MISSION
To provide top-class math services that are customized to meet the needs of our students and partners, and deliver meaningful and engaging mathematics content in a supportive environment.
VISION
To increase students' abilities, confidence, and overall academic performance in mathematics.
OUR TEAM
Leadership
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Dr. Kimberly Kendricks
Co-Owner / Co-Founder
Mrs. Tarah Taylor
Co-Owner/ Co-Founder
Instructors & Tutors
Our instructors are licensed teachers and seasoned professionals with degrees in education, science, technology, engineering, or mathematics. Our instructors have taught in grades K-16, and are knowledgeable of various teaching approaches that support diverse learners.
Our tutors are certified by the National Tutoring Association and have completed mathematics coursework to support middle school, high school, and college-level mathematics.
MEET THE FOUNDERS
Dr. Kimberly Kendricks
Educational Background: Ph.D., Mathematics, M.S., Mathematics, Auburn University, AL; B.S. Mathematics, B.S. Business Administration, University of Pittsburgh, PA
Years of Experience: 19+ years in mathematics and math education, including teaching, tutoring, and curriculum development
Courses Taught: Remedial topics, Algebra, Trigonometry, Pre-Calculus, Business Calculus, Calculus I-III, Differential Equations, Differential Equations & Dynamical Systems, Discrete Structures, Statistics, Numerical Methods, Number Theory, Abstract Algebra
Grade Levels Supported: College, grades 6-12
Dr. Kendricks is a professor, author, researcher, and education administrator. Dr. Kendricks has a sincere passion for mathematics and mathematics education and has developed mathematics courses and STEM programs that increase student achievement. Dr. Kendricks conducts research studies to examine learning environments and teaching practices that improve student performance and has integrated effective practices into her classrooms. She is the recipient of numerous teaching awards and professional distinctions. Dr. Kendricks also specializes in applying mathematical theories to real-world problems in robotics, gait analysis, pattern recognition, and threat prediction. During her career, Dr. Kendricks has led a research center, directed an academic department, and managed over $8M in research funding. Dr. Kendricks enjoys talking about her technical research with students of all ages and delights in sharing the power, fun, and everyday use of mathematics with others. Dr. Kendricks has published numerous articles in peer-reviewed, scientific journals and has given national and international talks and presentations at scientific meetings and conferences about the results of her technical and educational research.
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Special Powers: Dr. Kendricks' special powers are helping students to gain confidence in their math abilities, learn study skills, and master tools to reinforce math concepts.
Tarah Taylor
Educational Background: B.S. Mathematics, University of Pittsburgh, PA
Years of Experience: 20+ years in mathematics and math education, including teaching, tutoring, and curriculum development
Courses Taught: 6th-8th grade math, Pre-Algebra, Algebra, Geometry, Honors Algebra, College Algebra, Pre-Calculus
Grade Levels Supported: Grades 6-12, some college
To know Mrs. Tarah Taylor is to know her true love, passion, and expertise in mathematics. Since early childhood, Tarah found the subject of math to be very fun and not to mention easy. It was not until high school that math was no longer easy and her love for it was put to the test. This ultimately resulted in Tarah taking full advantage of outside resources such as study groups, tutors, a college preparatory program, and lastly reading and studying the textbook for herself. All these resources helped to restore her love, confidence, and ease to be successful at math.
In particular, the former college preparatory program at the University of Pittsburgh, Upward Bound, offered introductory courses every summer which helped Tarah to get a head start with all of her first semester courses in high school. After completing Upward Bound as a student, she went back to work for them as a tutor and summer counselor and was eventually offered her very first summer math teacher position at the age of 19. This opportunity helped her make the decision to pursue and receive her bachelor’s degree in mathematics.
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Special Powers: Mrs. Taylor's special powers are making math simple, helping students discover their natural math ability and talent, and assisting students with reaching that “ah-ha” moment when they finally understand that one topic that seemed so difficult.
Our Story
RISE WITH US
We are on a mission to reach the student who has yet to discover their full math potential. We desire to inspire those students who have been told that they will never be good at math. We seek to change the mind of the student who hates math, thinks it is boring, and feel they will never need it in real life.
Who are we? We are two African American women who overcame the biases of gender and race to pursue and receive degrees in Mathematics. We are the founders of I Rise Math, Dr. Kendricks and Mrs. Taylor. We met in 2000 while pursuing our bachelor's degrees in mathematics at the University of Pittsburgh. While our career paths varied, one thing that remained constant was our friendship and love for math. After almost twenty years, we decided to combine decades of math education experience, our passion for mathematics, and our business ideas to design online math classes. Despite any academic challenge one may face, we make it our mission to help each of our students RISE to their full math potential.
Inspired by the
Maya Angelou poem
Still I Rise
"Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling
I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise."