We were a campus-wide, multidisciplinary center dedicated to enhancing the educational experiences and outcomes of young learners. The Sherman Center for Early Learning’s diverse staff, campus advisory committee, and steering committee represented UMBC’s three Colleges (the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, the College of Engineering and Information Technology, and the College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences). It reflected its commitment to community engagement and partnerships.
Over the years, staff and campus advisory committee members have had backgrounds in biology, community organizing and fundraising, education, information systems, psychology, public policy, and social work. Collectively, we represented expertise in research design and methods, grant writing, early literacy and numeracy development, family engagement, science education, and human-centered technology.
We shared a strong commitment to children, families, and communities, and to fostering rigorous research that practitioners and policymakers could use to enhance young children’s learning. Partnering with principals, teachers, staff, families, community members, and organizations, our goal was to advance data-driven improvements in early childhood classrooms in Baltimore City and other urban centers.