The Family Partnership is teaming up with Reflection Sciences to bring our groundbreaking EGG Toolkit to preschool classrooms nationwide. The executive function curriculum launches in the 2026-27 school year. Together, we’re giving teachers research-backed, easy-to-use tools. These tools nurture joyful learning, build healthy brain development, and set children up for lifelong success.
John Everett Till, The Family Partnership’s Chief Strategy Officer, learned that new brain science takes nearly 20 years to reach early childhood classrooms. He knew that was too long to wait. In 2017, Till partnered with Chris Wing, CCC-SLP, Ph.D., to create EGG Toolkit (Empowering Generational Greatness), a classroom-tested curriculum for preschoolers. EGG helps children build executive function skills like focus, self-regulation, and problem-solving during peak brain growth.
Through our partnership with Harvard Center on the Developing Child, we rapidly tested, improved, and refined EGG in our therapeutic preschools and partner programs. The result? A proven, scalable curriculum now ready to reach more children nationwide.
National Distribution of an Early Learning Curriculum Through Reflection Sciences
Reflection Sciences is the exclusive distributor of EGG for Preschools, with the curriculum available to programs nationwide starting in 2026-27. Early childhood educators gain access to the curriculum and ongoing professional development from The Family Partnership, ensuring teachers are fully supported.
What makes this collaboration so powerful is how our two innovations work hand in hand:
- EGG Toolkit gives teachers a daily curriculum that strengthens executive function through language, storytelling, and mindfulness.
- Reflection Sciences’ Minnesota Executive Function Scale (MEFS) measures each child’s brain development at key points throughout the year.
The MEFS is a gold-standard, web-based assessment of executive function in early childhood. It provides objective, real-time insights into children’s cognitive skills. This helps educators tailor instruction and track growth. When paired with EGG Toolkit, the MEFS enables a complete system for supporting and measuring essential brain skills.
Together, these tools create a complete cycle of growth that strengthens essential skills through play while giving preschool teachers the tools to foster self-regulation and attention in the classroom.
A Partnership Advancing Child Development and Preschool Success
The collaboration with Reflection Sciences began eight years ago. We spotted a flyer about the MEFS at the University of Minnesota. Both organizations quickly recognized a shared purpose with complementary strengths. The Family Partnership focused on building young brains through storytelling and play. Reflection Sciences developed cutting-edge tools to measure that growth.
Isaac Van Wesep, CEO of Reflection Sciences, has seen firsthand the impact of TFP’s work. He’s visited our early childhood sites in Minneapolis and observed our positive impact on families and young children, even those facing adversity and trauma that can disrupt executive function development.
“The Family Partnership has taken what researchers know about early brain development and trauma and translated it into practices that help whole families move forward,” says Van Wesep.
TFP’s strengths-based approach resonated deeply with Van Wesep’s vision. He champions innovations grounded in brain science and proven effective in real classrooms.
For Van Wesep, this work is personal. He was born with intelligence but didn’t fully develop executive function skills as a child. Those early experiences shaped his life. He can’t change his own childhood, but he can help create better outcomes for other kids.
The Family Partnership has taken what researchers know about early brain development and trauma and translated it into practices that help whole families move forward.
Isaac Van Wesep, CEO, Reflection Sciences
Why Executive Function Matters Now More Than Ever
Executive function (EF) skills have emerged as an important predictor of school readiness and long-term success in life.
Yet millions of young children begin preschool already at a disadvantage. Research shows that nearly two-thirds of U.S. children experience at least one adverse childhood experience (ACE). These include poverty, community violence, or caregiver stress. Adversity and trauma can disrupt healthy brain development. The effects are far-reaching. Children who face chronic stress or trauma often struggle with self-regulation and attention. This widens the opportunity gap that persists well into grade school and beyond.
At the same time, teachers are carrying an increasing emotional load. Managing classrooms where many children have difficulty focusing or calming themselves can lead to burnout and high turnover. This undermines stability and learning for everyone. Educators need tools that support children’s brain growth. They also need tools that make classrooms more joyful and sustainable places to teach.
TFP created EGG Toolkit to help preschool children build the executive function skills that buffer against trauma and stress. The curriculum gives teachers practical tools to nurture reflection and connection in the classroom. The toolkit helps close opportunity gaps and strengthen program success for both children and teachers.
Results from early pilots of EGG show statistically significant improvements in emotional language, storytelling, and classroom behavior. These are key behaviors associated with executive function. Full results from our statewide pilot will be available in early 2026.
Strengths-Based Learning Assessment for Preschoolers
A major breakthrough in this partnership is how the MEFS solves a longstanding challenge in early childhood assessment, balancing objectivity with practicality.
Traditional executive function assessments often rely on observational checklists—subjective tools that can be influenced by bias. TFP’s teachers found those discouraging and wanted something that highlighted children’s strengths.
The MEFS changes that. Using a web-based game, children complete interactive tasks that directly measure cognitive skills. When they reach a level they can’t pass, the game cheers and makes a positive exit, giving a clear, encouraging picture of how each child is doing.
The scientific rigor behind the MEFS sets it apart. It’s the first digital, direct measure of executive function that doesn’t require a human observer, eliminating inter-rater bias.
With a normed dataset of more than 52,000 children—over ten times larger than comparable assessments—the MEFS delivers exceptional reliability. It can detect changes in children’s executive function skills on a month-to-month basis, giving teachers actionable data to guide instruction and measure progress over time.
From Minnesota Classrooms to Early Childhood Programs Nationwide
Both The Family Partnership and Reflection Sciences are Minnesota-grown organizations committed to helping all children succeed. Till sees the partnership as key to expanding EGG’s impact across the country.
