The work of the Adult Numeracy Center at TERC is informed by the body of research on adult learning, adults’ use of math in and out of school, and on children’s mathematical thinking development. We take a research-based approach in our work, collaborating with educators, partners, and evaluators.
Professional development
Our professional development projects and workshops are appropriate for teachers of all levels and experience —whether they have a strong math background or have some math anxiety of their own! Our goal is to inspire math learning with an emphasis on meaning. Our professional development offerings provide opportunities for teachers to foster conceptual understanding, improve reasoning and justification skills, and to share experiences with peers. We model effective teaching strategies while helping practitioners build their own skills.
We can custom-design our professional development 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. Learn more about the options by visiting Our Projects and PD Support pages.
Materials and resource development
The ANC is well-known for its development of curricula and supporting resources, and has developed materials for specific audiences and purposes. For example,
- The EMPower series covers a range of math topics from conceptual and contextualized perspectives and is designed specifically for adults. Each of the seven sets comprises a teacher book and a student book. The teacher books contain detailed lesson plans as well as a commentary on each lesson that includes math background, rationale, and reflections on the lessons.
- Statistics for Action materials were created to help environmental organizers and citizens in affected communities to understand and communicate data about toxic issues.
Consulting
ANC staff are experienced at helping programs and states implement best practices while ensuring their curricula are aligned with frameworks, and can operate within system mandates. Our recent work has focused on assisting programs with identifying and implementing quality remote instruction resources and instructional strategies.
We also offer support in adapting both traditional math content and specialized content for a range of audiences, including learners with limited literacy and numeracy skills.
Our history and highlights