Join WestEd researchers at the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics for the 2025 Annual Meeting & Exposition, October 28–31, 2026, in Denver, Colorado.
This year’s NCTM conference theme is “Mathematics for a Changing World.”
Add these WestEd sessions to your conference calendar and follow WestEd on LinkedIn and Bluesky to share your insights from the conference!
WestEd Sessions
Thursday, October 29
Workshop Session: Mathematics for a Data-Rich World: Connecting Modeling, Reasoning, and Real-World Data
Time: 8–9:15 a.m.
Location: Colorado Convention Center / 205
Presenters: Mingyu Feng (WestEd), Linlin Li (WestEd), Yelee Jo (WestEd), and Jie Chao (Concord Consortium)
Explore how reasoning and sensemaking can come to life through data for students in math classrooms. In this interactive workshop, participants engage in three classroom-ready activities—sentiment analysis, data modeling, and student-generated surveys—to connect algebra, functions, and statistics with authentic data contexts while strengthening students’ data literacy, critical thinking, and modeling skills aligned with national math standards.
Workshop Session: Transforming Common Mistakes Into Pathways for Growth and Achievement
Time: 8–9:15 a.m.
Location: Colorado Convention Center / 505
Presenters: Jose Franco (WestEd) and Robert Rosenfeld (WestEd)
Do your students struggle to explain to you that 1/5 is equal to 0.20? Can they show where 0.34 goes on the number line? Rather than avoiding these common errors and misunderstandings, our approach confronts them directly, turning them into pathways to mastering key mathematics standards. Come join us to see how to help your students explain their math thinking like real mathematicians and enhance their conceptual understanding.
Workshop Session: From Numbers to Narratives: Cultivating Identity and Inclusion in Early Math
Time: 2:45–4 p.m.
Location: Colorado Convention Center / 601
Presenters: Jonathan Dueck (Fresno County Superintendent of Schools), Naomi Reeley (Fresno County Superintendent of Schools), and Madhu Govind Kapoor (WestEd)
Participants will reflect on their identities and sense of belonging as math learners and educators. We will consider how math mindsets are shaped by environment and lived experiences. Through an active learning experience, we will consider the relevance of math in our everyday lives and what it means to be a “math person.” We will also reflect on stereotypes and inequities that exist in early math and discuss ways to strengthen positive math mindsets and a sense of belonging in early math.
Burst Session: Engaging Multilingual Learners in Quality Interactions: Structured Sorting Tasks
Time: 4:30–5 p.m.
Location: Colorado Convention Center / 601
Presenter: Monique Evans (WestEd)
Multilingual Learners deserve and require opportunities to engage with rigorous math. Sorting tasks, with a variety of goals (including labeling, ordering, and matching), offer structure and purposeful grouping that engage Multilingual Learners in rich discourse. In this session, participants will experience a sorting task and analyze how intentional design focused on structure, grouping, and language can support access to rigorous mathematics.
Friday, October 30
Research Session: Broadening Participation
Presentation: Activity Design to Broaden Participation for Multilingual Learners: Applying Basic Research
Time: 8–9 a.m.
Location: Colorado Convention Center / Bluebird Ball 3D
Presenters: Haiwen Chu (WestEd) and Monique Evans (WestEd)
Learn how the structure of activities increases Multilingual Learner participation in discourse. Apply ideas about distributing information to amplify the language and learning opportunities of tasks. Hear students talk about their ideas in real time with one another as they develop language.
Research Session: Teachers’ Thinking About Generative AI Use
Presentation: How Math Teachers Decide When and Why Students Should Use Generative AI
Time: 8–9 a.m.
Location: Colorado Convention Center / Bluebird Ball 2H
Presenter: Drew Nucci (WestEd)
This session explores how teachers’ visions of high-quality math instruction and students’ capabilities shape their choices about when and why students use GenAI for math learning.
Research Session: Math Enrichment Program Impacts
Presentation: The Impact of NBA Math Hoops on Student Learning and Social-Emotional Learning in Summer Enrichment
Time: 9:30-10:30 a.m.
Location: Colorado Convention Center / Bluebird Ball 2F
Presenter: David McKinney (WestEd) and Kirk Walters (WestEd)
This presentation explores the impact of NBA Math Hoops on student math achievement and social-emotional learning (SEL). NBA Math Hoops is a basketball-themed game and math curriculum for students in grades 3–8.
