The eStem math curriculum is founded on twenty years of research and development aimed at improving the teaching and learning of elementary mathematics. The curriculum was also influenced by important national publications such as Principles and Standards of School Mathematics (NCTM, 2000), the National Research Council’s Adding It Up: Helping Children Learn Mathematics (2001), and the Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences’ The Mathematical Education of Teachers (2002), and by the large body of research on students’ understanding of number and operations.

The curriculum is designed to:

• Support students to make sense of mathematics and learn that they can be mathematical thinkers

• Focus on computational fluency with whole numbers as a major goal of the elementary grades

• Provide substantive work in important areas of mathematics

• Emphasize reasoning about mathematical ideas

• Communicate mathematics content and pedagogy to teachers

• Engage the range of learners in understanding mathematics

The curriculum must support teachers in implementing the curriculum in a way that accommodates the needs of their particular students. The curriculum addresses the learning needs of all students in a wide range of classrooms and communities. The curriculum is intended to invite all students to develop an interest in mathematics.

Current educational research shows that students need a variety of paths in order to grasp number sense and to become literate in mathematics. At eStem Public Charter Schools, we utilize different approaches, hands-on manipulatives, and collaborative grouping to encourage problem-solving, critical thinking, and fluency in mathematics.

Teachers employ In Focus Singapore Math, a standards and research based program, to allow students to understand number sense, place value, and mental math strategies. Singapore Math is a highly rigorous math curriculum that requires students to develop high thinking strategies to succeed in mathematics. We create opportunities for students to write about mathematics and demonstrate understanding. Teachers use Calendar Math, Rocket Math, and the Core Knowledge curriculum to build math vocabulary and comprehension and instructional math games to build numerical fluency.