About Us
Our Story
Barbara Beske founded Coherent Math Consulting, LLC to support school districts and charter networks who want to make bold changes to improve math instruction in their classrooms. In addition to district coaching and consulting, Coherent Math Consulting creates innovative, equity-driven, student-centered, standards-aligned, culturally relevant math curriculum for districts and networks that want materials that are personalized to their state standards, personalized to their math mission and vision, and personalized to their specific goals for their teachers and students.
Barbara has put together a remarkable team that brings expertise, passion, and the collaborative spirit needed to make the changes needed in K-12 math education. Districts love that we not only create resources that match the goals and vision of the district, but that we also both produce the materials for easy use by teachers and provide the district with the Professional Learning and support needed for success.
Leadership
Barbara Beske
Barbara is a lifelong math educator who brings twenty years of teaching and coaching experience, along with over eight years as a senior math specialist at Student Achievement Partners to her role as Founder and Lead Math Specialist of Coherent Math Consulting. She has supported, coached, and advised districts, publishers, and education nonprofits across the country to improve math education. She believes all students deserve a math learning experience that makes sense, is culturally relevant, and provides the skills and understandings students need post K-12, all while elevating their voice and sense of belonging in the math classroom.
Jess Skwir
Jess brings over 15 years of experience in education to her role of Chief of Staff at Coherent Math Consulting, including expertise in strategic planning, leadership development, and continuous improvement. While her career began in Chicago as a Teach For America corps member, she has spent the majority of her time since then focused on advancing the performance of the system itself. From developing top-tier professional learning that pushes actualizing new instructional learning to coaching senior leaders on their instructional knowledge and organizational management skills, Jess has led and supported the systematic change necessary to deliver high-quality, equitable instruction to all students.
Contributors
Anna Schattauer Paillé
Anna Schattauer Paille is a curriculum writer and elementary math teacher with experience in project management, curriculum development, and equitable mathematics instructional practices. She brings a passion for designing and delivering accessible materials that reflect students’ identities and support them to construct a deep understanding of mathematics.
Ashley Burch
Ashley is a math curriculum consultant and founder of Anabatic Mathematics, LLC. A former classroom teacher and secondary math specialist for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, she brings expertise in producing high-quality resources for teachers and students, with particular attention to graphics, and a passion for connecting big ideas both within and across consecutive math courses as well as to applications outside of mathematics.
Crystal Watson
Crystal is a student-centered, passionate mathematics educator from Cincinnati, OH. She brings a focus on building strong mathematical identities and including students’ stories and feedback in order to improve instructional practices and build better math communities.
Emily Flanagan
Emily is an editor passionate about improving curriculum for all students and teachers. She brings her expertise in mathematics editing and strives to make math education clear, inclusive, and engaging.
Emily Kenton
Emily is a Maryland-based consultant and copy editor. She brings her love of parallel structure and flow to any writing project, and she asks the questions necessary for clarity and consistency to shine through the work.
Karen Levin
Karen is a math education consultant and educator currently living a nomadic life around the US, stopping at beautiful national parks. She brings a passion for all students having access to high-quality education that will set them up for whatever future endeavor they may choose!
Karen McPherson
Karen is a math coach and consultant from North Carolina. She brings an expertise in writing high-quality standards-aligned curriculum and a love for providing all students with effective equitable instruction.
Dr. Libby Butler
Libby is a professor in education and African American studies, former high school math teacher, facilitator of teacher professional learning, and district math coach in San Diego, CA. She brings a passion for reimagining math learning opportunities for all students, especially those typically marginalized in traditional classrooms.
Maria Hawthorne
Maria is a passionate math teacher for multilingual learners. Her love of language learning through content drives her desire for adapting mathematics curriculum to provide equitable access for students while embracing and connecting with their culture.
Mimi Cukier
Mimi teaches math at the Park School of Baltimore, where she was on the writing team for their Habits of Mind-based curriculum. She brings a love of puzzles and writing and a determination to help students develop agency in problem solving.
Dr. Nadine O’Garro
Nadine is an Instructional Transformation Coach with nearly two decades of experience teaching middle grades mathematics. She brings expertise in supporting teachers with implementation of high-quality instructional materials (HQIM) and transformation of their instructional practices to increase student engagement and student learning outcomes.
Nichole Campbell
Nichole is a district math coach and educational consultant in St. Paul, MN. She brings writing experience in culturally relevant math curricula with themes of social justice and continues to seek out best practices, new trends, and remaining open to all ideas.
Nick Corley
Nick is a middle school math teacher with more than 20 years of experience. He brings a love for using edtech tools to energize instruction and also enjoys supporting math teachers through professional development and consulting.
Dr. Noelle Conforti Preszler
Noelle is a K-5 curriculum development leader with a background in training K-8 preservice math teachers. She brings a passion for valuing students’ experiences with mathematics and works to create classrooms where students feel they belong and know their mathematical ideas are honored.
Ryan Colón
Ryan is a math teacher and leader. She brings a passion for reimagining education and creating opportunity and access for students in mathematics.
Scott Meltzer
Scott is the director of math for a network of schools in Philadelphia. He brings a passion for equity, learning, and rigorous math standards that shapes the work he does.
Dr. Shakiyya Bland
Shakiyya is an educator, mathematics curriculum designer, equity leader, and education consultant with more than 10 years of experience. Shakiyya brings experience in producing critically conscious curricula and professional learning resources to support scholars’ racial and cultural identities as contributors to STEM education.
Terry Sanders
Terry recently retired from a school district in New Jersey after 26 years as an administrative assistant in the central office. She likes to make someone else’s day easier by supporting them in any way she can.
Tiayana Marks
Tiayana is a math education consultant from Brooklyn, NY with 25 years experience in teaching and learning. She brings a strong belief that all children should feel supported, included, and empowered in the learning of mathematics, and that teaching should leverage discipline-specific pedagogical practices that engage and value the humanity and capacity of all children.
Todd Thomas
Todd is a digital nomad consultant and format editor supporting the finished product. His engineering background offers a unique approach to streamlining workflow, while his attention to detail ensures consistent document style, text, images, and layout.
Dr. Vinci Daro
Vinci is the Director of Instructional Impact in Mathematics at ConnectED: The National Center College and Career. Her research focuses on the integration of language learning with mathematics learning, with an emphasis on the role of exploratory, everyday language in mathematical sense-making.
Wendy DenBesten
Wendy is a retired high school math teacher from Fresno, CA who’s been writing math curriculum since the late 90s. She is passionate about designing and delivering mathematics learning experiences that spark joy and wonder.