Who We Are
Sacramento STEM Alliance (SSA), is a K-6 collaborative organization that is working to engage university professors and their research with urban pre-college students interested in pursuing STEM studies. The SSA is the parent company for the CaliBears Math Essentials (Math based games for K-6); CaliBears Toys (STEM based toys and other products for grades K-6); CaliBears Parent and Teacher Collaboration (Common Core Math Support for parents and teachers to work collaboratively from school and home and teacher professional development) and the Urban Core Learning System (UCLS) (a unique approach to K-4th grade math support and learning especially designed for urban K-6 grade school students).
Our Mission / Our Values
The CaliBears Math K-6 Essentials Learning System is designed to serve struggling students, particularly those of color and with low income backgrounds, who deserve to have equal access to personal and academic success. The CaliBears Math Essentials teams works together towards the dual goals of developing educational technology products that will make a positive difference in how K-6 students learn mathematics and how teachers working in an urban school classroom setting meet the varying needs of their students with special emphasis on the integration of core academic subjects including STEAM and cultural relevance.
The target audience for CaliBears Math Essentials implementation includes students and their parents and families, and teachers and administrators at urban, underserved communities across America and throughout the world.
Economically disadvantaged K – 6th grade elementary students, who live in challenging environments, including their schools and communities, are faced with what often seems to be insurmountable circumstances when it comes to academic achievement and success in the classroom setting.
Parents, who do their best for their children’s classroom performance despite often difficult living circumstances, desire and deserve the highest quality public education possible and they are key partners in the CaliBears Math Essentials learning system.
Today’s teachers and administrators are challenged daily to provide engaging, effective, direct instruction that provides K-6 mathematics curriculum support and opportunities for individual and classroom wide academic achievement , to include ELL and Special Education instruction.
The CaliBears K-6 Math Essentials Learning System products enhance student learning and parent and teacher support because students are:
✓ Engaged
✓ Empowered
✓ Successful
Ms. Crowder
Ms. Crowder designed the Sacramento STEM Alliance (SSA) to create opportunities for underrepresented students to engage in meaningful and purpose driven programs in collaboration with faculty at postsecondary institutions. It was Ms. Crowder’s original concept that urban high school students could create math based games for elementary students that were Common Core Standards (based) that would improve achievement levels and academic confidence in K-3rd grade students at low performing school sites and districts. Working with two Sac State faculty members, Dr. Scott V. Gordon, Ph.D, Professor of Computer Science and Dr. Kimberly Gordon Biddle, Ph.D., Professor of Childhood Development, Ms. Crowder moved the project forward towards commercialization and the launching of the math games project into elementary schools globally. Ms. Crowder‘s professional expertise is in the field of urban education and she has a Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership.