MathAmigos

Since 2017, MathAmigos has helped students struggling with math. It was founded with love for education and a belief in the power of innovative teams after a conference at the Santa Fe Community Foundation by a retired Cal Tech mathematician from the IBM Watson Research Center with a love for Cuisenaire rods, a math and computer science teacher retiring after 21 years at Santa Fe Prep, and a retired physician and medical educator experienced in curriculum.

A number of community groups were working on improving reading, but only 17% of students in our public schools were at grade level in math proficiency (currently 24%). So began MathAmigos, a volunteer team of mathematicians and educators dedicated to helping teachers inspire kids to love math.

As partners with Santa Fe Public Schools, we committed to brightening the days of our teachers with innovative strategies to engage students, not just in math, but in the skills that build students’ confidence in the problem-solving and critical thinking so essential to success in work and life in the 21st century.

Thanks to funding for teacher stipends from the Santa Fe Community Foundation, MathAmigos embarked on a series of three teacher workshops each year, initially focused on foundational math skills for students in grades K through 6.

Soon, we were joined by a K-12 educator and former chair of education at the University of Texas at El Paso, who added key sessions encouraging K-3 teachers to blend math with literacy to excite students to explore the world around them.

We are now in our 8th year, having gratefully benefitted from both annual community funding and the excellent volunteer instructors from schools and surrounding colleges who staff our workshops. We have conducted 27 workshops, reaching over 350 teachers from Santa Fe and northern New Mexico.

Participating teachers are important partners. Through their anonymous workshop evaluations, they suggest topics for future workshops and make sure that workshop sessions address teachers’ daily challenges in the classroom. Workshop sessions are interactive and provide best practice solutions to meet the needs of struggling students. Requests for coaching, family nights, and math competitions and wrangles often follow.

Math leaders have written: “Thank you all for this work and for the great energy and commitment you have to supporting teachers in their math journeys.”

And teachers have commented: “These workshops are a great opportunity to learn and also share ideas with colleagues that we often don't see!” “Thank you for wonderful workshop. It was so helpful and supportive for our students!”

We are now reaching out to early childhood educators and teachers in rural areas and pueblos. Our mission to boost math proficiency is far from complete.