Math

The SFUSD Core Math Curriculum was adopted as Highline’s K-5 core math materials, beginning in the 2019-20 school year. The curriculum uses a task-based approach to math teaching that focuses on learning through problem solving. SFUSD units are designed around four tasks:

• Entry Task: What do you already know?
• Apprentice Task: What sense are you making of what you are learning?
• Expert Task: How can you apply what you have learned so far to new situations?
• Milestone Task: Did you learn what was expected of you from this unit?

These tasks offer all students opportunities to engage in meaningful and rigorous mathematics that allow for the development of the Standards for Mathematical Practice. They provide information about how students are learning the core concepts and skills of the unit. 

SFUSD was designed to give all students access to each math task. See the SFUSD site for more information about how materials were designed with all students in mind.

Supporting students’ math learning at home 

The SFUSD Family and Community Resource page provides links to resources for supporting students’ math understanding at home as well as research-based information about how students best learn math.

The Parent Roadmap resource from the Council for Great City Schools provides a concise look at what mathematics students are learning at each grade level and how they are learning it. 

See math resources en espanol. 

Highline has adopted Open Up Resources for grades 6 through 8 and enVision AGA for Algebra 1, Geometry and Algebra 2 for its core math materials.  

The following are resources that families can use to help support students.

Open Up Resources (6 - 8) 

6th Grade

• Student Materials
• Family Materials

7th Grade

• Student Materials
• Family Materials

8th Grade

• Student Materials
• Family Materials

enVision AGA (Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2)

• Pearson realize
• Username: highline.family1
• Password: studentaccess1

Our data show that many Highline students left middle school without the necessary knowledge and skills to succeed in Algebra II and beyond. Key foundational standards were being missed by students who skipped or accelerated through middle school courses. Accelerated pathways were clearly selling students short and not providing them the deep understanding and experience they need to succeed in higher-level mathematics.

Highline is not alone in this challenge. School districts across the state and nation are recognizing the unintended consequences of a “race to calculus” and examining math course sequences.

The new Washington State Common Core Standards in Mathematics (CCSS-M) moved many of the standards previously taught in Algebra 1 into 6-8th grade math courses. Skipping these courses will leave students without foundational skills and knowledge necessary for success in high school math.

We will continue to update this information as we refine our math pathways. 

Our plan is to restructure our math pathway that supports the success of any student who pursues higher-level math classes in high school.

• All students will take foundational middle school math in 6th, 7th and 8th grades
• We began phasing in this pathway in 2019-20 with 6th-grade students

This approach does not limit access to higher-level math courses for students who wish to focus on mathematics. 

• Students will still be able to take AP/IB Calculus or AP/IB Statistics in 12th grade.

The new Washington State Common Core Standards in Mathematics (CCSS-M) moved many of the standards previously taught in Algebra 1 into 6th-8th grade math courses. Skipping these courses will leave students without foundational skills and knowledge necessary for success in high school math.

We will continue to update this information as we refine our math pathways. 

The table below represents the options that are being developed in order to show the different paths students may choose in order to continue learning math. These pathways allow all students an opportunity to participate in advanced-level math. Our counselors and staff will be able to engage students and families in determining which path is best for a student during the course request process that typically happens every spring.

Our goal at this time is for these options to be available to all students beginning in the fall of 2023. We will use the 2022-2023 school year to ensure we have new courses planned and supplied with the appropriate materials and resources which occurs through our district-guided curriculum adoption process.  We will update this information as we continue to develop these plans.