Hillview Crest Elementary School, New Haven USD
Amazing Before and After Results from the C-STEM Program! Unprecedented 41% Improvement in Students Meeting or Exceeding State Math Standards!
Hillview Crest Elementary is a school in New Haven USD with a 63% majority of Hispanic students, compared to 37% for the New Haven USD as a whole:
During the 2023-2024 school year Hillview Crest began to implement the C-STEM math with robotics and coding program. They saw an immediate jump in student engagement, followed by unprecedented leaps in the math understanding and achievement of their students. In 2022-23, only 21.96% of their students met or exceeded the State Math Standards, compared to 34.84% for New Haven USD as a whole. But the results for 2024-2025 are in, and 31.03% of Hillview Crest students are now meeting or exceeding the math standards, a 41% improvement in just two years!
2022-2023 State Math Test Results for New Haven USD (top) and Hillview Crest Elementary (bottom)
2024-2025 State Math Test Results for New Haven USD (top) and Hillview Crest Elementary (bottom)
Because of this amazing success, New Haven USD is expanding the C-STEM program throughout the district:
Hillview Crest Elementary RoboParade 2024
Learning math can be engaging and meaningful with robots. In the RoboParade project, students integrate mathematics with collaboration, creativity, and problem-solving as they design, construct, decorate, and program their Linkbot robots to navigate a parade path. This hands-on experience reinforces key math concepts in a real-world context while fostering teamwork, critical thinking, and communication. The project also offers opportunities for cross-curricular connections, encouraging students to apply both STEM knowledge and artistic expression in a shared, celebratory event.
A Successful 2nd Annual RoboPlay Challenge Competition!
Hillview Crest Elementary School (HCE) in New Haven Unified School District hosted its 2nd Annual RoboPlay Challenge Competition, with all students in grades 255 participating. The two-day event brought together 24 student teams competing in both the school cafeteria and its brand-new Robotics Lab. Younger students cheered enthusiastically with pom-poms, while Superintendent John Thompson joined school and community members to witness the excitement, making the entire campus come alive with energy and celebration.
A Huge Thank You
Kudos to HVC second through fifth-grade teachers, C-STEM/Math TOSA Brittany Casey, HVC staff, and Principal Stella Castilo. Thanks to Hui Stevens, Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning and Michaelene McKelvey, Director of K-12 Instruction, and the New Haven Schools Foundation for their strong support.
What is the C-STEM RoboPlay Challenge Competition?
UC Davis Center for Integrated Computing and STEM Education (C-STEM) RoboPlay Challenge Competition is a unique, math-focused, level-playing-field robotics competition for grades 1-12. Designed around math skill levels, RoboPlay showcases students’ real-world math, coding, problem-solving skills, creativity, and teamwork. Teams persevere under time constraints to solve math challenges that integrate engineering design and robotics revealed on the day of the competition.
