Math

More about the Math program

The math program at the Math and Science Academy consists of a comprehensive curriculum that allows students to advance at their own pace, provided that they can demonstrate mastery of the content material. Based on the results of a placement test, most 6th graders begin with Middle School Math I or Middle School Math II, with a few placing into Integrated Math I.

MSA recognizes the fact that our math curriculum is more difficult than that of a typical middle and high school, and that students will progress through this sequence at different speeds. Students may take classes more than once in order to master the content material. Whenever a student chooses to repeat a course at MSA, only the highest grade is recorded on the student's transcript.

The standard required math course sequence appears in the chart at the bottom of this page. Students who are unable to achieve a passing grade (D- average or higher) at the end of the year must repeat that course the following school year.

Required Courses

Middle School Math I

6th Grade

Middle School Math I is designed to prepare students for rigorous college preparatory mathematics courses. It uses a problem-based approach with concrete models. The course helps students to develop multiple strategies to solve problems and to recognize the connections between concepts. Students will study data and statistics, representing quantities using manipulatives, diagrams, and number expressions, model integers, describe ratios, simplify and evaluate variable expressions, solve distance, rate, and time problems, percent problems, and 2D and 3D shapes. The course emphasizes reasoning, critical analysis, mathematical modeling, and gathering evidence. Students are active participants in their learning and often work collaboratively. The problem-based nature of lessons provides guided, purposeful work that supports deep conceptual understanding of mathematics.

Middle School Math II

6th-7th Grade

Middle School Math II focuses on the 7th grade standards: developing understanding of and applying proportional relationships, including percentages; developing understanding of operations with rational numbers and working with expressions and linear equations; solving problems that involve scale drawings and informal geometric constructions and working with two- and three- dimensional shapes to solve problems involving area, surface area, and volume; and drawing inferences about populations based on samples. The additional 8th grade standards include understanding multiple representations of functions, working with integer exponents, and solving more complex equations and 3-D geometry problems. The course emphasizes reasoning, critical analysis, mathematical modeling, and gathering evidence. Students are active participants in their learning and often work collaboratively. The problem-based nature of lessons provides guided, purposeful work that supports deep conceptual understanding of mathematics.

Integrated Math I

6th-8th Grade

Integrated Math 1 is the first in a series of three classes (Integrated Math 1, 2, and 3). The Integrated math approach introduces a mix of algebra and geometry concepts over a period of several years, ensuring that students are exposed to both subjects simultaneously. Algebra and geometry concepts become increasingly complex each year as students are developmentally ready to comprehend them. In the real world, problems do not come in a box labeled “algebra” or “geometry.” By using an integrated math approach, students can decide which skills to call upon to solve a particular problem. This will better support their real-world understanding of math.This course will strengthen and build on students’ previous knowledge of middle school mathematics. Students learn in collaboration with others while sharing information, expertise, and ideas. Integrated Math 1 will focus on algebraic expressions, functions and their graphs, basic exponentials functions, the geometry of transformations and constructions, and statistics.

Integrated Math II

7th-9th Grade

Integrated Math II is the second course in a series of three classes (Integrated Math 1, 2, and 3). This class aims to extend the geometry that students have learned in Middle School Math II and Integrated I. It does this by focusing on triangle congruence criteria and building a formal understanding of similarity based on proportional reasoning. It also helps students develop the concepts of formal proofs, discover the properties of two- and three-dimensional objects, verify geometric relationships and prove various theorems about circles. Students learn in collaboration with others while sharing information, expertise, and ideas. Students in Integrated II use problem-solving strategies, questioning, investigating, analyzing critically, gathering and constructing evidence, and communicating rigorous arguments to justify their thinking. The course encourages and supports procedural fluency, deep conceptual understanding, strategic problem solving, and adaptive reasoning.

Integrated Math III

8th-10th Grade

Integrated Math III is the last course in a series of three classes (Integrated Math 1, 2, and 3). This class will extend previous investigation with functions, transformations, solving inequalities, normal distribution and geometric modeling, inverses and logarithms, and simulating sampling and variability. Then the course will focus on Logarithms and Triangles, Polynomials, Trigonometric Functions, Series, Rational Expressions, Systems of Equations, and Analytical Trigonometry. Students learn in collaboration with others while sharing information, expertise, and ideas. The course encourages and supports procedural fluency, deep conceptual understanding, strategic problem solving, and adaptive reasoning.

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