K-8 Math Pilot

During the pilot, SFUSD will collect data on the teacher and student experience. This data will be used to make a decision about which curricula will be recommended for district wide adoption in 2025/26 and what types of supports will be most hopeful in supporting implementation. 

Below you will find the relevant background and review process details that informed our decision.  We also want to express our deep gratitude to our review teams for their commitment and investment in the review process. Thank you for being a voice for educators, students, caregivers, and your communities and champions of this process.

During the fall of 2023, Curriculum and Instruction (C&I) partnered with The New Teacher Project (TNTP) to conduct a  curriculum audit and academic diagnostic across 15 schools in 100 K-8 classrooms to identify the strengths and gaps within our K-8 math program. 

The diagnostic included a review of the provided written curriculum, classroom observations, artifact analysis (collection of classroom tasks and student work samples), as well as surveying and focus groups with site educators. The research questions in the diagnostic included: 

1. How do class assignments align with the expectations of grade-level standards? 
2. How often do students have access to strong instruction? 
3. How do teachers expect students to perform on grade-level standards? 
4. Do all students have equitable access to these resources, or are some groups of students getting more access than others?

Through the diagnostic, we found that students did not currently have regular access to these resources that would support their success with the Common Core State Standards for Math.

In order to support our district’s goals around math achievement and equity, SFUSD determined that a new math curriculum that supports teachers in reaching all students is necessary. Toward this end, the C&I Team identified the following priority areas for adoption: 

*Criterion 1: All of the curricula materials received the highest rating on EdReports in this area, so the review team did not evaluate Criterion 1. 

Beginning in January 2024, SFUSD established a Math Leadership team, including representatives from all major district divisions (C&I, LEAD, SPED, RPA, EED). This group worked to establish an evaluation rubric to review the core curriculum. The tool is based on the following 3-point scale: 

Using this rubric, the Leadership team reviewed ten math curricula that all received a “green” rating on EdReports, a well-respected, third-party reviewer—and recommended three K-5 programs and three 6-8 programs to move forward to the teacher and community review teams. 

We then worked to establish a Review Committee composed of site based educators representing a diversity of identities (racial, linguistic, years of tenure), schools and roles (Resource Specialist, classroom teacher, etc.) and family & community members. The Review Committee went through a collaborative training process and reviewed all three programs using the evaluation tool.  Below, you will find the results of the Review Committee:

Based on these ratings, SFUSD is piloting the following curricula for the 2024/25 school year:

Elementary: All elementary pilot teachers are piloting both  iReady Classroom Mathematics and Imagine Learning Illustrative Mathematics during the 2024 fall semester.

Middle: All middle school pilot teachers are piloting  Desmos Math by Amplify for the 2024/25 school year. Desmos was the clear favorite with teachers across all criterion in the ratings and in the qualitative data. 

These are the schools that are piloting in the elementary grades.

These are the schools that are piloting in the middle grades.

We are grateful to everyone involved for their work on the pilot.

SFUSD is grateful to everyone involved for their work on the pilot.