🌟 Looney Math Leadership Lab 🌟

For educators who are ready to lead change—visionary, courageous, joy-filled change—in math instruction.

Math leadership lab

Do any of these sound like you?

  • You’re passionate about teaching—but math still feels like a mystery.

  • You know what good instruction looks like, but you’re not sure how to get others on board.

  • You’re the “go-to person” for math… but feel like you’re figuring it out alone.

  • You see gaps in equity, access, and consistency—and want to do something about it.

  • You’re committed to joy, to belonging, to deep understanding—and you want math to reflect that.

  • You’re a leader (official or not) who wants to make things better for kids and teachers.

If you’re nodding yes — you belong here.

What is the Leadership Lab?

The Looney Math Leadership Lab is a multi-year professional learning program designed to help school-based teams of educators become confident, visionary leaders of math instruction.

It’s not about titles.
It’s not about perfection.
It’s about growing your ability to influence, improve, and inspire.

You’ll learn to lead from wherever you are—with clarity, community, and purpose.

What You’ll Experience

The Leadership Lab is designed as a three-year journey toward sustainable instructional leadership. We start side-by-side. Over time, we help you take the lead.

Each district team works with a dedicated Looney Math consultant and receives a fully integrated learning experience:

  • Elementary school teacher math

    Year 1: Foundation + Focus

    - Establish shared goals and mindset

    - Participate in deep content learning (choose from six 20-hour courses)

    - Experience hands-on, in-classroom coaching

    - Launch tools like student work protocols, observation tools, and math labs

    - Build belonging and clarity for teachers and students

  • Year 2: Growth + Facilitation

    - Participate in another round of deep content learning 

    - Deepen use of culturally sustaining practices

    - Refine Tier 1 and Tier 2 small group instruction

    - Begin peer-led learning (math labs, walk-throughs, mentoring)

    - Use data and student thinking to guide decisions

  • Two students working on a same but different math problem

    Year 3: Leadership + Legacy

    - Launch train-the-trainer structures

    - Co-lead professional development and strategy sessions

    - Anchor the work in school improvement plans

    - Build a sustainable math leadership structure that lasts beyond our partnership

  • Director of Instruction, Dennis-Yarmouth

    "Dr. Looney has now worked with 4 cohorts (100+) teachers and administrators from preK- grade 6. This partnership has provided our district with a critical mass of teachers with a common understanding of the development of number sense, so significant for student success.

    Teachers are spending more time digging deeply into standards-based instruction and looking to appropriate resources and manipulatives, instead of just skimming the surface of a math text. There is a growing commitment to looking carefully at student work and using the results to guide instruction. Math is moving from a series of teacher-directed activities to purposeful actions, greater rigor, and more math talk between students."

  • Elizabeth Heins, Math Coach, Eliot School

    “We’ve seen strong growth for our marginalized populations. Thank you for the role you played.”

  • Educator coached by Jan Szymaszek

    “I have become a better teacher and person because of your expertise.”

Math blocks, graph paper & pencils

Why It Works

  • We start with your people—what they know, what they need, and what they dream of.

  • We connect professional development, coaching, and curriculum so learning is coherent, not chaotic.

  • We center equity, identity, and belonging—not as extras, but as essentials.

  • We model everything we teach—and give you the tools to do the same.

  • We stay with you long enough to help you fly on your own.

This is not “sit and get” professional development.
This is purposeful, joyful transformation—nurtured by the educators who are already there, every day.

Ready to Lead Change in Math?

Let’s create a plan that supports your educators, aligns your instruction, and builds something that lasts.