Testimonials

A Highly Effective Approach

It is my honor to write this strong letter of support for Mr. Bill Hanlon.

Bill’s workshops are purposely designed to build success on success. His knowledge of mathematics combined with his knowledge and insight of working with students struggling in math and students living in poverty brings uniqueness to his brand of professional development in mathematics. Based on the foundation that students should feel comfortable in their knowledge and understanding of the mathematics, Bill provides content based professional development for teachers and administrators that will assist them in helping all students succeed in mathematics.

I first came to know Mr. Hanlon 20 years ago. During my time as a high school principal at two large comprehensive campuses, I sought the support of Mr. Hanlon to work with our mathematics department. In turn, math achievement improved exponentially! When I became an Associate Superintendent supervising the turnaround schools in the Clark County School District, I utilized Mr. Hanlon’s expertise to ensure the delivery of high-stakes achievement goals. He always delivered; therefore, ensuring great success for many schools surrounding improving math instruction and achievement!

For many years, I witnessed Mr. Hanlon’s highly effective approach in improving achievement for students and in supporting educators in best practices around content, instructional delivery, supervision and assessment. Therefore, when I became the Executive Director of the Nevada Association of School Administrators, I recruited Mr. Hanlon to facilitate math workshops to state-wide audiences. Again, Mr. Hanlon did so with great success, as evidenced by educators personally paying to register to learn from him. During the 2023-24 school year, Mr. Hanlon facilitated 25 content based mathematics workshops, each one specializing in specific math topics. Over 12,500 Nevada educators registered, all of whom were immediately able to take away best practices for classroom delivery immediately. This series got rave reviews. Mr. Hanlon held attendees responsible by regularly checking their understanding and at the conclusion of each workshop provided them a summary, recommendations, overheads used, and a parallel constructed practice test for each workshop.

It is for these reasons that I strongly recommend Mr. Hanlon to any state, national, international for profit or nonprofit organization for delivery of professional learning and/or consultation on how to improve mathematics scores.

Dr. Jeff Geihs
Executive Director
Nevada Association of School Administrators

Clear, informative, concise with concrete examples

Teaching Struggling Students in Mathematics is clear, informative, concise with concrete examples, ideas, and strategies for teaching rigorous and relevant mathematics instruction. Most books address generalities without linking to specific content…and rarely making an explicit connection among arithmetic, algebra, and trigonometry. Wish I had this book my first year as an 8th grade mathematics teacher.

Karlene Lee
Vice President ALAS - CELT, Former Assistant Superintendent
Clark County School District

Great Presenter – must read – instruction

I am so glad to see a book that talks about instruction. Teachers in-services today are all about curriculum products from a vender or software. Teachers need to focus on instruction and common sense ways to work with students that are in this book. What to teach has been decided a long time ago, how to teach it is the real issue. More than half of the book is dedicated to expectations, preparation and direct instruction which are the things that most new and struggling teachers need help with. Bill Hanlon is a great presenter to staff and now has a very well done setup book to follow. This is a must read for a math teacher to setup and prepare their classroom.

Mark Westerburg
Superintendent of Schools
School District | Willits, CA

Must read: how-to on teaching math

Wow, finally an effective “how to” book on teaching mathematics. This is a must-read for college students, teachers, administrators, and every parent who has a child taking mathematics. This is not only an outline on mathematical practice but also a blueprint and philosophy that can be utilized for teaching any subject. Bill Hanlon’s approach to instructional practices cuts through the “nonsense” and provides “common sense” to a subject that is often mistaught. As a former high school mathematics teacher and principal, I would have loved to have this book as a resource for the entire staff.

Jeff Horn
School Associate Superintendent
Clark County School District

Clear & Decisive Messaging

“Rarely do we see an author who provides a clear, decisive message and who offers an open construct that supports mathematics teachers and their administrators.  His book and presentation are for those who have stepped up to enjoy what it means to be a mathematics educator in today’s classroom. Hanlon easily steps us through “6 + 1″,  dives deep into the components of an effective lesson, and provides a mirror that helps us reflect on our practices and the adult actions that must be taken for ALL students to be successful. If you are looking for straight talk and a no-nonsense approach to mathematics education, contact Bill, he gets it.”

