Prioritizing Math Content During COVID-19

2020 was definitely a challenging year in education, for both teaching math and teaching special education. Many of us are still teaching in some form of virtual or hybrid model. Most of us have no idea when we will return to full brick and mortar.  Math content is already an area that many special education students struggle with and now meeting their needs has become even more difficult.  

Achieve the Core Helps

There is so much to cover in a year when it comes to math. Because of this, we are often left trying to figure out what exactly the most important math content is for the year. Now, with the limited time that we have our students, this is an even more important question to answer.  

Hopefully your school district has helped with this in some way through a modified scope and sequence for the curriculum that you use.  If not, Achieve the Core has created a very helpful resource for K-8 and High School which outlines the priority Common Core Standards for ELA and Math.  

Great for Special Education Teachers

This document is useful for special educators because many times we rely on the actual content standards to guide instruction.  Rather than combing through curriculum documents, you can use this document to see exactly which standards are priority for the year and how to address the remaining content.   Since we write standards-based IEP goals and objectives, this makes writing and addressing individual goals easier as well.  

This will be a useful document to use even when things get back to normal.  Since many of the students we teach have gaps in math for many different reasons, it will be nice to have a guide on how to prioritize and address content in each grade even when the pandemic is over.  

An Easier Format

Although this document is really helpful, it can be pretty cumbersome to comb through if you teach multiple grade levels in math.  Sign up below to receive a free Priority Math Standards Cheat Sheet which organizes the math standards by grade level into a more concise format for grades K through 5.