Our Children Are Prepared for Life
For more than 50 years, University City Children’s Center has served as a transformative model of high-quality care and education in St. Louis. We are committed to the truth that learning happens in relationships and strive to live our values: Trust, Empathy, Compassion, Love, and Joy. Educators connect with children in their care every day. These connections help children grow in emotional safety, widen their social circles and provide strong foundations for learning. As a result, our children graduate from UCCC with the best foundation possible . . . they graduate ready for life.
Our approach, the LUME Approach, provides families and early childhood educators with the skills, support and resources they need to successfully prepare children for life. LUME grew out of UCCC in 2012 to help others gain a deeper understanding about children and relationships. Studies show that the LUME Approach is proven to make a statistically significant difference in a child’s mental health and educational journey.
The Science of Childhood Development
LUME Institute transforms the way families, educators and communities inspire young children to learn, grow and thrive. We help educators learn how to be present, to connect and to advance relationships in ways that meet children’s need for love, belonging and appropriate power, as well as the importance this process plays in furthering children’s learning outcomes.
Theory of Change
Developed and refined with support from Harvard University’s Center on the Developing Child, LUME’s Theory of Change is: When educators understand themselves and children more deeply, and as they learn the foundations of relationship-building they grow in:
Emotionally-Responsive Intent & Intentional Action
Since 2020, LUME has engaged 250+ educators at six institutions in learning experiences based on the LUME Approach. Those educators reported growth in being present, personal reflection and connecting with others.
97% reported growth in emotionally-responsive intent/action overall, and 75% reported growth in advancing relationships with children and others.
Relationship Building Actions
LUME helps educators understand behavior—children’s and their own—and how to apply those understandings in the classroom.
80% of educators from this same group (250+ since 2020) reported changing their classroom practices, specifically by being an emotional partner with children, being calmer and more forgiving, and being more aware of actions and interactions.
Improved Learning Environment
LUME principles are in daily demonstration at University City Children’s Center (UCCC). An independent observer assessed UCCC’s classroom environment and its potential to foster emotional and social development.
The observer noted UCCC’s interactions and behaviors as promoting a mentally healthy climate that exceeds national averages.
Emotional Development & Learning Outcomes
Emotional and academic assessments of children entering and leaving UCCC show marked improvements in emotional development and learning outcomes. For example:
Over a six-year period, assessments showed 13% of children entering UCCC had an emotional development need, while just 2% of children leaving UCCC for kindergarten had a need.
