Ruth Parker

Ruth Parker is a mathematics educator and co-creator of Number Talks, a classroom routine developed in the early 1990s with Kathy Richardson to build students’ mental computation and number sense. She is a former classroom teacher who has spent over 20 years leading professional development for mathematics teachers in grades K–14 and is the CEO of the Mathematics Education Collaborative, where she works to prepare mathematics teacher leaders in Washington State. Parker earned both her master’s degree and Ph.D. from the University of Oregon.

She is coauthor of Making Number Talks Matter: Developing Mathematical Practices and Deepening Understanding, Grades 3–10 (with Cathy Humphreys) and Digging Deeper: Making Number Talks Matter Even More, Grades 3–10. Through these works, Parker extends Number Talks into the upper elementary and secondary grades, offering classroom vignettes, problem sets, and instructional guidance that help teachers use brief daily math discussions to deepen students’ understanding of number, operations, and flexible problem solving.