Get in Touch

Support for Schools

Professional Learning for Educators & Schools

Psychology-informed professional learning that helps teachers understand, identify, and support struggling math students.

Support for Schools

Professional Learning for Educators & Schools

Psychology-informed professional learning that helps teachers understand, identify, and support struggling math students.

Supporting Schools With Struggling Math Students

I work with math teachers and the educators who support them. Many schools have students who are struggling significantly with math and are not being reached with their current instruction, interventions, and supports. Teachers and school leaders want to help but aren’t always sure what’s getting in the way or what to do differently.

When schools reach out to me, they’re often navigating challenges like these:

  • Students with learning differences or disabilities who aren’t making expected progress
  • Teachers who want to differentiate but aren’t sure how to identify or address underlying learning challenges
  • Interventions that aren’t gaining traction
  • A sense that something isn’t working, but difficulty pinpointing what

With the right understanding and support, teachers can learn to see what’s getting in the way for struggling students — and build the skills and confidence to reach them.

My Approach to Supporting Schools

Hi, I’m Adena. 

I’m a licensed educational psychologist who specializes in understanding and supporting students with math learning challenges. I work with students directly and partner with educators and schools to strengthen math instruction and support for diverse learners.

In my work, I’ve found that students’ struggles with math are often treated as a single problem — when in reality, they can stem from very different underlying challenges. Without understanding what’s driving those difficulties, even well-intentioned instruction and intervention may not lead to meaningful progress.

Through professional development workshops and coaching, I help teams better understand these underlying challenges and connect that understanding to effective instruction, intervention, and support — so that math learning becomes more accessible and meaningful for all students.

Learn more about me →

Professional Learning

Professional Development Workshops

I offer workshops designed to help teachers better understand and support their struggling math students. Workshops build teachers’ understanding of why students struggle with math and explore practical strategies for identifying those challenges and adapting instruction to meet students’ needs. Workshops are available in 90-minute, half-day, and full-day formats, and can be delivered in person or virtually. I work with math teachers, special education teachers, and school psychologists, and can tailor the focus and depth to your team’s needs and goals.

Coaching

Coaching is a supplement to my workshops that gives teachers dedicated time and support to integrate and implement what they have learned into their teaching practices. Coaching provides teachers with opportunities for clarification, brainstorming, collaborative problem-solving, reflection, and feedback. Coaching is available as a series of 1–4 sessions, in person or virtually, and works best when sessions are spaced throughout the school year, giving teachers opportunities to apply, reflect, refine, and internalize their understanding and practices over time.

How This Work Helps Teachers

and their Students and Schools

This work is designed to help teachers beyond just learning new strategies or techniques — it is designed to help teachers think differently about their students’ challenges and learning needs, and to grow their capacity to respond in meaningful ways.

  • Deeper understanding — Teachers begin to see their struggling students differently. Learning challenges start to become clearer, and with that comes greater empathy and a better sense of what each student actually needs.
  • Expanding pedagogical knowledge and skills — Teachers build a repertoire of strategies and approaches that make their instruction more accessible and effective for struggling math students.
  • Adaptive teaching judgment — Teachers develop the ability to put it all together, drawing on their understanding of students and their teaching skills to figure out what a specific student needs in the moment. 
  • Capacity that compounds — Teachers build understanding and skills that become part of their teaching practice, benefiting every student they work with moving forward.
  • Teaching from strength — Teachers no longer need to search for the perfect program, curriculum, or activity to reach their struggling students. With the understanding and skills they’ve built, they can meet students’ needs with the materials and context they already have.

Stories from Teachers

“[Adena] has given me the confidence and strategies to figure out what each student needs.”

8th Grade Math Teacher

Read More →

“I have learned how to break things down better and how to really get into a student’s shoes when something’s not working.”

6th Grade Math Teacher

Read More →

“Adena helped me understand the emotional experiences of students with math difficulties — and what we can do instructionally to support them.”

5th Grade Math Teacher

Read More →

Interested in Professional Learning for Your School?

If you’re interested in professional learning for your teachers or schools, I’d love to hear from you. We can talk about your PL needs and the services that might be a good fit.

Get in Touch

“I started working with Adena about six years ago. Through our work, I’ve found that I am better able to serve the diverse set of learners that pass through my classroom. She has given me tools and practices that help me identify students’ needs and match them with strategies that work for different learning styles. I’ve learned to adapt and implement practices that not only benefit students with learning challenges, but also improve instruction and learning for all. Best practices for students with atypical learning profiles are best practices for everyone.

Through my work with Adena, I’ve also learned how to build and maintain self‑care. I discovered that doing what is best for me is also what is best for the students I teach. I used to feel that putting my needs into the equation was taking away from students. Now I know that I am a vital and important part of the equation — and worth the effort. Self‑care is care for all the people I work and engage with.

Adena has helped me develop a vocabulary to articulate the issues and challenges I face in the classroom. Sometimes I come into a session feeling overwhelmed, and she asks questions that help me sort through the myriad of issues I’m juggling. She doesn’t prescribe solutions; instead, she helps me work through them and provides a process I can reproduce on my own. Together, we’ve built a vocabulary that connects what once felt like disparate challenges to a common thread. Adena empowers me to be a problem‑solver by giving me both questions and space to reflect.

