About
Sara Delano Moore

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BIO

Dr. Sara Delano Moore focuses on helping teachers and students understand mathematics as a coherent and connected discipline.  An experienced teacher and nationally recognized speaker, her work emphasizes the power of deep understanding and multiple representations for learning.  Sara’s interests include building conceptual understanding of mathematics to support procedural fluency and applications, incorporating engaging literature into mathematics & science instruction, and connecting mathematics to engineering design in meaningful ways.  

  • “Love the ability to build and see how these [manipulatives] work. Love the thought put into the materials. ”
    — Workshop Participant
  • “ Great investigation for students. I can just hear the good math dialogue. ”
    — Workshop Participant
  • “ Your presentation yesterday morning...has, in retrospect, proven to be the high point of the conference....Your talk yesterday tied up all sorts of loose ends for me: I know see how I've been missing the jump between the concrete (which I get, and have little trouble with) and the abstract. The middle step of the representational/pictorial is something I've only recently been exposed to ...and I now see why it's as important as it is. It wold have taken much longer for me to make the connections without having heard your talk, and I'm most grateful. ”
    — High School Algebra Teacher
  • “ This was great!! I was furiously taking notes so I can go back and use this info in my room! Thank you! ”
    — Webinar Participant
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Background & Experience

Dr. Sara Delano Moore is a fourth-generation educator who believes mathematics should make sense to teachers and students.  Her experience in diverse settings as a classroom teacher, teacher educator, and educational consultant provides context for her work helping teachers and students understand mathematics - the underlying concepts, associated procedures, and real-world applications.  Her work with professional organizations and her experience as a subject matter expert for an educational publishing company provide experience communicating important ideas clearly.  

Sara has taught mathematics and science in a variety of settings including work in Title 1 schools, in programs for English Language Learners, and in specialized programs for academically & intellectually gifted students.  Sara has taught mathematics from kindergarten through algebra as well as middle grades science, the latter as part of interdisciplinary teaching teams.  As chair of the Middle Grades Teacher Education Program at the University of Kentucky, Sara led a collaborative Professional Development School partnership with a Title 1 middle school in Lexington.  Her roles in the partnership included leading the school’s Standards and Assessment team, supporting the school’s partnerships with community organizations, and strengthening the professional learning communities (PLCs) in the school.  As Director of the Center for Middle School Academic Achievement, a state-wide resource center for middle schools in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, Sara led the team establishing a Schools to Watch program in Kentucky.  This national program recognizes outstanding middle schools based on criteria in four categories: academic excellence, developmental responsiveness, organizational structure, and social equity.  

As Director of Mathematics and Science at ETA hand2mind, Sara supported product development, marketing, and sales as the lead subject matter expert in mathematics and science, guiding the development of scope & sequence documents, providing expert input on current issues in mathematics, science, and STEM education, and supporting educators with customized professional development in the use of manipulatives and hands-on learning experiences for rigorous mathematics and STEM instruction.  

Sara also helped to establish the online community Building Understanding in Mathematics at www.edweb.net/math.  From the beginning of the community in January 2012 through Spring 2016, community membership has grown to over 7000 and her monthly webinars have had more than 28,000 views.  These webinars address a wide variety of topics including the Standards for Mathematical Practice, integrating STEM with mathematics, and building a strong conceptual foundation for a wide variety of mathematics concepts. 

Sara regularly presents at national conferences including the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) and the National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics (NCSM).  She also presents at state and regional conferences, including invited sessions as a featured speaker.  Sara’s writing can be found in national journals such as Teaching Children Mathematics, Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School, Science Scope, and Middle School Journal as well as in various state and regional publications. 

Sara earned her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the University of Virginia where her research focused on the role of verbal ability in mathematical problem solving.  She earned her Master of Studies (M.St.) in General Linguistics and Comparative Philology from the University of Oxford (United Kingdom) and her B.A. in Natural Sciences from The Johns Hopkins University.  A native Virginian, she currently lives in Kent, Ohio with her partner Bill, two spoiled cats, many books, and an ample supply of fabric and yarn.