IMPACTS Summer Institute 2026 Teacher Quotes
Rosana Corrales: 3rd grade - Roskruge K-8
I loved the CRR Summer Institute. What empowered me the most from attending was seeing the importance of experiencing and doing! Using manipulatives, creating, drawing, and exploring before coming to and or giving an answer.
Margaret Moeykens: CSP - Henry Elementary
For me personally, what I’ve gotten out of this is looking to see how amazing it is to watch other people think, and how differently, just in a room of teachers who have been trained pretty much in the same way, can have all these different ways of thinking, and just imagining how that connects to our students, and how are they thinking. There’s so much thinking happening that I’m not even in tune to, so I think this has really opened my eyes to that.
Madison Leinberger: 1st grade - John E. White Elementary School
This week has really empowered me. I’ve always had this part of me that I just didn’t get, I didn‘t have the resources. I didn’t have the confidence to do math, but to have this uplifting people around me, to keep going and keep pushing me to want to keep going and want to keep doing it. And finding those AHA moments this week and being able to understand.
IMPACTS K-8 Program
The IMPACTS (Improving Mathematical Problem-solving, Agency, and student-Centered instruction for Teachers and Students) K-8 Program caters to teachers seeking to bring about the greatest change in students' mathematical experiences and improve student outcomes in mathematics. This includes classroom teachers, special education teachers, long term substitute teachers, coaches/interventionists, and others directly serving math learners.
IMPACTS Program Goals:
- Improve teachers' professional agency and confidence with conceptual mathematics instruction
- Improve students' mathematical agency and confidence
- Increase the use of student-centered instructional strategies
The program consists of 5 components:
- Teacher Workshops on Saturdays throughout the school year
- Summer Mathematics Institutes for Teacher Teams engaged in site-based leadership
- Site-based support for Teacher Teams by CRR staff
- Teacher Leadership Retreat for teachers engaged in regional/district leadership
- Mathematics Educator Appreciation Day Conference (MEAD)
During the school year, the CRR will offer a wide range of workshops (see workshop descriptions below). These workshops introduce teachers to the big ideas of mathematics in grades K-5 and 6-8.
During the summer, the CRR will offer week-long institutes for teachers who demonstrate productive mathematics dispositions, commitment to their schools, and the capacity to become school site mathematics facilitators. See Program Agreements for more details.
Information about the school year workshops will be advertised through the CRR listserv, so please make sure you are on the list.
For more information about the IMPACTS program or to form a Teacher Team, please contact Agi Post (agipost@arizona.edu) for K-5 or Rodrigo Gutiérrez (rodrigog@arizona.edu) for 6-8.
Program Agreements for Teachers, Principals, Districts, and the CRR
IMPACTS K-8 Events for 2026-2027
For more details and to register please visit our Events Schedule page.
August 2026
Description: Do you wish you could work with a small group while the rest of your learners are engaged in rich mathematics? Have you wondered how and why to use centers? In this workshop you’ll get to explore a variety of highly engaging centers. You’ll also collaborate with others to unpack all the details involved in planning for successful implementation of centers.
Time: 8:30am - 12:30pm
Location: Hybrid: In-person at UArizona Tucson Campus. Remote via Zoom.
Earn: Up to 6 hours of professional development credit for recertification.
Description: Do you wish your students would talk more about math than Roblox during a lesson? Allowing students to make sense of mathematics in collaborative groups is a powerful way to learn. How do we craft experiences for student success? How do we guide student groups toward and through productive struggle? How do we facilitate student-centered whole group discussion? Join us as we unpack an effective instructional framework with a variety of teacher moves.
Time: 8:30am - 12:30pm
Location: Hybrid: In-person at UArizona Tucson Campus. Remote via Zoom.
Earn: Up to 6 hours of professional development credit for recertification.
