Reflection Sciences Launches Community Co-Design Initiative with Funding from the Tools Competition

St. Paul, MN — Reflection Sciences Inc., a leader in early childhood executive function (EF) measurement and improvement, has launched an initiative to build its community co-design capacity. In public education, co-design involves collaboration with the communities who could benefit from new education technology. Initial funding for the initiative includes $300,000 from the 2024 Tools Competition.

EF, the set of brain skills responsible for focus, attention, impulse control, and decision-making, is foundational to academic and career success. Reflection Sciences offers schools and care centers the gold-standard measure of childhood EF plus a suite of skill-building activities, games, and professional development.

“Reflection Sciences has a deep history of community collaboration, beginning with our founders’ civic scientific research. We work with childcare providers, community non-profits, and scientists to study the impact of EF and EF intervention in a range of communities,” said Shawn Wood, Chief Technology Officer. “This new initiative extends our collaborations to include user engagement and experience design.” 

Leading the initiative is Jazz Williams, a seasoned educator, leader, and expert on collaborative design for education. Williams holds an M.Ed in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages), Literacy and Culture and an AMS (American Montessori Society) Early Childhood credential. She has 12 years of experience in bilingual classrooms, including as a teacher, coach, and academic director. 

“This is a critical and important opportunity to partner with communities so they have agency to shape how they are affected by executive function and its role in education,” said Williams. 

The Tools Competition is a challenge grant recognized for advancing cutting-edge tools that transform educational outcomes. The Award underscores Reflection Sciences’ leadership in accelerating learning.

“Winning the Tools Competition allows us to invest more in community co-design and learning engineering. We have been able to combine this award with an NIH SBIR innovation grant to further accelerate our pace of innovation. This is a powerful synergy, and I expect it to grow as we expand our coalition of stakeholders going forward. I am thankful to the Tools Competition for their recognition and support” said CEO Isaac D. Van Wesep.

Reflection Sciences is actively building its coalition for community co-design. Interested parties should contact the company through its website at www.reflectionsciences.com 

About Reflection Sciences Inc. Reflection Sciences Inc. develops scientifically validated tools to assess and improve executive function skills in children. With a mission to advance learning and development through better measurement, Reflection Sciences is at the forefront of creating educational tools that cater to diverse learners.

EF, the set of brain skills responsible for focus, attention, impulse control, and decision-making, is foundational to academic and career success. Their healthy development depends on mentored opportunities to practice these skills and reflect on them. Because these skills develop most rapidly before the age of 10, early intervention is key to helping kids reach their potential. Reflection Sciences offers the gold-standard measure of childhood EF – the Minnesota Executive Function Scale (MEFS) – as well as a suite of activities and games that have been shown to improve EF skills in children.