Will this style of mathematics prepare students for success in algebra and beyond?

• Yes! An emphasis on sense making, being able to apply what you have learned, and communicate your reasoning is exactly what is needed for success at the high school level and beyond.

• The California state testing system, CAASPP, clearly emphasizes 4 areas of mathematics to be assessed

  1. Concepts and Procedures

  2. Problem Solving and Modeling

  3. Communicating Reasoning

  4. Data Analysis

The old way of "just doing the math" only represents about 25% of what students are required to know in the state of California.

Said another way, the explanations, justifications, and applications your students are learning starting in Kindergarten are still going to be required all the

way through high school.

• The SAT consists of three categories of math.

  1. Fluency

  2. Conceptual Understanding

  3. Application

Once again we see that the emphasis on conceptual understanding - making connections and seeing relationships, understanding the why - is a skill that is being developed starting in Kindergarten with Into Math and will carry students through to their SATs

• AP Calculus and AP Statistics, the highest levels of math offered in high school, consistently require students to: understand, connect, apply, justify, and reason.

This provides further evidence that not only will Into Math set students up for success in algebra and beyond but the skills, techniques and habits of mind developed in the early grades through Into Math will provide a much firmer foundation for success in the upper grades than the old, traditional approach to math we are moving away from.

• An early emphasis on being able to communicate their reasoning and explain their methods, using pictures more often for younger students, not only boosts students’ number sense but it directly prepares them for what they can expect in high school and beyond.