Description: Ratios and proportional relationships are critical areas for middle school mathematics and are foundational for further study in mathematics and science, as well as being useful for everyday life, including recipes and other contexts (thus the title!). The teaching of ratios and proportional reasoning should build on students’ work in measurement in multiplication and division in the elementary grades, while also further developing fraction sense as students move from additive to multiplicative thinking. Come and explore the learning trajectory, tasks, and student supports for proportional reasoning, in order to develop a deeper understanding of the Big Idea and the 10 Essential Understandings of ratios, proportions, and proportional reasoning.
Time: 8:30am - 12:30pm
Location: Hybrid: In-person at UArizona Tucson Campus. Remote via Zoom.
Earn: Up to 5 hours of professional development credit for recertification.
Description: Addition and subtraction are the foundation of elementary mathematics. These operations intentionally and systematically grow from work in Kindergarten through grade 3, culminating in fluency with addition and subtraction in grade 4. How do we help students move along the path? What strategies will build the concept clearly and understandably? Come and explore the conceptual path and strategies to move students to deeper understanding of addition and subtraction.
Time: 8:30am - 12:30pm
Location: Hybrid: In-person at UArizona Tucson Campus. Remote via Zoom.
Earn: Up to 6 hours of professional development credit for recertification.
Description: Move beyond repeated addition and subtraction to foster true multiplicative reasoning. This workshop is designed to equip educators with multiple, robust conceptual strategies that help students make sense of multiplication and division, leading to lasting fluency. Instead of relying solely on rote memorization, you will learn to teach students how to visualize and apply strategies like the area model, partial products/quotients, and more.
Time: 1:00pm - 5:00pm
Location: Hybrid: In-person at UArizona Tucson Campus. Remote via Zoom.
Earn: Up to 6 hours of professional development credit for recertification.
September 2026
Description: Ratios and proportional relationships are critical areas for middle grades mathematics and are foundational for further study in mathematics and science, as well as being useful for everyday life. The teaching of ratios and proportional reasoning should build on students’ work in measurement and in multiplication and division in the elementary grades, while also further developing fraction sense as students move from additive to multiplicative thinking. Come and explore the learning trajectory, tasks, and student supports for proportional reasoning, in order to develop a deeper understanding of the Big Idea and the 10 Essential Understandings of ratios, proportions, and proportional reasoning.
Time: 8:30am - 12:30pm
Location: Hybrid: In-person at UArizona Tucson Campus. Remote via Zoom.
Earn: Up to 6 hours of professional development credit for recertification.
Description: The key to helping students understand and successfully solve word problems is to help them visualize and make sense of the problem. They need to be able to decide the overall “structure” and determine the relationships involved in any given problem. Participants will learn how to help students close read the word problem, represent their thinking, use specific tools to support problem solving, and much more. Come and explore new mathematical ideas through the use of problem solving.
Time: 1:00pm-5:00pm
Location: Hybrid: In-person at UArizona Tucson Campus. Remote via Zoom.
Earn: Up to 6 hours of professional development credit for recertification.
Description: What specific strategies and ideas will lay a strong number sense foundation for our youngest learners? How can we create opportunities for them to develop a robust sense of number? Come and explore the early understandings of numbers in an interactive and strategic way. We will discuss how to support this sense of number in relevant and practical ways with our young learners.
Time: 8:30am - 12:30pm
Location: Hybrid: In-person at UArizona Tucson Campus. Remote via Zoom.
Earn: Up to 6 hours of professional development credit for recertification.
Description: Have you ever wondered how and where the teaching of fractions starts? What if there was a way to build fraction sense in a similar way to how number sense is built? Come explore the foundational geometric and fraction standards and how you can better support students’ understanding of equivalence and comparisons.
Time: 1:00pm - 5:00pm
Location: Hybrid: In-person at UArizona Tucson Campus. Remote via Zoom.
Earn: Up to 6 hours of professional development credit for recertification.
Description: Join us as we bring the number line to life to unlock the number system! In this session, we’ll use this tool to explore how rational and irrational numbers evolve across middle grades, trace key standards, and see how the number system expands over time. You'll also learn how to use the number line as a powerful tool to identify misconceptions and support unfinished learning with clarity and confidence.
