I wish to first thank the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities and the National Literacy Secretariat for providing funding for the Numeracy Best Practices project.

The project coordinator, Lynne Wallace, has been an invaluable source of confidence, information and friendship during the course of the project. I thank Lynne for her insights into LBS programming throughout all sectors, and her unwavering support of the significance of this project to LBS practitioner and learners.

My colleague and friend, Mary Ann Jones, has been our long-time LBS coordinator at Canadore College until her recent retirement. Mary Ann deserves great thanks for her dayto- day interest, enthusiasm and guidance, and for her willingness to read over sections of this manual anytime, anywhere. I also wish to thank Jack Jones for his insightful feedback on various sections of the manual. Greg Russell, my fellow numeracy instructor, helped me to see the light at the end of tunnel more than once during the course of this project, and assisted me in focusing on some of the most important issues facing our numeracy learners.

Near the beginning of the project Dee Goforth was an excellent reference person with regard to the development and refinement of the project questionnaire, which many of you completed.

On that note, I wish to thank all of you across the sectors of the province who took the time to read, write, and return the questionnaire regarding your program’s best practices in numeracy. The questionnaires became a province-wide, sector-wide snapshot of what you are all doing successfully in your LBS numeracy programs.

I thank those teachers and learners who allowed me to visit their sites. They shared a great deal of useful information with me about what works well in their programs, adding much to the reading and interpretation of the questionnaires.