A learning community for incarcerated teachers-in-training

This talk discusses a mathematics education program that occurred in the summer of 2025 at the Danville Correctional Center, through the Education Justice Project (EJP) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The program included ten incarcerated people, working together in a learning community, to learn to teach basic mathematics (fractions, decimals, and percentages) to other incarcerated students. This level of math is often a key barrier that prevents incarcerated people from qualifying for high school equivalency courses in their prison. The summer program used the Realistic Mathematics Education (RME) curriculum, out of Manchester Metropolitan University, as a basis for discussion and teaching practice. RME promotes mathematical discussions, encouraging students to engage in the process of mathematizing. It requires teachers to lead the mathematical discussion, rather than lecture. The incarcerated teachers-in-training practiced the RME teacher strategies, worked through the curriculum, and led short lessons with incarcerated students. They reflected on how the interactive RME teaching approach was different from the classroom learning that they had experienced and discussed how to best utilize that style of teaching in their specific educational setting. In this talk, we will offer some reflections on the RME curriculum and its relevance for incarcerated (and university) teaching.