Research in Mathematics Education continued their work with the Jamaican Ministry of Education and the Inter-American Development Bank to encourage and support mathematical underst
anding and fluency in the homes of local families, specifically those with children in Grades 1 and 2 throughout the island country. A feasibility study was conducted with one of a series of six face-to-face parent workshops that includes mathematics games, a culturally relevant book, and other grade appropriate content focused on foundational number concepts such as place value concepts and composing numbers to 10.
Families in the St. Catherine Parish of Jamaica were selected by the Jamaican Ministry of Education to participate in the feasibility study. RME experts led the workshop on the first day, working closely with the coach who would then be training the parents. On the second 
day, the coach spent a full day with parents, working with them as they learned how best to use the materials and how to share them at home with their children. The parents then returned on the final day to share their experiences about the usability and feasibility of the materials.
The RME team received positive feedback about the feasibility of the materials. The RME team will continue to develop learning materials for the remaining face-to-face workshops to best meet the needs of parents who will be helping their children learn mathematics in the home. The team will hire four mathematics coaches in Jamaica over the next couple of months. These coaches will lead the face-to-face parent workshops during the implementation phase of the project.