“With EGG and the MEFS, we have something that can benefit children across the country,” Till says. “A generation is too long to wait. This is our chance to reach thousands of families—and the timing is right, as more people recognize that executive function is the foundation of school readiness.”
Reflection Sciences provides the technology and distribution capacity to make that vision possible. They had the MEFS assessment tool but wanted a curriculum to go with it—making it a perfect match. EGG and MEFS together give preschool classrooms everything they need to support each child’s success.
Van Wesep envisions even deeper integration ahead, with opportunities to embed EGG within Reflection Sciences’ technology platform. Imagine a system where assessment and curriculum work seamlessly together, helping educators tailor support for every child in real time.
We have something that can benefit children across the country. A generation is too long to wait.
John Everett Till, CSO, The Family Partnership
Building Resilience Through Early Brain Development
At its core, this partnership represents a breakthrough in early childhood education by bridging the science of healthy brain development with the everyday realities in preschool classrooms.
Through the combination of rigorous assessment and a proven curriculum, early childhood educators gain the insight and tools to nurture every child’s executive function growth during the critical preschool years.
As these innovations expand nationwide, The Family Partnership and Reflection Sciences are ensuring that cutting-edge brain science reaches the children who need it most. This collaboration—built over nearly a decade—demonstrates what’s possible when organizations unite around a shared commitment to help families thrive through evidence-based support for executive function development.
EGG for Preschools is available for the 2026-27 school year through Reflection Sciences. Interested programs can learn more and schedule a demonstration.
The Family Partnership Announces Eight Pilot Sites Across Minnesota to Implement EGG Toolkit, a Groundbreaking Executive Function Curriculum for Early Childhood.
Minneapolis, MN
The Family Partnership has selected eight early education programs across Minnesota to implement EGG Toolkit in the 2024-25 school year. The purpose of the pilot is to build on learnings and outcomes from previous pilots in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Texas. By evaluating impact in urban, rural, and suburban communities within Minnesota, the pilots will demonstrate EGG Toolkit’s positive impact on children and parents/caregivers and build capacity to effectively scale more broadly.
The Family Partnership designed EGG, short for “Empowering Generational Greatness,” in 2017 with Christine Wing, CCC-SLP, PhD, in collaboration with early childhood educators and leading experts in brain science, child development, and curriculum design. EGG helps children develop executive function and self-regulation skills during the critical years of early childhood, the stage when brain development is at its fastest and most foundational.
Thanks to chief authors Rep. Carlie Kotyza-Witthuhn and Sen. Kelly L. Morrison, and authors Sen. Dave Pinto, Sen. Mary Kunesh, Rep. Nathan Coulter, and Rep. Emma Greenman, the state of Minnesota passed legislation in 2023 that included $300,000 to help The Family Partnership expand pilots in six sites across Minnesota in urban, suburban, and rural settings. The Donaldson Foundation funded the expansion to an additional two sites.
“We cannot deny the adverse impacts of the isolation and constant stress the COVID-19 pandemic has had on our youngest learners and their parents,” says Dianne Haulcy, President and CEO of The Family Partnership. “We desperately need interventions like this to support children’s cognitive and emotional development, and support positive, responsive parenting. This curriculum equips children with tools to develop language that describes their feelings and experiences rather than acting out on impulse. When children are empowered with this language, they learn to ask for help, talk about their emotions, and better understand their experiences. This is particularly important for children and parents living in high-stress environments.”
Trinette Potts, EGG Project Manager at The Family Partnership, will lead implementation, training, and professional development with the following sites partnering for the 2024-25 pilot expansion of the EGG Toolkit:
- Wilder Child Development Center, 80×3 site, St. Paul
- Wilmar Early Childhood Family Programs, ECFE, Wilmar
- New Horizon Academy, Rochester
- New Horizon Academy, Minneapolis, Lake Street
- Early Childhood Family Services, ECFE, Eagan*
- Osseo Area SchoolsECFE, Osseo
- People Serving People 80X3 site, Minneapolis
- Noah’s Ark Preschool, Circle Pines
*This ECFE is a partnership between the Eagan, Apple Valley, and Rosemount school districts.
John Everett Till, SVP of Strategy and Innovation at The Family Partnership and EGG Enterprise Manager, says teachers and facilitators are eager to get started. Till says, “The good news is that we can buffer kids against toxic stress, and that’s what our intervention is designed to do. We’re ready for this pilot expansion and we look forward to presenting a report to the legislature about the impact of scaling our early childhood intervention in urban, suburban, and rural communities.”
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About The Family Partnership
The Family Partnership is an accredited, multicultural human services organization that has worked since 1878 to meet the evolving needs of Twin Cities families facing barriers as a result of racial and economic injustice. Today, TFP is at the forefront in implementing evidence-based practices, emerging brain science, and centering equity, inclusion, and anti-racism work to effectively build well-being within the communities we serve. Agency-wide, the commitment to evidence-based practices has led TFP to implement two-generation (2Gen) strategies across our programs. Research shows that 2Gen services, which engage children and their parents/caregivers together, are more effective at building intergenerational wealth, well-being, and prosperity.
About EGG Toolkit
EGG Toolkit is The Family Partnership’s groundbreaking executive function curriculum for early childhood. EGG engages children ages 3 to 5 in activities focused on language, storytelling, and mindfulness to build focus and resilience: key capacities for success in school and life. By building these core capabilities, EGG helps to buffer children against the harmful impacts of ACEs, closing opportunity gaps in childhood and supporting a lifetime of better outcomes for physical, mental, and behavioral health. For more information, visit eggtoolkit.org.
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Contact:
Stephanie Goodwin (she/her)
Communications Manager
The Family Partnership
sgoodwin@thefamilypartnership.org