Adult Numeracy Center PD

Are you looking for professional development (PD) opportunities to foster conceptual understanding, improve reasoning and justification skills, and share experiences with peers?

If your goal is to inspire math learning with an emphasis on meaning, then our PD programs are for you! The Adult Numeracy Center at TERC helps adults and young adults understand how math is present and relevant in everyday life, and how they can use this knowledge to improve their lives and communities. Our PD programs and workshops are appropriate for teachers of all levels and experience. We can custom design our PD for targeted, content-based workshops or help programs and states create initiatives that put in place a sustainable, long-term model to support both teachers and administrators. Read below to learn more about the professional development opportunities we offer.

Extending Ideas of What It Means to Do Math

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EMPower (Extending Mathematical Power): We know mathematical proficiency can help adults more effectively engage with the world. The EMPower™ series helps students accomplish this by building their interest and competency in mathematical problem solving with strategies and approaches designed to appeal to a broad spectrum of learning differences. This mathematics program is appropriate for a variety of settings and intended for non-traditional students enrolled in adult basic education, high school equivalency, and transitional courses in college, as well as students in alternative high schools, workplace settings or correction programs. We offer customized workshops to support programs with implementation. 

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Reaching Higher Level Math Skills

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(AR)2 (Adults Reaching Algebra Readiness): You know your students need to achieve higher-level math skills connected to the Career and College Readiness Standards. (AR)2 will give you the strategies needed to help understand these higher-level math demands at the conceptual level. This research-based program begins with a review of linear functions and progresses to systems of equations, with the math presented in real-life contexts. By the end of the series you’ll be able to turn everyday experiences into opportunities for teaching algebraic topics; work with algebraic expressions/equations in various formats; solve a system of equations graphically and algebraically.

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Training Leaders in Adult Basic Education

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SABES (System for Adult Basic Education Support): Sometimes we teach the same math material over and over and just don’t feel that students are getting it. The SABES Mathematics and Adult Numeracy Curriculum & Instruction PD Center will make sure you have the right tools and support to help your students achieve success. The SABES system promotes high-quality professional development for adult education staff in Massachusetts through training, support, and resources that improve the skills and knowledge of practitioners and strengthen programs. SABES is funded by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

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Former SABES Math director Donna Curry shows students how to make sense of word problems with Singapore strips.

Facilitating a Growth Mindset

CAM (Curriculum for Accelerated Math): CAM is for adult learners at the pre-ASE/ASE level whose goals are career- and college-readiness. What sets CAM apart? The nine-unit curriculum focuses on conceptual understanding that will help students transfer knowledge and problem-solving skills to various employment settings and life skills. CAM is based on the philosophy that if students have a solid foundation in math concepts, they can build new skills from there. The curriculum offers instructors a variety of hands-on, real-world lessons and activities designed to model connections among math ideas. We provide PD support to ensure teachers can successfully implement CAM as they learn new math strategies themselves.

Math for English Language Learners

Adult ESOL learners need math skills to be smart consumers and effective employees. Successfully integrating math into an ESOL class does not have to interfere with language objectives or cause instructors stress over how to design meaningful math activities! We offer two opportunities for those who want to incorporate math into their ESOL classes. The first, Mathematizing ESOL, is self-paced, moderated online courses for ESOL teachers who would like to deepen their own understanding of math and learn how to integrate math and numeracy skills into their classrooms. Each of the three 18-hour courses offers strategies for making math accessible to all levels of ESOL students and contains several math practice activities, discussion questions, video clips, and lesson ideas. The series as a whole addresses foundational concepts in whole number operations, fractions, decimals, percents, and ratios. The second series, Integrating Math into ESOL series consists of half-day workshops designed to familiarize ESOL teachers with activities that can be integrated into the units and contexts they already teach. Current topics include shopping, employment, and health, with others in development. Best of all, teachers receive a packet of ready-to-use materials created by our team of math and ESOL teachers. For more information, email AdultNumeracy@terc.edu.

Contact Us for a Successful Math Future

To make sure your students are ready to tackle the future with critical thinking skills and solid understanding, contact our nationally acclaimed team to learn more about scheduling your next professional development opportunity. Email: AdultNumeracy@terc.edu 
Phone: 617.873.9801