Balancing Mathematics Instruction: Practical Ways to Effectively Implement the Math Common Core

The United States has been plagued for decades by two traditional approaches prominent in math classrooms. Students lose out when math teaching emphasizes a set of procedures for students’ use without conceptual understanding, and covers material to prepare for a test or meet a pacing guide without concern for student understanding.

Balancing Mathematics Instruction provides an effective strategy for schools to change math instruction in preparation for the Common Core State Standards. These practices emphasize a student-centered classroom environment that promotes four instructional areas to “balance” out textbook- and standards-driven teaching: computational strength, number sense, problem solving, and conceptual understanding. The content of the book and the accompanying DVD, an integral visual resource illustrating the practices in action in actual classrooms, describes these four instructional areas and how to implement them in the classroom.