Come and explore strategies to move students to deeper understanding of rational and irrational numbers, including fractions, decimals, percents, and integers.
Time: 8:30am - 12:30pm
Location: Hybrid: In-person at UArizona Tucson Campus. Remote via Zoom.
Earn: Up to 6 hours of professional development credit for recertification.
Description: Geometric Measurement is a complex topic for students. They often find themselves confusing different measures and it may feel like there are a million formulas. What if Geometric Measurement was as rich in the classroom with real world contexts and investigations as it is in life? Come and explore how a few key actions uncover the ideas within the progression of Geometric Measurement. Experience ways in which teachers and students can explore these ideas, building new understandings through connecting to prior knowledge.
Time: 8:30am - 12:30pm
Location: Hybrid: In-person at UArizona Tucson Campus. Remote via Zoom.
Earn: Up to 6 hours of professional development credit for recertification.
Description: Are you struggling to help your students master their basic facts? Fluency with basic facts goes way beyond simple memorization and lays the foundation for powerful strategies that promote number sense. Come and explore ways you can utilize engaging teaching routines, meaningful games and strategy practice tasks that help students develop all three components of fluency with addition and subtraction.
Time: 1:00pm - 5:00pm
Location: Hybrid: In-person at UArizona Tucson Campus. Remote via Zoom.
Earn: Up to 6 hours of professional development credit for recertification.
October 2026
Description: Are you struggling to help your students master their basic facts? Fluency with basic facts goes way beyond simple memorization and lays the foundation for powerful strategies that promote number sense. Come and explore ways you can utilize engaging teaching routines, meaningful games and strategy practice tasks that help students develop all three components of fluency with multiplication and division.
Time: 1:00pm - 5:00pm
Location: Hybrid: In-person at UArizona Tucson Campus. Remote via Zoom.
Earn: Up to 6 hours of professional development credit for recertification.
Description: How can students discover attributes and structures through exploration? Come experience the world of geometry in a new way. Look at figures and shapes in new ways, and discover new relationships. Participants will experience investigations designed to support K-5 students' discovery and conceptualization of geometric attributes and structures. Participants will explore the optimal progression for learning big ideas of geometry. Geometry is an area with significant misconceptions, come and uncover these.
Time: 8:30am - 12:30pm
Location: Hybrid: In-person at UArizona Tucson Campus. Remote via Zoom.
Earn: Up to 6 hours of professional development credit for recertification.
November 2026
Description: What routines and lesson structures help ALL learners succeed? Unpack ways to support students in their learning journey by addressing specific skills. Experience how these research based ideas of intensification, acceleration, and intervention apply to students with diverse needs.
Time: 8:30am - 12:30pm
Location: Hybrid: In-person at UArizona Tucson Campus. Remote via Zoom.
Earn: Up to 6 hours of professional development credit for recertification.
Description: Have you set up Centers/Workstations with your students, and now you want to dig deep into your intensification and enrichment time with your small groups? Do you want to discover how to choose your small groups, how to structure their experience, and how to get the most out of the time you have? We will discuss setting up small group instruction, focusing on the math and not the student, as well as data that can drive your small groups. Come and experience these ideas, ask questions, and gather ideas to launch your small group instruction.
Time: 8:30am - 12:30pm
Location: IN-PERSON ONLY. Two locations: UA Tucson Campus and the Phoenix area (Northwest Mesa).
Earn: Up to 6 hours of professional development credit for recertification.
Description: Place Value is a crucial understanding students develop across their elementary experience. Why does it seem to come easier to some students than other students? What is involved in understanding place value? What tools and strategies will help students develop place value understanding? Come and learn conceptual strategies to teach place value that will foster deeper understanding and support students’ understanding of other elementary mathematics.
Time: 8:30am - 12:30pm
Location: Hybrid: In-person at UArizona Tucson Campus. Remote via Zoom.
