MIND Research Institute believes every student has the potential to deeply understand and truly love math. The organization’s flagship program, ST Math, is a visual instructional program for Pre-K through eighth grade that leverages the brain’s innate spatial-temporal reasoning ability to solve mathematical problems. ST Math’s unique, patented approach provides students with equitable access to learning through challenging puzzles, non-routine problem solving, and informative feedback.
The evidence-based impact of ST Math has been shown through independent, third-party validations as well as annual, transparent evaluations of results of all ST Math school cohorts—well over 100 efficacy studies and counting. In 2018, independent education research firm WestEd published the largest ever cross-state study evaluating a math edtech program on multiple state assessments. Schools that consistently used ST Math outgrew similar schools in statewide rank by 14 percentile points. The effect size of all grades combined equaled 0.35 at high statistical significance. Another study published in 2019 by the Journal of Research on Technology in Education found students who play ST Math have higher mathematics self-beliefs than non-ST Math students, and that self-beliefs were associated with positive changes in mathematics achievement.
Overdeck Family Foundation’s support helped ST Math meet a surge in demand due to COVID school closures, and helped develop resources to support remote or hybrid learning environments. Looking to the future, Overdeck Family Foundation’s grant will improve and expand MIND’s ST Math program while the organization also works to research and develop more culturally relevant math curriculum and tools.
Enhancing each stage of childhood learning, from birth to high school.
Overdeck Family Foundation focuses exclusively on education, providing funding across four focus areas that encompass the whole child from birth through high school both inside and outside the classroom.