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Centering Families in Math Teacher Education

AMTE Annual Conference

Portland, OR

February 6, 2026

8:15am

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Our Agenda

Introductions
Background
Panel Presentation
Discussion
Next Steps

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Introductions:

Meet our Presenters

Frances Harper

Assoc. Professor

U of Tennessee

Latrenda Knighten, President

NCTM

Shereese Rhodes, Parent Leader

Center for Family Math

Holly Kreider,

Director

Center for Family Math

Sonja Lennox,

Parent Leader

Center for Family Math

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Introductions:

Let’s Meet Each Other

Raise your hand if you are …

To me, Family Math conjures up ___________________.

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Introductions: NAFSCE

OUR MISSION�Advancing high-impact policies and practices for family, school, and community engagement to promote child development and improve student achievement.

OUR VISION�A world where family engagement is universally practiced as an essential strategy for improving children’s learning and advancing equity.

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Mission�Advancing research, policies, practices, partnerships, and systems that inspire, harness, and amplify the power and love of math through family and community engagement.��Vision�A world where Family Math advances learning and equity for each and every child.

Introductions:

The Center for Family Math

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Defining Family Math

“We define Family Math as culturally-relevant math activities and interactions that occur in the informal contexts in which families engage with children and youth” (Eason, et al, 2020)

For families:

Activities and conversations families engage in
Awareness of the math embedded at home and in the community
Enthusiasm for and comfort with engaging in math and supporting math learning

For Family Math professionals:

Opening doors to families to ensure access to resources and ideas
Elevating and expanding the math families already do
Building relationships around math in the community

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Background:

A 3-part Convening on EdPrep x FamilyMath

Goal #1: Explore the competencies that families, math teacher educators, and math teachers believe math teachers should develop to engage families in their children’s mathematics education

Goal #2: Elevate promising approaches that currently exist to prepare math teachers for family math

Goal #3: Develop key priorities for how to best prepare math teachers for their work with families, informing a future collaborative research project

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The Family

Math Core Competencies

REFLECT�Look inward to shift mindsets about math, value everyday math, and strengthen math foundations

CONNECT�Meet families where they are, make math approachable and fun, build partnerships

COLLABORATE�Co-create actionable resources, approach math holistically, and communicate math progress

LEAD�Make institutional commitments to family math, build individual capacity, and navitage math systems

Although we know what educators need to know and do to engage families more generally, we

are less clear about the competencies that mathematics educators must develop to foster the

partnerships for learning that are so critical to student success, and how these competencies differ

from the general abilities that are needed to engage families more broadly.

Therefore, NAFSCE has developed the Family Math Core Competencies to outline the

knowledge, skills, and dispositions that educators should have in order to engage families

meaningfully in mathematics (See Table 1). This initial draft of competencies was developed

based on interviews with 12 family math advisors whose work is at the intersection of family

math and family engagement (See more about our Methods in Appendix I). Based on these

interviews, and in line with the family engagement core competencies, educators should build

the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to engage families in mathematics by:

● reflecting individually and collectively in ways that shift mindsets about math, value

cultural and everyday math connections, and strengthen math foundations,

● connecting with families and communities by meeting families where they are, making

math approachable and fun, and building community

We used an iterative process to develop these competencies. First, we conducted 12

semi-structured interviews with a representative from a diverse array of organizations within the

United States focused on family math. We sought for our sample a group of education

professionals who already think about and work at the intersectional space of family engagement

and math learning. We generated the sample from a nationally representative steering committee

of advisors and other allies to the Center for Family Math at The National Association for

Family, School and Community Engagement (NAFSCE). The sample included representatives

from three math-focused organizations, two parent-focused organizations, one school district,

three universities, one early childhood education organization, one children’s media organization,

and one research and evaluation firm. This range of participants provided a broad spectrum of

experiences, priorities, and institutional contexts related to family engagement in math learning.

Individual interviews were conducted virtually, except for one which was conducted in person,

with each lasting approximately one hour.

Participants were asked a series of open-ended questions aimed at uncovering both practical

strategies and conceptual insights. They were invited to share their work and experiences around

math and family engagement, how this became a focus area, and the factors that contributed to

their success. They discussed the knowledge, skills, and attitudes they believe are most critical

for professionals to effectively partner with families around children’s math learning, and how

these competencies compare with those needed in other learning domains. Additional questions

explored strategies for building relationships with families and communities, leveraging families'

cultural knowledge and lived experiences, and translating connections into purposeful

collaboration around math learning. Respondents reflected on the barriers and challenges that

hinder effective partnerships, and offered advice to family-focused organizations interested in

incorporating family math into their programming.

Interviews were qualitatively coded using a grounded theory approach (LaRossa, 2005; Strauss

& Corbin, 1998), looking for emerging themes related to the knowledge, skills, and dispositions

that educators can and should develop. We read all transcripts and with the support of a closed

AI research tool to ensure data privacy, NotebookLM, developed an extensive list of potential

codes in response to the main research questions (Bennis & Mouwafaq, 2025). Codes ranged

from topics related to mindsets about math (e.g., math anxiety, everyday mathematics) to the

importance of building relationships among families and educators (e.g., trust, welcoming

environments), to the fundamental nature of math (e.g., assessment, learning domains such as

numbers and shapes, and navigation of the education navigation). Codes were then organized

thematically into a coding manual in line with the domains from the Family Engagement Core

Competencies: Reflect, Connect, Collaborate, and Lead. Once the coding manual was finalized,

the first author read and coded all transcripts according to the guide and brought discrepancies

and questions to the second author for discussion.

