth mindset with K-12 students. DFS offers our instructors meaningful compensation at an hourly rate of $16-18.
Since 2013, DFS has employed 505 unique college students as instructors.
STEAM Scholarships
To further our commitment to education equity, DFS provides scholarships and launched scholarship programs for both K-12 Students and DFS instructors. In collaboration with one of our corporate partners, DFS established the STEAM Scholarship Award, available to all current DFS Instructors. The K-12 student scholarships provides need based scholarships for students and families to join our programs at little or no cost. For the STEAM Scholarship Award, DFS will award 1 or 2 (one or two) $2500 scholarships on a quarterly basis to qualified instructors currently enrolled in a 2-year or 4-year college or university. Applicants must be current STEAM instructors with DFS. This scholarship program is intended to support students who are pursuing an undergraduate degree, graduate degree, or vocational / career training, and do not have to be repaid. The scholarship prioritizes awards for students based on their financial need and then merit.
DFS has awarded 4 scholarships for DFS instructors as part of the since launching this program in early 2021. DFS also awards more than 75 need-based student scholarships for our K-12 students on an annual basis.
Community Outreach & STEAM Events
In order to increase access and awareness to STEAM career pathways and support K-8 educational excellence, DFS holds dynamic and responsive community programming. In 2021, DFS launched its inaugural “Girls in STEAM Night” events to help promote gender equity and the advancement of girls and women in STEAM fields. 2021 also marked the launch of DFS’ partnership with Karina’s Backpack Project, distributing back-to-school supplies and backpacks to more than 15,000 K-12 students in need annually across Southern California.
DFS’ “Girls-in-STEAM Night” events serve approximately 40 K-8 students quarterly. DFS’ backpack project provides backpacks filled with school supplies for approximately 15,000 K-8 students in Southern California annually.
CONTACT
Dreams For Schools
550 N. Parkcenter Drive
Suite 102
Santa Ana, CA 92705
Phone: 949-333-9084