Concepts & Connections for California, part of the California Math & YOU Series

High School Math Curriculum that Goes Beyond the Classroom

Concepts & Connections for California is the high school curriculum in the California Math & YOU K–12 series. Concepts & Connections for California is a cohesive, coherent, and rigorous high-school mathematics curriculum built on the 2023 California Mathematics Framework and fully aligned to the California Common Core State Standards 

Concepts & Connections for California, written by renowned author Dr. Ron Larson and his expert authorship team, incorporates the highest impact strategies for empowering teachers to accelerate learning for students in Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2.  

With a strong conceptual framework and connections to the big ideas of mathematics, students learn more deeply, develop greater conceptual understanding, and apply it to real-world scenarios. A true extension of the Big Ideas Learning California Math & YOU K-8 series, Concepts & Connections for California continues to spark curiosity and encourage mathematical connections through the lens of Careers and STEM.    

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Why Choose Concepts & Connections California for High School?

Cultivate Growth for Every Learner

Concepts & Connections for California, part of the California Math & YOU series, includes rich features to empower teachers to achieve growth for every learner. 

  • Learning Targets and Success Criteria are part of each lesson so both teachers and students can readily identify the goals of each lesson and recognize/check for understanding.  

  • The California Common Core State Standards in Mathematics are visible on the first page of each lesson which makes it easy for California educators to identify the standards and how they will be met. 

  • Career-Themed Chapters inspire students with relatable connections to their lives now and in the future. Everyday Explorations Videos ignite students’ curiosity and interest in math as they hear from National Geographic Explorers’ STEM research. 

  • Performance Tasks conclude each chapter and are tied to each Career focus, offering students opportunities to analyze real-life data and draw conclusions.   

  • Math Talk & Data Talk Callouts help teachers initiate meaningful classroom/small group discussions around math and help build students’ data literacy. 

  • California’s Environmental Principles & Concepts are integrated into each chapter and accompanied by teacher notes that help students bridge environmental concepts with math.    

  • In each Investigate, students are encouraged to look back, before proceeding to look ahead, supporting the development of conceptual understanding.   

  • The Reasoning page features non-routine problems that require students to practice conceptual thinking in every lesson.    

  • Connections to Real Life incorporates colorful and engaging real-life examples, making mathematics meaningful. Data literacy is emphasized with frequent Connect to Data elements.    

  • The Practice and Interpreting Data have students apply the concepts they are learning and connect them to data displays. 

  • Each Dig Deeper Problem promotes multi-step thinking and conceptual understanding to apply different strategies to solve more rigorous problems.   

  • The Big Ideas of the Chapter enables students to partake in an investigative activity that requires them to relate a big idea of the upcoming chapter with real life data contexts.    

  • Connecting Big Ideas includes engaging data-science infographics that help students connect to the big ideas of the grade level.  

  • CalcChat is a built-in free service offering students the ability to tap into a live virtual tutor anywhere to get help with select exercises in Getting Ready, Practice, and Chapter Review.  

  • CalcView allows students to view instructor videos working through a variety of set problems. This helps encourage students who may be trying to recall steps and strategies to solve a problem.   

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Teaching Support in Concepts & Connections for California

The teaching resources within Concepts & Connections California provide teachers with instructional flexibility, data-driven insights, predictive suggestions, and the ability to choose immediate and customized solutions to meet the needs of all students to achieve success. 

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The Teaching Edition is designed in two parts, the Instructional Guide and the Answer Guide to simplify instructional support into manageable components. 

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Point-of-use Paul’s Notes (authored by expert instructor and author Paul Battaglia) provide teachers with valuable instructional insights, motivating students, guiding questions for engaged discussion, tips for differentiating instruction, support for integrating the Mathematical Practices, closures, and more! 

India’s Notes (authored by Dr. India White) promotes equitable math instruction while supporting students’ social and emotional needs. 

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Math Intervention Support for All Learners

Differentiated Resources allow learning to be individualized. Students may move in and out of proficiency levels with each skill and concept. Our online resources provide a wide range of layered support for the diverse needs in your classroom. The tiered resources in California Math & YOU and Concepts & Connections California are designed to accommodate all levels of learners, allowing teachers to easily Reinforce (Tier 1), Re-engage (Tier 2), and Intervene (Tier 3) when needed. 
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Preview Concepts & Connections for California

Our Impact

What Our Users Have To Say

The digital platform is a game changer for me.  The video tutorials are explicit, engaging, and well-paced.  The Formative Check provides immediate feedback on student progress, making it quick and easy to differentiate and provide support where needed.  Since implementing the program 2 years ago, I have seen student growth and mathematical understanding that I've never seen in 20 years of teaching.
Grade 4 Teacher
Our students have seen exponential growth after implementing Big Ideas Learning’s program with fidelity for two consecutive years. The lessons are concise and challenging.  Additionally, we use the Progressions and Resources to meet with students either individually or in targeted small group instruction, to revisit specific skills as necessary, to enrich their understanding, and monitor their progress. The way the curriculum spirals supports the continuity of understanding in students from year to year.
Grade 5 Teacher
As teachers, we all know anything new is always viewed with some level of skepticism. In our first year using Big Ideas, 63% of our grade 3-5 students met or exceeded their desired growth on our Spring 2022 state testing. As a team, we set a goal of 65% for Spring 2023 and committed to following the Big Ideas pacing and rigor. We were thrilled when our Spring 2023 growth for grades 3-5 on our state testing was 76% of students met or exceeded their desired growth! As we plan for 2024, we know teaching the program with fidelity is the way to go!
Elementary Principal
At the end of 2022 after our first year of BIM, our students were asked, "How often do you use ideas from school in your daily life?" and only 50% answered, "Almost always" or "Frequently". We made some adjustments to be sure all teachers were teaching the program with fidelity including keeping up the pace to cover all of the material. At the end of 2023, 65% of our students answered "Almost always" or "Frequently". We are thrilled at that increase as we seek success in how our students can see the connection between what happens in the classroom and what happens in life! Our teachers shared that the program is a big part of helping our students make that connection!
Elementary Principal
Big Ideas Learning allows teachers to have various tools at their fingertips (both print and digital) to help students practice and come to a deeper understanding of an array of math concepts. The proof of the program's success is in the data from the beginning-of-the-year assessments compared to the middle and end-of-year assessments. We are thrilled with the results and look forward to seeing how our students continue to grow this year as we head into the third year of using the program!
Grade 5 Teacher
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The California Math & YOU Digital Experience