Jhone Ebert
Senior Deputy Commissioner
New York State Education Department

Bill gets it!

Bill Hanlon “gets the math.” His descriptions of how teachers can and should develop students’ deep mathematical understanding are in perfect harmony with mathematical expectations. While Bill clearly believes in what works is work, he believes in setting students up for success and that is clearly identifiable in his “6+1” strategies. He’s a great presenter, has a really good sense of humor, and very relatable and stresses how to address students who have struggled in math as well as how to address the needs of students living in poverty.

Eric Johnson
Director, K-12 Mathematics
Clark County School District | Las Vegas, NV

Bill Offers Hope

In an era when teachers and administrators are confronted with more stringent standards, expectations, and potential consequences for coming up short, Bill Hanlon offers hope. Bill’s expertise in the field of math education is complimented by a keen understanding of today’s most challenging classroom populations. With this perspective, Bill Hanlon is offering teachers and administrators a principled and practical method for reaching and teaching pupils that may or may not care for the subject at hand. Readers of Bill’s book, along with those hosting Mr. Hanlon for professional development will readily recognize Bill’s unique ability to refine scientifically research based best practices as he effectively applies each strategy to organize and focus staff and students on the goal of measurable growth. Mr. Hanlon will often challenge educators to realize that “what works is work”; however, Bill Hanlon is extraordinarily adept at helping staff and students learn to work smarter.

Finally, I would be remiss if I did not emphasize the practical value of Mr. Hanlon’s insights and instruction for those without a math background. The guiding principles of Bill’s methods are not restricted to mathematicians. Administrators will readily realize the validity and value of Mr. Hanlon’s ability to engage, equip, encourage, evaluate during on-site visits, but the greatest value in Bill’s work is his ability to enable administrators and faculty to share a common language and realistic, specific expectations for impacting the bottom line. I highly recommend Bill’s book as well as his personal presence on school campuses. A purchase of Mr. Hanlon’s book, or securing Bill for job embedded professional development will pay dividends!

Mike Rumsey
Assistant Curriculum Director
Cahokia Public Schools | Cahokia, IL

A Guide for Effective Teaching

It would be great to say I thought one chapter was the “most” valuable, but every chapter is filled with practical actions and strategies for teachers to use with their students along with why these practices are important and how they fit into an overall plan for professional preparation.

Bill Hanlon’s book is really a guide for effective teaching and the principles of planning, teaching, and establishing positive relationships with students can be applied to any discipline at any grade level. In addition to directly addressing how to change a teacher’s approach for struggling students, Hanlon’s book easily becomes a template for administrators or other evaluators to understand exactly what to look for during a classroom observation, what questions to ask of the teacher prior to the lesson and again, following the lesson. Perhaps more important, those guided conversations become rich with opportunities for improvement based on the hundreds of ideas, tips, and strategies that are outlined in every chapter.

Teachers of Struggling Students: Mathematics is a valuable tool for current teachers and administrators, but could easily be used as a text in a methods class for students at university studying to become teachers.

Rebecca Johnson
Assistant Principal
Squalicum High School | Bellingham, WA

Increased Student Achievement

Working with Bill Hanlon and his “6 + 1” instructional and assessment strategies has brought our math department together by providing students and teachers a single consistent unifying message. Implementing those strategies has resulted in increased student achievement, grade distributions, and graduation rate. His commonsense strategies are well received by teachers and parents and his willingness to model those strategies in their classrooms has really helped our new teachers.

In addition to the “6 + 1” strategies, his demand that teachers identify simple straight-forward examples, math linkages and creating a test blueprint before instruction begins has changed the mindset of our teachers. They have seen the benefit of using these examples and linkages that have increased student comfort levels, expectations, and grades.

