As I reflect on my first eight weeks as the Director of the Center for Family Math, my experience has been much like the act of family math itself – filled with fun and everyday routines, with a bit of productive struggle thrown in, and toward long-term positive outcomes.
The Center and its partners and predecessors have laid a clear path and set the work in motion – from the Family Math Roadmap project begun in 2016, to the Center’s collaboratively constructed strategic plan, to the activities of the past year in which my NAFSCE teammates gave no less than 20 conference presentations on family math to national and regional audiences.
My initial listening tour has helped illuminate a path forward, one that starts with greater awareness of what family math is and why it’s important, builds capacity of families and educators through trainings and resources, and ultimately arcs towards systems change and greater educational equity. And of course, does so in deep partnership with others in the field and centers families’ voices in all that we do.
As I continue to listen and learn, I invite you to reach out to me to share your insights and vision for the Family Math field and the role of the Center. I also invite you to nominate promising family math resources for families and educators as we begin to build a searchable online database for knowledge and curiosity on the familymath.org website.
Together, we are far greater than the sum of our parts.
Warmly,
Holly Kreider
