Dr. Tutita M. Casa is an Associate Professor in the Neag School of Education at the University of
Connecticut with expertise in elementary mathematics education. She was born in Germany to Puerto
Rican parents and moved throughout her childhood due to her father serving in the US Army. She has
lived in seven states, and her family resided in Brazil, Ecuador, Suriname, and Venezuela. Her preK-12
schooling experience was varied, including attending public and private institutions and those on military
bases. Dr. Casa feels fortunate to have had very strong middle- and high-school teachers who challenged
and instilled a love for learning mathematics. The most unique experience she had as a mathematics
student was in high school when she attended the American Cooperative School in Paramaribo,
Suriname. Because she was only one of 12 students in the high school as a sophomore and one of 20 as
junior, she “taught” herself trigonometry and precalculus through independent study courses overseen by
faculty at the University of Nebraska with whom she never met. Dr. Casa was always fascinated by the
underlying concepts and reasoning in mathematics even though she seldom had opportunities to
communicate her thinking with others. This was in part because the purpose of the talk in her classroom
experiences was to follow the teachers’ lead or spew out the (correct) answer, she was shy, and there
literally was no one else taking the same class as her. Dr. Casa eventually obtained her doctorate in
Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in elementary mathematics from the University of
Connecticut. Her PhD combined her passion for mathematics, reflected in her B.S. in mathematics from
the University of Florida, together with elementary education which was the focus of her master’s from
Syracuse University.

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Dr. Casa’s childhood experiences informed her interest in mathematical discourse. She began her
academic career working in the Renzulli Center for Creativity, Gifted Education, and Talent Development
as a Postdoctoral Fellow and Assistant Professor in Residence for the Jacob K. Javits-funded Project M3:
Mentoring Mathematical Minds (2004-2007) and Co-PI and Assistant Professor in Residence for Project
M2: Mentoring Young Mathematicians (2007-2012) respectively for Grades 3-5 and K-2 students. Both
projects developed and field-tested advanced units embodying best practices in gifted education by
providing students with learning experiences mimicking that of practicing professionals. A cornerstone of
Projects M3 and Project M2 was envisioning students as mathematicians who communicate their
reasoning, including orally and in writing. Dr. Casa also served as Co-PI on Thinking Like
Mathematicians: Challenging All Grade 3 Students (2017-2022), a Javits-funded project that applied key
principles of Projects M3 and Project M2 for heterogeneous groups of students. Nine units from these
endeavors were awarded the Curriculum Studies Award from the National Association for Gifted Children.

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Engagement in these research projects piqued Dr. Casa’s current interest in mathematical writing, which
has been an underdeveloped area despite national calls to have students engage in discourse starting in
the 1990s. She established herself as a leader in this area as the director of A Task Force on
Conceptualizing Elementary Mathematical Writing: Implications for Mathematics Education Stakeholders,
a project funded by the National Science Foundation. The task force defined mathematical writing
purposes and types appropriate for elementary students aligned with writing at higher levels of
mathematics, such as proofs. Since overseeing this project in 2015-2016, Dr. Casa has become a leading
international voice in the emerging area of mathematical writing. She was featured in the Swedish TV
program, Lärlabbet (“The Learning Lab”) in 2020, presented during the South Australia Department for
Education’s Literacy Summit in 2022, and co-edited the book Illuminating and Advancing the Path for
Mathematical Writing Research published in 2024. Dr. Casa is dedicated to creating and testing the
impact of approaches to advance elementary students’ abilities to write mathematically, particularly to
ensure those typically marginalized have more opportunities to voice their reasoning. She has extensively
published for research and practitioner audiences, including in Educational Leadership, Gifted Child
Quarterly, Journal for Research in Mathematics, Journal of Writing Research, Mathematics Teacher:
Learning and Teaching PreK-12, School Science and Mathematics, Teaching Children Mathematics, and
Young Children.

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Additionally, Dr. Casa has supported preservice teachers, practicing teachers, and math coaches during
her career as an instructor, professional development provider, and conference presenter as well as
through her extensive service to the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), among other
endeavors. She was a member and chair of the Journal for Research in Mathematics Editorial Panel, was
a two-term Co-Chair of the American Educational Research Association’s Division K Section 1: Teaching
and Teacher Education in the Content Areas, and served on two annual and two regional NCTM program
committees. In the summer of 2024, the National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics sought Dr.
Casa’s perspective on the podcast, “Mathematics Teaching that Uncovers What Students CAN Do,”
which summarizes her core beliefs evident in all her efforts.

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“Hispanic Heritage Month allows me to reflect on the core experiences that have shaped my educational
journey. Depending on where I lived as a child and the context in which I worked, my voice as a Latina
was given more or less prominence by others. I know that each and every child that I have aimed to
support as a mathematical thinker, like me, has so much to say and contribute. This yearly celebration is
a reminder for me to continue to find ways to bring out elementary students’ voices.”

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