California Math Curriculum for High School
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.
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.
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.
The Teaching Edition is designed in two parts, the Instructional Guide and the Answer Guide to simplify instructional support into manageable components.
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.
Math Intervention Support for All Learners
Preview Concepts & Connections for California
What Our Users Have To Say
The California Math & YOU Digital Experience
Your California Math & YOU Journey Starts Here!
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.
A Digital Experience Built for YOU
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.
Your Math & YOU Journey Starts Here
See Math & YOU in action! The headline and subheader tells us what you're offering, and the form header closes the deal. Over here you can explain why your offer is so great it's worth filling out a form for.
Remember:
- Bullets are great
- For spelling out benefits and
- Turning visitors into leads.
Request a Sample
TAKE A LOOK INSIDE
Preview Math & YOU
MEET THE AUTHORS
The Math & YOU Authorship Team
Math Musicals
Learning Manipulatives
RESOURCES
Read the Latest From Our Blog
Valuing the Teaching Profession
- Oct 1 24
- Dr. Sophie Specjal
When it comes to connecting with children, ...
Welcome to Your Big Ideas Classroom
- Sep 19 24
- Big Ideas Learning Consultants
Welcome to another new school year! The start of ...
Closing Out the School Year: Big Ideas for a Seamless Transition to Summer
- May 20 24
- Big Ideas Learning Consultants
Big Ideas Learning offers resources to make these ...
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.
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.
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!
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!
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!
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.