Earn: Up to 6 hours of professional development credit for recertification.
December 2026
Description: Have you ever wondered where the tape diagram came from? What does an all-grown-up number line look like? Is there a visual way to solve systems of 3 linear equations in 3 variables? Join us as we journey from number track and part-whole mat to the number line and tape diagram, and discover the powerful and persistent relationships among these models. Find your role in this important progression and OWN it. Make these connections for yourself and for your students.
Time: 8:30am - 12:30pm
Location: Hybrid: In-person at UArizona Tucson Campus. Remote via Zoom.
Earn: Up to 6 hours of professional development credit for recertification.
Description: Decimals are introduced as fractions in fourth grade and as magnitudes of place value in fifth grade. How do we make strong connections between these ideas and domains? How do we help students develop a robust understanding of decimals? And how do we help students learn conceptual strategies for operations with decimals? Come and explore these ideas. Please note that this first part will focus on decimal understanding as well as addition and subtraction.
Time: 1:00pm - 5:00pm
Location: Hybrid: In-person at UArizona Tucson Campus. Remote via Zoom.
Earn: Up to 6 hours of professional development credit for recertification.
Description: How do we help students build on their understanding of decimals to develop conceptual strategies for operations with decimals? In this second part, we will focus on decimal multiplication and division.
Time: 1:00pm - 5:00pm
Location: Hybrid: In-person at UArizona Tucson Campus. Remote via Zoom.
Earn: Up to 6 hours of professional development credit for recertification.
January 2027
The Mathematics Educator Appreciation Day Conference (MEAD) is Arizona's largest mathematics education event!
Please join us for the 24th annual MEAD Conference!
MEAD 2026 will take place on Saturday, January 23rd, with over 150 sessions.
Thanks to a partnership with the Arizona Department of Education, registration is FREE for all Arizona teachers and administrators, and $125 for non-Arizona educators.
For more information about MEAD 2026 please visit: https://crr.math.arizona.edu/mead-conference
Registration will open in late November 2026
February 2027
Description: Building fraction sense requires students to have robust visual models and flexible understandings of fractions. We will explore the addition and subtraction of fractions through sense-making with visually rich experiences. Join us and you will build, draw, and discuss fraction addition and subtraction. We will use representations to build deeper understandings of fraction operations. Come and engage with fractions deeply.
Time: 1:00pm - 5:00pm
Location: Hybrid: In-person at UArizona Tucson Campus. Remote via Zoom.
Earn: Up to 6 hours of professional development credit for recertification.
Description: Fraction Multiplication and Division understandings are uncovered through mathematically rich tools and discussions. Join us as you will build, draw, and discuss fraction multiplication and division. We will use representations to build deeper understandings of fraction multiplication and division. Bring your playful inquisitive minds, but leave "flip and multiply" at home!
Time: 1:00pm - 5:00pm
Location: Hybrid: In-person at UArizona Tucson Campus. Remote via Zoom.
Earn: Up to 6 hours of professional development credit for recertification.
March 2027
Description: Addition and subtraction are the foundation of elementary mathematics. These operations intentionally and systematically grow from work in Kindergarten through grade 3, culminating in fluency with addition and subtraction in grade 4. How do we help students move along the path? What strategies will build the concept clearly and understandably? Come and explore the conceptual path and strategies to move students to deeper understanding of addition and subtraction.
Time: 8:30am - 12:30pm
Location: Hybrid: In-person at UArizona Tucson Campus. Remote via Zoom.
Earn: Up to 6 hours of professional development credit for recertification.
Description: Move beyond repeated addition and subtraction to foster true multiplicative reasoning. This workshop is designed to equip educators with multiple, robust conceptual strategies that help students make sense of multiplication and division, leading to lasting fluency. Instead of relying solely on rote memorization, you will learn to teach students how to visualize and apply strategies like the area model, partial products/quotients, and more.
Time: 1:00pm - 5:00pm
Location: Hybrid: In-person at UArizona Tucson Campus. Remote via Zoom.