Her process and support have become an essential part of my professional and personal work. Just as teachers strive to serve the whole student, working with Adena serves the whole educator. She equips me not only with skills and tools to work with diverse math learners, but also with insight into the social and emotional aspects of learning mathematics.”

Carwai, 8th Grade Math Teacher (Former Teacher Client)

(Testimonial written in 2020)

Story shared with permission. Lightly copyedited for spelling and clarity.

“When I first started working with Adena, I really needed help differentiating for my students. I had mixed level students on vast sides of the spectrum in the same classroom. I was a new math teacher and needed to figure out a way to help my students at multiple levels at the same time, while not burning myself out.

Firstly, I needed help knowing how to teach concepts at multiple levels in the same class period. Secondly, I needed help understanding healthy boundaries for what general education teachers can and cannot do. With the levels of students varying widely, I needed help in understanding where the threshold for what defines the “near reaching” and the “far reaching” levels were.

I came to Adena initially in what I felt was crisis-mode. I was feeling overwhelmed at the tall order I wanted to meet for all my students. I knew I longed to make math feel more connective and real for my students, but how to put this into action seemed like a daunting task.

At the beginning of my sessions, I would start off rattling off all the things I wanted to accomplish and ask how I could get this all done. She would calmly listen and then ask me to pause and try to reset myself and my thinking. She helped me start from a fresh perspective, instead of starting from a reactive and chaotic position with specific issues. She would ask me to imagine math concepts more open minded initially, then guided me to get my specific desires or concerns addressed. Her knowledge of math concepts, differentiation, project-based learning, and teacher support are above anything I’ve worked with. Through our work, I’ve learned to start with function before form when I problem‑solve.

What I love most about working with Adena is how she shows up with me, without judgment. She holds space for my questions and shares the weight of my load. She has a magic about her — the ability to see the larger arc of my needs, often before I do. She helps me work through broad concepts, then guides me back to the details, where I surprise myself with the answers I can now give.

The results have been transformative. I don’t feel weighed down anymore by the constant cycle of problems and solutions. The murkiness has cleared, and I feel lighter, calmer, and recharged. Now, I design content that makes me giddy to teach. Challenges that used to exhaust me now feel like puzzles I get to crack.

The most powerful change I’ve seen is in my students. They’ve become curious and motivated, eager to see how far they can go. I’ve watched them move from “near reaching” to “far reaching” levels of challenge, often surprising themselves: “Oh wow, I didn’t think I could do a ‘far reaching’ problem. That’s it? Oh wow, that’s easy. I get it now!” To see students approach math like a wonderland, exploring with joy and saying, “I want to test how far I can go,” is exactly what I’ve always dreamed of for them, regardless of their current math level.

Teachers give so much — to students, families, coworkers, and entire school communities. But where do we go when we need support ourselves? I had been searching for that source for over nine years. With Adena, my search is over. She breathes new life into my body, my mind, and my teaching practice. I’m often reminded of the verse, “Seek and you shall find, knock and the door shall be opened.” Each time I knock, Adena opens the door with tools and insight ready to help me along my journey. How often does that happen in real life?

There’s teaching life before Adena — and teaching life after Adena. She’s absolutely amazing and utterly life‑changing.

Sasha, 6th Grade Math Teacher (Former Teacher Client)

(Testimonial written in 2020)

Story adapted from a teacher Q&A, shared with permission.

“Like many who grew up in the 80s and 90s, I didn’t gain much number sense in school. This led me to believe I wasn’t “good at math.” When I began my pedagogy courses, I realized that wasn’t true — there were better ways to teach children mathematics. From then on, learning math pedagogy became a keen interest of mine. Developing my own number sense and mathematical habits of mind alongside my students has been, and continues to be, a source of personal satisfaction.

Adena’s support has contributed greatly to my mathematics pedagogy. She respects teachers and understands how hard we work. In consultation, she creates a safe, judgment‑free space to share our thoughts and questions, working in partnership toward real solutions.

As a teacher, I appreciate that Adena acknowledges we know our students better than any outside observer. No matter how skilled a consultant may be, they haven’t spent the day‑to‑day time with our students. Adena approaches her practice through questions, helping me use the knowledge I already carry to brainstorm solutions. Often when I felt stuck in how to support a student, I would schedule a meeting with Adena. I always left with fresh ideas and new questions to explore through observation.

Unlike some consultants who offer quick fixes, Adena recognizes that human learning is far more complex. Her approach deepens my understanding of a child and equips me with tools to address their challenges in meaningful, authentic ways. She also offers new lenses for viewing problems, helping me shift from feeling stuck to moving forward.

What makes Adena unique is that she combines deep mathematical knowledge with a genuine ability to “see” the whole child. Many consultants are either content‑area experts or social‑emotional experts — but Adena brings both.

Working with her has enhanced my practice not just in mathematics, but across my teaching. If you believe every child can learn, but sometimes you haven’t yet found the right path, Adena can help you get there. She’s changed the way I think: I now approach every learning challenge with an inquiry mindset. She’s taught me what questions to ask myself, how to trust my everyday observations, and how to harness them as some of my best resources to support student learning.”

Maureen, 5th Grade Teacher (Former Teacher Client)

(Testimonial written in 2020)

Story shared with permission. Lightly copyedited for spelling and clarity.