California Math & YOU’s brand-new digital experience provides a high-quality, engaging, and interactive learning environment for both teachers and students. The flexible interface allows teachers to readily customize lessons, student groups for targeted intervention, and assessments while also ensuring equity and access for all students as they meet the standards at appropriate depths.
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Your California Math & YOU Journey Starts Here!

Let's talk California Math & YOU! Connect with one of our California representatives.

Trusted Partners in Education 

Our exclusive partnership with National Geographic Learning | Cengage, gives Big Ideas Learning access to their outstanding expertise, resources, and global distribution network.

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A Digital Experience Built for YOU

The Big Ideas Learning digital experience empowers teachers, helps students achieve math fluency, and provides the right tools to maximize teacher and student effectiveness. With data-driven insights to improve student outcomes, teachers are empowered to make instructional decisions that have the highest impact on student learning.
FUNDAMENTAL PILLARS

Why Choose Math & YOU?

Conceptual Foundation

Increased emphasis and features dedicated to conceptual thinking and rigor that balance understanding, fluency, and real-life application.

Teaching Support

Create impactful lesson plans, identify gaps in student learning, and quickly connect to sources for remediation, extra practice, or enrichment.

Engaging Content

Address the perceptions that math is hard to teach by engaging and inspiring students with relatable connections to their lives, now and in the future.

Your Math & YOU Journey Starts Here

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MEET THE AUTHORS

The Math & YOU Authorship Team

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Math Musicals

Math Musicals are a fun and dynamic component of the Math & YOU K-5 program. Led by a delightful duo of furry friends, Newton and Descartes, these stories and songs offer an engaging connection between math, music, and literature to support student learning. Join Newton and Descartes as they team up in these educational stories, songs, and videos to bring mathematics to life!
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Learning Manipulatives

We partner with Didax to give teachers the ability to enhance students' conceptual understanding and visualization of mathematical concepts. Didax is the exclusive provider of Big Ideas Learning’s K-5 manipulative kits. These kits are intentionally designed to include the appropriate manipulatives recommended for each lesson.

RESOURCES

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OUR IMPACT

What Our Users Have To Say

The digital platform is a game changer for me.  The video tutorials are explicit, engaging, and well-paced.  The Formative Check provides immediate feedback on student progress, making it quick and easy to differentiate and provide support where needed.  Since implementing the program 2 years ago, I have seen student growth and mathematical understanding that I've never seen in 20 years of teaching.

Grade 4 Teacher

Our students have seen exponential growth after implementing Big Ideas Learning’s program with fidelity for two consecutive years. The lessons are concise and challenging.  Additionally, we use the Progressions and Resources to meet with students either individually or in targeted small group instruction, to revisit specific skills as necessary, to enrich their understanding, and monitor their progress. The way the curriculum spirals supports the continuity of understanding in students from year to year.

Grade 5 Teacher

As teachers, we all know anything new is always viewed with some level of skepticism. In our first year using Big Ideas, 63% of our grade 3-5 students met or exceeded their desired growth on our Spring 2022 state testing. As a team, we set a goal of 65% for Spring 2023 and committed to following the Big Ideas pacing and rigor. We were thrilled when our Spring 2023 growth for grades 3-5 on our state testing was 76% of students met or exceeded their desired growth! As we plan for 2024, we know teaching the program with fidelity is the way to go!

Elementary Principal

At the end of 2022 after our first year of BIM, our students were asked, "How often do you use ideas from school in your daily life?" and only 50% answered, "Almost always" or "Frequently". We made some adjustments to be sure all teachers were teaching the program with fidelity including keeping up the pace to cover all of the material. At the end of 2023, 65% of our students answered "Almost always" or "Frequently". We are thrilled at that increase as we seek success in how our students can see the connection between what happens in the classroom and what happens in life! Our teachers shared that the program is a big part of helping our students make that connection!

Elementary Principal

Big Ideas Learning allows teachers to have various tools at their fingertips (both print and digital) to help students practice and come to a deeper understanding of an array of math concepts. The proof of the program's success is in the data from the beginning-of-the-year assessments compared to the middle and end-of-year assessments. We are thrilled with the results and look forward to seeing how our students continue to grow this year as we head into the third year of using the program!

Grade 5 Teacher

Trusted Partners in Education 

Our exclusive partnership with National Geographic Learning | Cengage, gives Big Ideas Learning access to their outstanding expertise, resources, and global distribution network.

NGL-Cengage HED logo-FullColor-2022-1