Earn: Up to 6 hours of professional development credit for recertification.
April 2027
Description: The key to helping students understand and successfully solve word problems is to help them visualize and make sense of the problem. They need to be able to decide the overall “structure” and determine the relationships involved in any given problem. Participants will learn how to help students close read the word problem, represent their thinking, use specific tools to support problem solving, and much more. Come and explore new mathematical ideas through the use of problem solving.
Time: 8:30am - 12:30pm
Location: Hybrid: In-person at UArizona Tucson Campus. Remote via Zoom.
Earn: Up to 6 hours of professional development credit for recertification.
Description: What specific strategies and ideas will lay a strong number sense foundation for our youngest learners? How can we create opportunities for them to develop a robust sense of number? Come and explore the early understandings of numbers in an interactive and strategic way. We will discuss how to support this sense of number in relevant and practical ways with our young learners.
Time: 8:30am - 12:30pm
Location: IN-PERSON ONLY. Two locations: UA Tucson Campus and the Phoenix area (Northwest Mesa).
Earn: Up to 6 hours of professional development credit for recertification.
May 2027
June 2027
Description: Participants take a deep dive into the story told by mathematics content in the middle grades. From fractions to functions, teachers develop an understanding of how the content connects across grades and how students develop both conceptual understanding and procedural skills. Participants learn how to integrate instructional routines and manipulatives regularly in their classroom to help students see the big ideas and essential understandings of proportional reasoning and algebraic thinking.
- Summer institute will be HYBRID with in-person and online participants.
- Participants receive support throughout the school year as they experiment with instructional shifts and engage colleagues in professional conversations.
- Application available in March 2027.
Time: TBD
Location: Hybrid: In-person at UArizona Tucson Campus. Remote via Zoom.
Earn: $250 stipend and 40 hours of professional development credit for recertification.
Application: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd3LT61xqIS8nWAC0X3GODGvj8ZM5aYgD0hIO8Y8vVWqcqr3g/viewform?usp=header
Agreements: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_Z1Nj6VHdf_5K0xC52pRSh6D60Yu9Fq1QlQUclpasq4/edit?tab=t.0
Questions? Please contact Rodrigo Gutiérrez at rodrigog@arizona.edu.
Description: Teacher teams attend a one-week institute to deeply explore the progression of learning for elementary school mathematics, working together to design site plans for professional development to share strategies and content with colleagues in their schools.
- Elementary Summer Institute will be in-person only
- Application available in March 2027.
Time: TBD
Location: In-person at UArizona Tucson Campus
Earn: $250 stipend and 40 hours of professional development credit for recertification.
Application: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfLcjhRqq8fkCWuyJ8UBfCSsEwlv4JCgJ2R-U8Gs9WirtLCNQ/viewform
Agreements: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ef01KwPaXLkTvf5SgxLoTFc_5xCmYtGA1t2zQqXnF9s/edit?tab=t.0
Questions? Please contact Agi Post at apost@arizona.edu.
Elementary Summer Institute 2026
MS Summer Institute 2026
Thank you to all participants of IMPACTS Elementary Summer Institute 2025!
Thank you to all the participants from IMPACTS-MS Summer Institute 2025!
Teacher Leader Retreat 2024
Thank you to all participants in the Elementary IMPACTS Summer Institute 2024!
Thank you to all participants in the Middle School IMPACTS Summer Institute 2024!
Thank you to everyone who participated in the Elementary IMPACTS Summer Institute 2023!
Thank you to all the teachers who participated in the IMPACTS Middle School Summer Institute for 2023!
IMPACTS Teacher Leader Retreat 2022
The IMPACTS Program is made possible by the generosity of the Thomas R. Brown Foundations. The Thomas R. Brown Foundations are a legacy of Thomas R. Brown, and the company he built in Tucson, Arizona, Burr-Brown Corporation.
CRR and the many teachers served by the IMPACTS Program are very grateful for the investment made by the Thomas R. Brown Foundations.