Teri Perl (born November 19, 1926) is an American mathematics educator, author of mathematics resource books, and a co-founder of The Learning Company.

Education and career

Perl was born in

New York City, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. In 1947, she received a bachelor's degree in

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

from

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus. Being New York City's first publ ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. She did post-baccalaureate work at

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sys ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

and earned a secondary mathematics teaching credential there in 1969. While doing substitute teaching in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

, Perl discovered that there weren't adequate resources for substitute teachers. She began a long-distance collaboration with Miriam K. Freedman to produce ''A Sourcebook for Substitutes and Other Teachers''. Freedman developed the material for teachers of English, foreign languages, and social science and Perl for teachers of mathematics and science. Perl was a mathematics consultant and resource teacher at Ventura Elementary School in

Palo Alto, California Palo Alto (; Spanish language, Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree kno ...

from 1971 to 1978. After her youngest child was in high school, Perl attended

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

and obtained a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

in mathematics education in 1979. The title of her dissertation was "Discriminating Factors and Sex Differences in Electing Mathematics". From 1971 to 1979, while working on her doctorate at Stanford, Perl taught part-time at

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different b ...

. In 1980, Perl, Ann McCormick, Leslie Grimm, and

Warren Robinett Joseph Warren Robinett Jr. (born December 25, 1951) In the A. Miller interview, Robinett says he was 26 in November 1977. is a designer of interactive computer graphics software, notable as the developer of the Atari 2600's ''Adventure'' — ...

founded The Learning Company (TLC), an educational software company that developed grade-based learning software, as well as edutainment games and productivity tools. Perl was the content designer for TLC's ''Math Rabbit''. She was responsible for writing users'/teachers' guides to accompany several software packages produced by TLC. In 1995, TLC was taken over by

SoftKey SoftKey International (originally SoftKey Software Products, Inc.) was a software company founded by Kevin O'Leary in 1986 in Toronto, Ontario. It was known as The Learning Company from 1995 to 1999 after acquiring The Learning Company and ...

, who changed their name to The Learning Company. After several sales, The Learning Company brand was used by

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (; HMH) is an American publisher of textbooks, instructional technology materials, assessments, reference works, and fiction and non-fiction for both young readers and adults. The company is based in the Financial Dist ...

through 2018. In 1974, Perl, together with a group of San Francisco Bay area women, founded the Math/Science Network to encourage and inspire middle and high school girls to pursue careers in STEM. The network was rebranded as the Expanding Your Horizons (EYH) Network in 1982 when EYH obtained nonprofit status. The MSN/EYH developed a one-day workshop for middle and high school girls with hands-on workshops and interactions with women in STEM careers. Perl served as president of the EYH Network from 1999 to 2007. EYH has run over 80 Career Days, with up to 25,000 girls participating each year. In 2010, the EYH Network was honored by the National Science Board with their Public Service Award "for its decades-long commitment to the early development of interest in mathematics and science among young women, making significant strides toward its goal to develop a pool of qualified women to undertake careers in mathematics, science and engineering." In March 1979 , Perl's book ''Math Equals: Biographies of Women Mathematicians + Related Activities'' received a very positive review by the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members a ...

's publication ''Choice''.

"An excellent, documented historical accoutn of contributions made by somen interested in mathematics presented in a most unusual and readable format. The attention of a reader in mathematics is captivated immediately..."

In 2005, GirlSource honored Perl with its WAVE (Women of Achievement, Vision and Excellence) award. In 2022 she became a fellow of the

Association for Women in Mathematics The Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) is a professional society whose mission is to encourage women and girls to study and to have active careers in the mathematical sciences, and to promote equal opportunity for and the equal treatment o ...

, "For amazing and tireless efforts over five decades to promote women in mathematics and related fields; particularly, for co-founding what we now know as Expanding Your Horizons, her biographies of women mathematicians, and her influential role in The Learning Company, which have together inspired generations of women and girls."

Selected publications

* * **Book review: * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perl, Teri Living people Mathematics educators 20th-century American educators 21st-century American educators 21st-century American women educators Stanford University alumni Brooklyn College alumni 1926 births 20th-century American women educators