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What we learned:

Exciting coursework and clinical experiences exist to build on and learn from

Families and teachers connect and reflect on school & family math together

Hold courses in community spaces
Conduct home visits
Observe/conduct parent-teacher conferences
Volunteer at family STEM/math events

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What we learned:

Exciting coursework and clinical experiences exist to build on and learn from

Teachers collaborate with families to support resources for math engagement

Develop & share resources
Integrate digital tools
Serve as math tutors
Gather feedback from families

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What we learned:

Exciting coursework and clinical experiences exist to build on and learn from

Position families as (co)-leaders in math edu.

Families lead community math walks
Families as faculty
Co-teach and/or co-design lessons or curriculum

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What we learned:

Upcoming Conference Sessions

Walking with Community: Elementary PTs Learning to Identify Community Math

Fri, Feb 6 - 9:15am - Portland

Centering Acknowledgement, Action and Accountability in Equity-Focused Prof Learning

Sat, Feb 7 - 8:15am - Eugene

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What we learned:

Families must be central to how math teachers are prepared to engage families

We want teachers to learn from families and build on the math practices that families already have

We, as families, want to learn alongside future teachers, to understand ways to support students’ math learning

We want teachers to learn from families and build on the skills that families already have. Use families strengths in classrooms and in curriculum; math to be fun and understandable and based in the everyday - teachers coming in have to realize that parents have really been working with their kids already on basic concepts and teachers can build off of the math that families already do - this is math

How to tell time and working with the clock with the hands to help him understand - social emotional learning - and people can’t tell time on a clock - One of the things that helped my son is that the teacher worked with the class and they built the clock with the hands that moved, this is lunch time, this is when your parents are going to come back and it set the foundation for the kids to tell time and time as more of spatial and relational concept - Had our own clocks and we talked about time at the

Fear of math -

Infuse conversations and resources about learning differences

We, as families, want to learn alongside future teachers, and learn how to support our students’ mathematical learning. Families must be involved from the start: Shereese: In Washington State they switched to Common Core and they didn’t include families in understanding the change; it happened at the worst time, they made the switch, and I had to take on more of the role of a teacher; it made no sense to me (the math) to the extent where my daughter asked me if I went through the 4th grade; had they just involved me and supported me in how to support homework and be a teacher, would have lessened the burden and stress; when the teacher realized the difficulty we were facing, the teacher had office hours for families and then the parents had their own check-ins when there was a new concept when there was a new concept of - later on they built out and incorporated that into family math nights when we went back in person - Collaboration -

New teachers need to know how to support families in mathematics and understand families and the community

For kids to be successful you need to know the village -

Think outside the box and willing to try new things -

New teachers need to be willing to pivot - and teach in ways that might not have been taught before

We want authentic engagement with future teachers
We want high-quality Family Math resources that are family-friendly, culturally relevant, and responsive to our needs.
We want to learn alongside future teachers in interactive ways
We want to be engaged at the start in co-designing teacher education models
We want collaboration and real-life experiences between teacher education programs, schools, and families

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What we learned:

Consensus on what teachers should know and do

Teachers must reimagine the math classroom as an inclusive environment for all (students and families)where family voices are heard.

Teachers must nurture confidence and belonging among all learners. Math is for everyone, w/ students and families bringing valuable ways of thinking.

Teachers must embrace and communicate math as a process of growth, exploration and reflection, rather than perfection.

Teachers must disrupt inequitable systems. Draw on families and students’ funds of knowledge to make math learning relevant and meaningful; promote meaningful discussions about math; and connect and communicate with families about their student’s math progress on a regular basis.

Teachers must validate families’ mindsets and cultural expertise. Teachers must know themselves and their students and families, and build relationships as a basis for math teaching.

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What we learned:

Consensus on what teachers should know and do

Teachers must embrace and communicate math as a process of growth, exploration and reflection, rather than perfection.
Teachers must nurture confidence and belonging among all learners. Math is for everyone, w/ students and families bringing valuable ways of thinking.
Teachers must know themselves and their students and families, and build relationships as a basis for math teaching.
Teachers must validate families’ mindsets and cultural expertise.
Teachers must acknowledge power differences and create inclusive spaces where family voices are heard.

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What we learned:

Big picture considerations matter

Systems must institutionalize, not simply invite, family leadership
Progress demands professional networks & alignment across institutions and policy frameworks

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Discussion

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Next Steps

What might all this mean for your own professional practice?
What’s one new thing you might do as a result of the perspectives you heard today?

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Next Steps

Disseminate findings. Formulate RFP to seed innovation.
Forge research-practice partnership to generate knowledge for the field
Continue collaboration w/ AMTE, NCTM, and C4FM to ensure standards and resources include Family Math
Find resources at familymath.org

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Acknowledgement

This project is supported by The National Science Foundation under Award No.2449546. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.