Grow Your Mind
The Question We Only Ask Too Late
I taught first grade in a storage room. Twenty-one six-year-olds, no windows, and students with significant learning needs I had no training to address. That experience sent me on a path I'm still walking — and it keeps bringing me back to one question: why do we only ask the most important diagnostic question in math after a student has already been found eligible for special education? That question belongs earlier. For every student. Before the referral. Before the label.
Guest Blog: Foundations of Numeracy Part 2
EXCERPT
Research has given us a clear picture of what students need to develop lasting mathematical proficiency — but knowing the destination isn't enough. In Part 2 of this series, Jillian Mendoza of PowerMyLearning shows principals, instructional coaches, and district leaders how to put the Foundations of Numeracy framework to work where it's needed most: designing intervention that targets root causes rather than surface-level procedures, and building teacher professional learning that actually changes instruction. If your school or district is making intervention and PD decisions without a shared diagnostic lens, this is the read that reframes how you think about both.
Guest Blog: Foundations of Numeracy Part 1
Decades of research have converged on a clear picture of what students need to build lasting mathematical proficiency — but translating that evidence into coherent, school-wide action is where many systems fall short. In this guest post, Jillian Mendoza, Director of Math at PowerMyLearning, introduces the Foundations of Numeracy framework: a research-backed map for making smarter decisions about curriculum, intervention, and instructional coherence. Whether you're a principal, instructional coach, or district leader, this framework gives you a shared language for evaluating every math decision — not just a slice of it, but the whole picture.