The Big Lift

The Big Lift

The Big Lift is a preschool to third-grade collective impact initiative in San Mateo County, California. Launched in 2012 by the County of San Mateo, Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF), and the San Mateo County Office of Education (SMCOE), the initiative aims to boost third grade reading proficiency through a set of four coordinated activities, called “pillars”: 1) High-Quality Preschool; 2) Summer Learning; 3) School Attendance; and 4) Family Engagement. The Big Lift is working intensively with 96 preschool classrooms serving 2,000 children annually in seven school districts to improve quality, deepen family engagement, and help ensure more kids show up at kindergarten ready to thrive in school and in life. The Big Lift summer program provides a full-day, five-week summer program to low-income rising kindergartners through third-graders in these same districts, using an evidence-based literacy curriculum created by BELL in the morning and a STEM-focused enrichment component in the afternoon provided by the San Mateo County Library.

Learn more on The Big Lift's website.

Request for Qualifications – Early Literacy and Math Specialists – Open through November 2020

This RFQ seeks qualified candidates to provide targeted language, literacy, and math support to small groups of children at preschool sites throughout San Mateo County.  Through this RFQ, The Big Lift will hire consultants to work in a designated number of preschool classrooms, providing small group support 3-5x/week in each classroom.  

COVID-19 Considerations:

Given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, individuals hired for this role will have an opportunity to mitigate the effects of severe learning loss on children in San Mateo County. In-person support provided will strictly adhere to applicable local and state public health and education requirements.  All possible health and safety precautions will be taken, and outdoor small groups will be arranged if/where possible to further mitigate risk. Services are expected to fall under the category of ‘specialized support services,’ which are permitted during this time.

For detailed information about this opportunity and instructions to apply, please view the Request for Qualifications (RFQ).