The mission of the national Math Teachers' Circle (MTC) program, developed at the American Institute of Mathematics (AIM), is to establish the foundation for a culture of problem-solving among middle-school math teachers in the U.S. By fostering a confidence to tackle open-ended math problems, middle school teachers become better equipped to initiate more student-centered, inquiry-based pedagogies in their classrooms. The two primary goals of the program are 1) to engage middle school math teachers in mathematical problem-solving and involve them in an ongoing dialogue about math with students, colleagues, and professional mathematicians; and 2) to provide guidance, materials, and resources to middle school math teachers that will enable them to promote open-ended problem-solving as a way of learning, thinking about, and practicing mathematics in their classrooms.

A prototypical local MTC has two components: a) a residential summer immersion week for 20 to 25 teachers that launches the program, and b) monthly follow-up meetings held throughout the following academic year and indefinitely thereafter. During the immersion component, teachers engage in various open-ended problem-solving activities throughout the day and evening, guided by professional mathematicians and experienced facilitators. The monthly meetings continue to provide a content-based enrichment outlet for teachers but also have a more pedagogical focus intended to help teachers bring problem-solving techniques into their classrooms.

AIM's MTC program seeks to establish a national network of regional Math Teachers' Circles. To this end, AIM has sponsored three workshops designed to inform teams (of middle school math teachers, school administrators, and research mathematicians) from diverse geographical regions about the program and equip them to begin MTCs of their own. These local MTC chapters are intended to become self-sustaining over the long term, and thus much of the workshop is spent preparing each team to set goals for their MTC and discuss the recruitment of teachers and mathematicians, the evaluation of their program, and fundraising at the local or state level. The 2007 summer workshop produced six successful MTCs (from a total of seven teams who attended the workshop), and the two workshops held in Summer 2008 are expected to produce an additional twelve MTCs. Together with the original MTC in the Bay Area, this will bring the total number of MTCs to 19 nationwide. Each of these local MTCs consists of approximately 20 to 25 teachers and therefore has the potential to impact the learning environment of thousands of students.