Professional Growth
The AIU’s Math & Science Collaborative offers robust personalized professional learning for mathematics and science teachers and school leaders. Built on research and delivered by experts, these offerings will prepare teachers to develop students as mathematical and scientific thinkers.
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Mathematics Events for 2025-26
Mathematics Educators
Mastering Online Math Tools for PSSA and Keystone Success
Is your school ready for the online PSSA and Keystone exams? Ensure your students excel with our comprehensive training.
Join us for an interactive workshop:
- Online Tools Exploration: Discover the online tools available for PSSA and Keystone exams and learn how to prepare your students for success.
- Strategies for Student Perseverance: Discuss with fellow educators how to foster perseverance in students, especially on open-ended and constructed response items.
- Integrating Tools into Ongoing Instruction: Brainstorm ways to incorporate similar tools into your daily teaching to optimize student preparation.
Hands-on Handscoring Review in the afternoon:
- Delve into the life cycle of a PSSA or Keystone exam item
- Engage in handscoring with newly released student responses
Don't miss this opportunity to enhance your students' testing experience and performance!
Meeting Dates: November 11, 2025 or February 11, 2026, 9 A.M. - 3 P.M.
Price: Free
Audience: Grades 3 - Algebra I educators and leaders
Location: Allegheny Intermediate Unit, 475 E. Waterfront Drive, Homestead, PA 15120
Implementing an Algebra I Remediation Course
Do you have students that need remediation in Algebra I that is novel, engaging, and supports their unfinished learning from prior years?
If so, join us to get access to a carefully sequenced set of materials for Algebra I remediation. These materials include tasks from open source resources such Illustrative Mathematics, Amplify Desmos math, and Math Medic.
Throughout our three days together, we will engage in several of the tasks together as well as discuss how to implement them effectively with a diverse population of learners.
Fall 2025 Meeting Dates: September 10, October 2, October 30, 2025, 9 A.M. - 3 P.M.
Spring 2026 Meeting Dates: February 5, March 10, April 9, 2026, 9 A.M. - 3 P.M.
Price: $450/participant* (High-needs/low resourced schools - MAY participate at no cost PENDING the approval of grant funding. To verify if your school district /school meets the PDE definition of High-needs, check here); Administrators may attend with the teacher(s) from their district/building at no additional cost.
Audience: Algebra I teachers
Location: Allegheny Intermediate Unit, 475 E. Waterfront Drive, Homestead, PA 15120
Building Thinking Classrooms: Part 1
Do your students lack confidence and/or motivation to do mathematics?
Are your students content to wait for the right answer from the teacher?
Do your students lack perseverance when the answer is not immediately obvious?
If so, come learn how to Build a Thinking Classroom. A thinking student is an engaged student!
Built on 14 key practices teased out over 15 years of research, it’s a way of teaching that gets students up on their feet, collaborating and thinking through challenging problems on a daily basis.
Part 1 of Building a Thinking Classroom for K-12 will dig into the first 11 chapters of the book including the foundational changes to the classroom such as using thinking tasks, random groups and vertical non-permanent surfaces. We will also delve into supporting students during thinking tasks by how we question students, give hints and extensions, and build student autonomy. Finally, we will focus on lesson closure including consolidating student thinking, note taking, and managing “homework”.
All teachers will receive a copy of Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics, 14 Teaching Practices for Enhanced Learning as part of their registration fee.
2025 Meeting Dates:October 8, November 5, December 18, 2025, 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Price: $450/participant* (High-needs/low resourced schools - MAY participate at no cost PENDING the approval of grant funding. To verify if your school district /school meets the PDE definition of High-needs, check here); Administrators may attend with the teacher(s) from their district/building at no additional cost.
Audience: K-12 educators and leaders
Location: Allegheny Intermediate Unit, 475 E. Waterfront Drive, Homestead, PA 15120
Building Thinking Classrooms: Part 2
Part 2 of Building Thinking Classroom for K-12 will focus on fine tuning implementation of the first eleven practices and delving into the assessment practices. This is not for novices or anyone new to BTC. You must be a K-12 educator or leader who has completed BTC: Part 1 OR you have read the book and are actively attempting to implement the first three toolkits.
Come engage in a professional learning community to learn more about a thinking classroom and collaborate with peers to share ideas and implementation strategies. A thinking student is an engaged student!
Built on 14 key practices teased out over 15 years of research, it’s a way of teaching that gets students up on their feet, collaborating and thinking through challenging problems on a daily basis.
A thinking classroom looks very different from a typical classroom. Students are working in groups rather than individually, they are standing rather than sitting, and the furniture is arranged so as to defront the room. Closer inspection will reveal that the teacher is giving instructions verbally, is answering fewer questions, and has drastically altered the way they give “homework.”
Part 2 focuses on the fine tuning implementation of the first eleven practices and delving into the assessment practices from the following chapters:
- Chapter 12: What We Choose to Evaluate in a Thinking Classroom
- Chapter 13: How We Use Formative Assessment in a Thinking Classroom
- Chapter 14: How We Grade in a Thinking Classroom
All participants are expected to bring their own copy of Building Thinking Classroom in Mathematics, 14 Teaching Practices for Enhanced Learning.
2026 Meeting Dates: January 28, February 26, March 25, 2026, 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Price: $450/participant* (High-needs/low resourced schools - MAY participate at no cost PENDING the approval of grant funding. To verify if your school district /school meets the PDE definition of High-needs, check here); Administrators may attend with the teacher(s) from their district/building at no additional cost.
Audience: K-12 educators and leaders who have completed BTC: Part 1 OR you have read the book and are actively attempting to implement the first three toolkits.
Location: Allegheny Intermediate Unit, 475 E. Waterfront Drive, Homestead, PA 15120
Mathematics Leaders
Math Coaches/Administrators Network
The Math Coach/Administrator Network, a free network, is a professional learning community that brings together math coaches and leaders to learn from and with each other, exploring and sharing successful strategies that actively engage students in the content and practices of the PA Core Standards for Mathematics.
Meeting Dates: September 26, 2025, November 21, 2025, January 30, 2026, March 13, 2026, 8:30 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Price: Free
Audience: Mathematics coaches and administrators
Location: Allegheny Intermediate Unit, 475 E. Waterfront Drive, Homestead, PA 15120
Act 45 Course -School Leadership in Mathematics - Part 1
The School Leadership in Mathematics Workshop is designed to enhance the ability of principals, curriculum directors, instructional coaches, department chairs, other school leaders to support high-quality mathematics teaching and learning and mathematics professional development efforts in their schools.
Specifically, the purposes of the School Leadership Workshop are:
- To build capacity of instructional leaders to support standards-based mathematics teaching and learning and mathematics professional development efforts in their schools.
- To provide a focus for classroom observations and conversations between teachers and instructional leaders based on aspects of mathematics teaching and learning known to support students’ understanding of mathematics and mathematical achievement.
- To enable school leaders to communicate the purpose, intent, focus, and importance of standards-based mathematics teaching and learning and mathematics professional development efforts to other instructional leaders, parents, and members of the school community.
- To review or obtain research-based knowledge of effective mathematics pedagogy that school leaders can share in discussions with teachers, other leaders, and parents.
The workshop consists of four sessions to be attended by principals and other school leaders, accompanied by a mathematics lead teacher, coach, or department chair from their school.
Dates:
- Session 1: Supporting Effective Mathematical Tasks and CurriculumJan 27, 2026 @ AIU3, 8:30 AM - 3:30 PM
- Session 2: Effective Classroom Observations: Focus on Task ImplementationFeb 18, 2026 @ AIU3, 8:30 AM - 3:30 PM
- Session 3-Part 1: Effective Classroom Observations: Focus on Classroom Talk and Student EngagementMarch 24, 2026 Virtual Synchronous, 8:30 AM - 12:00 PM
- Session 3-Part 2: Effective Classroom Observations: Focus on Classroom Talk and Student EngagementApril 7, 2026 Virtual Synchronous, 8:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Price: $600*. Includes: One teacher or classroom/instructional coach may attend for free with a paid/registered administrator from their district.
Book- "Making Sense of Mathematics For Teaching to Inform Instructional Quality
* (High-needs/low resourced schools - MAY participate at no cost PENDING the approval of grant funding. To verify if your school district /school meets the PDE definition of High-needs, check here)
Audience: Principals or other school leaders, accompanied by a mathematics lead teacher, coach, or department chair from their school.
Location: Allegheny Intermediate Unit, 475 E. Waterfront Drive, Homestead, PA 15120
Act 45 hours will be awarded pending approval by PDE for those who attend all sessions and complete related assignments.
For additional information, contact: Melissa Boston, bostonm@duq.edu
School Leadership in Mathematics- Part 2
Prerequisite: To participate in this PL, you must have completed School Leadership in Mathematics, Part 1 during the 2024-’25 school year.
Participants will continue to develop and expand their capacity for ambitious mathematics instruction in their schools. Building off the professional learning experiences in Part 1, participants will:
- Create a trajectory of continuous, sustained PL activities for teachers, with a focus on ambitious mathematics instruction, using resources shared within the first leadership workshop (e.g., NCTM Principles to Actions Toolkit, MSMT IQA book, 5-Practices in Practice).
- Conduct classroom walkthroughs and provide constructive feedback aligned with NCTM effective teaching practices, using the ALW framework shared in Mathematics Leadership- Part 1.
- Building critical mass- engage a team of at least four teachers as ”early implementers” using the IQA book and connections to practice activities.
Part 2 will provide opportunities to debrief across schools, share ideas, share what works (or does not work) within each school context.
Meeting Dates: Oct 7, 2025, Dec 9, 2025, Feb 24, 2026
All sessions will be virtual from 8 – 11:30 AM. In addition to the virtual dates, we will join you on two classroom walk-throughs.
Price: $375* (High-needs/low resourced schools - MAY participate at no cost PENDING the approval of grant funding. To verify if your school district /school meets the PDE definition of High-needs, check here)
Audience: Mathematics coaches and administrators
Location: Allegheny Intermediate Unit, 475 E. Waterfront Drive, Homestead, PA 15120