Bill also expects teachers communicate with parents/guardians regularly with a positive message that says “we care”. And, as he demonstrates model lessons, he models parent phone calls for teachers to sell a very positive message about our school.

Lori Lawson-Sarabyn
Principal
Cimarron Memorial High School

Common Sense Approach

Bill Hanlon and his 6 +1 Strategies for Student Success are a common sense approach to improving math learning for students in all grades. Bill’s knowledge of math, dedication to teaching and learning, and his systematic instructional system have had a lasting impact on our K-12 approach to math instruction. As a result of his work with our district, we have embedded specific actions that all math classrooms will implement. His work as an educational consultant was the most comprehensive I have ever experienced. His ability to work with novice teachers as well as veteran teacher leaders, model lessons, mentor new administrators on instructional leadership, conduct parent workshops, and make presentations to the Board of Education were all part of his commitment to ensure successful implementation of his program in our district. In addition, Bill provided a wealth of resources, and was always available to our staff and parents in between his on-site visits. Building success upon success with quick, crisp, purposeful reviews, simple straightforward examples, linking prior learning to new concepts, connecting instruction, notes, homework, and assessments, designing an assessment system that gives students credit for what they know, and utilizing the “my kid” standard all but guarantee higher student performance in math.

Laura Hirsch
Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction
Crete-Monee School District 201

Math PD, Bill’s the Best

Bill Hanlon’s assistance was paramount in the dramatic change in our school’s official state label from persistently low achieving to an A rated high school. Bill’s staunch belief that all students can succeed in math in conjunction with his approach to mathematics instruction via the straightforward, common sense “6+1” framework immediately changed the mathematics instruction and achievement on our campus. The “6+1” framework facilitates a very cohesive relationship between planning, instruction, and assessment at the classroom level. His practical approach is easy to implement and pays great dividends in the form of student success at all levels of math.

Additionally Bill’s conceptual understanding of mathematics is without peer. Bill worked elbow to elbow with our teachers to ensure that all aspects of the instructional core was approached in a thoughtful and effective manner. He worked with our teachers to create smart lesson plans, with clear examples that would allow students wrestle with the content and not the arithmetic. Bill also helped the teachers understand not only what content to deliver but how the content fits longitudinally into the bigger picture of math instruction K-12. Bill would talk our teachers through these linkages and then he would go into classrooms and model it to provide concrete illustrations of how these linkages can promote student understanding. Unlike other consultants that we worked with, Bill would not only make suggestions or prescribe changes, he would model these changes and work step by step to ensure a high quality of implementation. Our teachers and administrators love working with Bill and we owe him a great debt of gratitude for his assistance in the dramatic change at our school.

Kevin Kilborn
Assessment & Data Coordinator/AZAC Co-Chair
Saddle Mountain Unified School District

Instructional Strategies That Really Work!

I had the privilege to work with Mr. Hanlon and learned valuable instructional and assessment strategies that I have implemented in my classroom.  Linking concepts and skills and using simple straightforward examples, without variations, when introducing new concepts has really resulted in building confidence in my students and a belief they can do math.

The simple concept of pacing when note taking has made a remarkable difference with classroom management and knowledge retention.

Mr. Hanlon’s videos have been a great resource in my classroom!  I’ve used them to prepare my lessons and have incorporated the straightforward examples into my instruction.  There’s nothing better than to hear students say “Mrs. Garcia, that’s easy.”   

Thanks to Mr. Hanlon’s program, ALL of my students, not just those who were previously struggling, have shown academic growth.

Socorro Garcia
Pre Algebra/Algebra I Teacher
Tonopah Valley High School

Really well done!

Took the last few days to go through the videos. Really well done! I would like to share this product with AM’s.. Would you be willing to come to an AM meeting in the next few weeks. Again, love the videos, worksheets , etc. Let me know.

Mike R. Barton
Associate Superintendent of Instruction
Clark County School District 1 2 3 … 5