Research Session: The Mathematics Education Multiverse of Madness: The Future of Funded Field-Based Research in 2026
Presentation: Level Up K–1 Math Engagement: Linking Research and Practice Through Game-Based Learning
Time: 11 a.m.–12 p.m.
Location: Colorado Convention Center / Bluebird Ball 2H
Presenters: Linlin Li (WestEd), Mingyu Feng (WestEd), Yelee Jo (WestEd), and Hee Jin Bang (Age of Learning Glendale)
Attendees will review and discuss the threat to field-based math education research—with a focus on teacher education and professional development—from changes in the federal education landscape.
Session: Using AI for Connection, Not Individualization: Prosocial Uses of AI in the Mathematics Classroom
Time: 11 a.m.–12 p.m.
Location: Colorado Convention Center / Bluebird Ball 3A
Presenters: Philip Vahey (Applied Learning Insights), Matt Miller (OKO Labs), Drew Nucci (WestEd), and Stephanie Butler (Kiddom)
Cutting against the grain of using AI for hyper-individualized student learning, we instead highlight AI use that fosters human connection to create inclusive mathematics classrooms. Using the Rithm Project’s “5 Principles for Prosocial AI,” we discuss
- teachers constructing AI bots to develop discourse-oriented pedagogy,
- AI that facilitates small-group collaborative math learning, and
- AI coaching to support math teachers implementing high-quality classroom discourse.
Session: Positioning Students and Mathematics for Success: An Integrated Approach to Professional Learning
Time: 4–5 p.m.
Location: Colorado Convention Center / 108, 110, 112
Presenters: Erica Askew (WestEd) and Brent Jackson (WestEd)
This session will present an innovative video-based professional learning model integrating mathematical content with positioning strategies. Participants will analyze classroom video to see how teachers are anchors for how mathematics and students are positioned, emphasizing that deep understanding helps position all learners as competent. This approach demonstrates how professional learning can deepen mathematical understanding while affirming every student’s potential.
Saturday, October 31
Research Workshop: Learning about AI in Math Classes: Impacts on AI and Math Competencies Among Virtual School Students
Time: 8–9:15 a.m.
Location: Colorado Convention Center / Bluebird Ball 3H
Presenters: Linlin Li (WestEd), Jie Chao (Concord Consortium), Andrew Shepherd (Florida Virtual School), and Rebecca Ellis (Concord Consortium)
Explore how embedding AI concepts in Algebra 1 enhances math learning. Learn about AI literacy insights from research, design principles, and classroom-ready tools and materials.
Workshop Session: Codesigning an Integrated Statistics and Quantitative Reasoning Course With Teachers and Students
Time: 8–9:15 a.m.
Location: Colorado Convention Center / 505
Presenters: Amy Getz (WestEd), Blais Cross, Nathan Clephas-Schulz (Phoenix Union School District), and Kenneth Schelper (Sun Prairie School District)
In 2025–26, WestEd and the Dana Center codesigned an Integrated Statistics and Quantitative Reasoning (ISQR) course with teachers, students, and families, currently being piloted in 30+ districts. This workshop unpacks how the codesign process yielded insights into instruction and curricula that can be applied in the classroom, and it provides resources to engage students and families in codesign at the local level. In addition, participants will get an in-depth look at the ISQR course.
Workshop Session: Designing Universally to Increase Belonging and Reveal Mathematical Brilliance in Grades 6–12
Time: 8–9:15 a.m.
Location: Colorado Convention Center / 203
Presenters: Angela Knotts (WestEd) and Zach Smith (WestEd)
While tiered intervention is one tool for supporting students who are struggling to demonstrate proficiency, there is often much more we can do in Tier 1 to make math more accessible and engaging for all students. We share how teachers can create a richer, more accessible math experience for all by designing for alternate means of expression–that is, having students engage with math ideas and demonstrate understanding via a variety of options that align with their strengths, abilities, and preferences.
Session: Making Dual Enrollment Mathematics Meaningful: Codesign for Impact in Quantitative Reasoning
Time: 9:30–10:30 a.m.
Location: Colorado Convention Center / Bluebird Ball 2E
Presenter: Lewis Hosie (WestEd)
This session explores the design and early implementation of Quantway Dual Enrollment (QWDE), a quantitative reasoning curriculum implemented at Dallas College and partner high schools. Participants will examine how co-design feedback cycles with students and faculty produces context-rich lessons aligned to math situations of import to dual enrollment student populations that deepen algebraic reasoning, quantitative literacy, and mathematical discourse in this student population.
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