The Math Must-Haves
Math Must-Have #1
Mapping Math and Language Development
Creating a map of the scope and sequence of how language and math intersect and are developed throughout the curriculum provides teachers with an essential, clear, at-a-glance view of the unit and course’s language progression.
Essential question to ask when evaluating instructional materials:
How does disciplinary language develop across the unit, in support of understanding of key mathematical ideas?
Here’s an example of how when teachers combine content and language goals in a lesson, students can build a deeper understanding of rational number operations. They start by exploring ideas with visuals, then describe patterns in everyday language, and gradually move toward using precise math terms like 'additive identity' and 'absolute value.' This approach supports both math learning and language development — especially for multilingual learners.
Math Must-Have #2
Monitoring Math and Language Development
Teacher materials should provide guidance on assessing and providing language-related, just-in-time feedback (aligned to lesson-level language goals). Assessments should do more than test math – they should measure how students use language to express mathematical thinking.
Essential question to ask when evaluating instructional materials:
How are teachers equipped to provide actionable feedback to students so both can make teaching/learning decisions to advance disciplinary language development?
Math Must-Have #3
Making Connections through Student Collaboration and Conversation
Sustained peer interaction helps students clarify, justify, and borrow language and ideas, critical for developing both math content understanding and discipline-specific language.
Essential question to ask when evaluating instructional materials:
What opportunities do students have to build and refine their mathematics ideas and language through clarifying, justifying, borrowing language/ideas from peers?
Resources
No matter where district leaders are in the math curriculum adoption process, ELSF has designed practical resources and trainings that can evaluate curricula based on the Math Must-Haves:
Essential question to ask when evaluating instructional materials:
What opportunities do students have to build and refine their mathematics ideas and language through clarifying, justifying, borrowing language/ideas from peers?
The California Math Adoption Toolkit
This toolkit centers on the needs of multilingual learners while also aligning with California’s learning standards. This step-by-step resource covers the adoption process from the initial review of landscape and data on multilingual learner achievement to who should be engaged in the review and adoption process, all the way through planning for launch and implementation. The toolkit offers practical guidance and downloadable tools for each phase of your adoption journey.
The Essential RFP Language Guide
This guide provides practical, adaptable language to use in requests for proposals (RFPs) that explicitly call out the need for materials to contain the Math Must Haves: mapping, monitoring, and making connections to effectively support multilingual learners.
