Standard P.2. Planning for Responsive Instruction and Making Curricular Decisions

P.2.a. Planning for instruction based on learners and meaningful content 

In EMSs’ work with students, they use knowledge of students, mathematics, and students’ varied ways of thinking and reasoning about the subject to plan ambitious instruction that promotes each student’s access and learning. The designed instruction provides equitable, responsive opportunities for all students to learn meaningful mathematics, specifically focusing on conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, problem solving, and reasoning, and the development of a productive mathematical disposition (67). Importantly, developed lessons: account for and support students’ varying mathematical competencies and multifaceted, intersectional identities (multilingualism, neurodiversity, disability, etc.); draw on students’ funds of knowledge (68)(i.e., home, culture, language, and community-based knowledge and experiences); humanize mathematics by providing opportunities for students to see themselves represented in the subject in meaningful and positive ways; and cultivate positive, collaborative relationships in a learning community. Using their knowledge of students’ mathematical strengths, EMSs build upon these when planning lessons, including supports, scaffolds, modifications, and extensions (69). 

In preparing mathematics learning opportunities for students, EMSs attend to a multitude of factors, including research on how children learn mathematics, mathematical goals and standards, students’ strengths, students’ learning needs, relevance to their particular learners and context, instructional task selection, and information from classroom-based formative assessments. Particularly important to the planning process is the establishment of mathematical goals to focus learning, including developing clear goals for the mathematics that students are to learn, situating these goals within research on how children learn mathematics, and using these goals to develop lessons and select cognitively-demanding tasks (70). When planning, EMSs: anticipate students’ likely array of responses when engaging with a task; determine questions to ask of students who use specific strategies; and consider how the different strategies are related to the mathematical learning goals, connected to one another, and prioritized during whole class instruction (71). Part of the planning process is critical analysis of instructional tasks, particularly for cognitive demand and relevance for their particular learners and context as well as potential biases embedded in the task, which would necessitate modifications. Further, EMSs plan learning opportunities that value and elevate student voice and choice. For example, during lessons students have options related to: materials, such as manipulatives; knowledge expression, such as drawings, models, language, or other methods; exploration of questions that are of interest to them; and differing learning tasks. When considering this purposeful planning, EMSs regularly engage in supporting teachers in doing the same, which would include careful vetting of the myriad and readily available resources for teaching mathematics, especially those online. 

P.2.b. Understanding and using curriculum effectively 

EMSs select, use, adapt, and determine the effectiveness of mathematics curricula within and across PK-6 grade levels. They evaluate the alignment of district-supported instructional resources and classroom-based assessments with state standards and assessments, and recommend any needed modifications. EMSs understand the importance of curriculum standards based on coherent sequencing of mathematics content topics within and across PK-6 grade levels (i.e., vertical progressions), coupled with a focus on the big mathematical ideas. They understand that deep and well-connected mathematics learning demands coherent curriculum and associated student learning experiences, including language used, materials (e.g., manipulatives) shared, and strategies highlighted (72). Additionally, EMSs support teachers in understanding these vertical progressions of curriculum standards and the related need for cohesive and consistent student learning experiences across grade levels and settings (e.g., classroom, intervention groups), with a focus on the essential understandings.

EMSs use and support the use of high-quality instructional materials with integrity of implementation that thoughtfully accommodates local conditions and contexts (73). Implementing these materials with integrity means EMSs adapt the resources in ways that are responsive to students’ mathematical strengths, needs, and backgrounds. EMSs use their professional agency and support teachers in being agentic when it comes to curricular decision-making (74). Specifically, EMSs draw upon their expertise, professional judgment, and contextual knowledge when selecting and implementing instructional materials and navigating conditions such as curriculum mandates, pacing guidelines, and high-stakes standardized assessments.