Building Student Fluency in Math and Literacy: From Theory to Implementation
Thank you for joining us for CGCS’s Instructional Spotlight on April 1, 2026: Building Student Fluency in Math and Literacy. It was a true joy to moderate, and I'm grateful to Dr. Jennifer Bay-Williams, Carey Swanson, and Dr. Carolyne Quintana for bringing such depth and generosity to the conversation.
Fluency that overemphasizes memorization — in reading or in math — isn't fluency at all. What our panelists made clear is that we already know how to get there; the work is making it consistent and coherent at scale.
Three quotes that capture the heart of what we discussed:
Dr. Jennifer Bay-Williams: "Our nation has obsessed with accuracy, at the unfortunate loss of real fluency. We aren't working on flexibility, and that's where students and systems are falling short."
Dr. Carolyne Quintana: “Creating coherence where the skill, the instruction, the support all work together… changed what students and the adults actually experience every day.”
Carey Swanson: "When districts take fluency seriously, curriculum, intervention, and assessment all start to align around what students can actually read and do — not just what they're exposed to."
Additional resources shared by our panelists:
NMIP Math Fluency Primer, National Math Improvement Project featuring Dr. Bay-Williams
The Value of Coaching, Teaching Matters
Fluency in Secondary Classrooms, Student Achievement Partners
Connecting Foundational Skills and Meaning Making, Student Achievement Partners
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Please do not hesitate to reach out to me at hillary@whiteboardadvisors.com with questions or ideas for the future!
