The purpose of the Rockdale County Public Schools (RCPS) Mathematics Department is to provide RCPS schools support in effectively aligning and delivering curriculum, instruction, and assessment to ensure students apply mathematical concepts and skills in the context of authentic problems, understand concepts rather than merely follow a sequence of procedures, and learn to think critically in a mathematical way.
RCPS Mathematics curriculum in grades K-12 is defined by Georgia's K-12 Mathematics Standards, which were adopted by the state in 201-2022 and are being implemented for the first time this school year. These are the mathematics standards assessed on the Georgia Milestones End of Grade (EOG) math assessments in grades 3-8 and the high school End of Course (EOC) assessment for Algebra: Concepts and Connections.
Fidelity of implementation for the Georgia K-12 Mathematics Standards of Excellence at all grade levels places a greater emphasis on problem solving reasoning, representation, connections, and communication in mathematics. Communication of mathematics for college, career and citizenship readiness requires that students read mathematics text at a deep level of comprehension and also write to communicate their understandings and ideas about mathematics.
The shifts for the teaching and learning of the Mathematics Georgia K-12 Mathematics Standards of Excellence can be summarized in three major categories:
- FOCUS: Rather than racing to cover many topics in a mile-wide, inch-deep curriculum, the standards ask math teachers to significantly narrow and deepen the way time and energy are spent in the classroom. This means focusing deeply on the major work of each grade. This focus will help students gain strong foundations, including a solid understanding of concepts, a high degree of procedural skill and fluency, and the ability to apply the math they know to solve problems inside and outside the classroom leading to college, career, and citizenship readiness.
- COHERENCE: Mathematics is not a list of disconnected topics, tricks, or mnemonics; it is a coherent body of knowledge made up of interconnected concepts. Therefore, the standards are designed around coherent learning progressions from grade to grade. Learning is carefully connected across grades so that students can build new understanding onto foundations built in previous years. Coherence is also built into the standards in how they reinforce a major topic within a grade by utilizing supporting, complementary topics. For example, instead of presenting the topic of data displays as an end in itself, the topic is used to support grade-level word problems in which students apply mathematical skills to solve problems.
- RIGOR: Rigor refers to deep, authentic command of mathematical concepts, not making math harder or introducing topics at earlier grades. To help students meet the standards, educators will need to pursue, with equal intensity, three aspects of rigor in the major work of each grade: conceptual understanding, procedural skills and fluency, and application.
Conceptual understanding: The standards call for conceptual understanding of key concepts, such as place value and ratios. Students must be able to access concepts from a number of perspectives using multiple representations in order to see math as more than a set of mnemonics or discrete procedures.
Procedural skills and fluency: The standards call for speed and accuracy in calculation. Students must practice core functions, such as single-digit multiplication, in order to have access to more complex concepts and procedures. Fluency must be addressed in the classroom or through supporting materials, as some students might require more practice than others.
Application: The standards call for students to use math in problem solving situations that require mathematical knowledge. Correctly applying mathematical knowledge depends on students having solid conceptual understanding and procedural fluency
The Georgia Standards of Excellence Standards for Mathematical Practice represent the habits and attitudes of mathematical thinkers and outline important processes and proficiencies students should possess to succeed in at any level of mathematics. These standards are important to the overall structure of the Mathematics Georgia Standards of Excellence for defining the way students acquire mathematical knowledge and apply it to real-world problem solving situations.
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