Reading Team Math began in the Spring of 2017 when Lam Hui, a professor of physics at Columbia University, was inspired by the success of the Reading Team Literacy program. In partnership with Maureen Rover and Francois Nzi, Columbia faculty and students banded together to help replicate the success of the literacy program. At that time, groups of volunteer teachers went to the Reading Team's main site in Harlem twice a week for an hour and worked with Kindergarteners on math. Angelo Esposito and Laura Havener, graduate students of physics at Columbia, served as the leaders for those teaching sessions. They also recieved expert advice on pedagogy from Eliza Chung, Lisa Edstrom, Maria Rivera Maulucci, and Lisbeth Uribe along with organizational advice from Margaret Banier and the staff of the Reading Team.

Since the, the program expanded to include 1st graders in the Fall of 2017, 2nd graders in 2018, and 3rd graders in the Fall of 2019. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the program finally expanded to include 4th and 5th grade as well. Although there was a temporary switch to Google Meets during the pandemic, we have resumed in-person teaching five days a week for K-5th grade in Harlem, utilizing our ever-changing and improving curriculum that uses many math tools and games to teach concepts relevant for K-5th grade.

We seek to create an engaging, fun environment where the children develop important mathematics skills. We hope to take advantage of the level of individual attention we can give to the children, retaining an average student-to-teacher ratio is approximately 2-to-1.