Any educational curriculum that utilizes a specific program will require training for teachers to effectively carry out that program. Typically such training is offered to the school district by the publisher when the new curriculum is adopted and periodically afterward so new teachers and assistants can become proficient with it. This training from the developer ensures that the program is carried out consistently.
Many math curricula, including Everyday Mathematics, emphasize differentiated instruction. By providing additional training focused upon different student educational needs and learning patterns, the school district can increase the flexibility of the teachers who are using this curriculum. Awareness of multiple teaching strategies and learning needs will allow the instructor to successfully teach new material to a greater number of his students.
Particularly in the early years, a child's understanding of math concepts tends to be concrete. Training teachers to focus on math problems that the student is likely to face every day enables the teachers to provide more meaningful instruction. When the students are mentally more involved with the instruction, they are more likely to grasp new material quickly and to retain it.
Scaffolding is a teaching technique emphasized by Everyday Mathematics and other curricula in which instructional supports are provided to the students when they are first learning new material and are then slowly withdrawn as the students become more independently proficient. Training teachers in scaffolding techniques allows them to determine when students need additional supports and to encourage the students when they no longer need them.
Training teachers to work as a team of colleagues is important for several reasons, some of which are related to the techniques in Everyday Mathematics and some that are useful to all math teachers. By working together closely, teachers are able to provide each other with feedback on how well they are carrying out the curriculum. This helps to increase consistency and can help teachers as they take steps to improve instruction when something is not working. Also, closer collaboration allows teachers to share ideas and techniques that work well for them.