MIDAS

Math Techbook - High School Courses

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Core Code Alignment

Mathematics
Secondary Mathematics (7-12)
07080000110: Secondary Mathematics III

Recommendation

Recommended Primary

Evaluation

Math Techbook for High School is a solid, discovery-based curriculum. It covers the standards and encourages deep understanding, particularly in its model lesson design. However, its assessments are subpar (see details below).

Educators Using These Materials

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Rubric : Mathematics 2025

Compliance with State Law (Required)

Item	3 - Extensive	2 - Adequate	1 - Inadequate	0 - None
Sensitive Materials and Prohibited Submission 53G-10-103, R277-628	This item has not been graded.

Prohibited discriminatory practices 53G-2-103-5, 53B-1-118 and 67-27-107	This item has not been graded.

Maintaining constitutional freedom in the public schools. 53G-10-202	This item has not been graded.

Free from advertising, e-commerce, or political interest	This item has not been graded.

Focus and Coherence: Non-Negotiable

Item	3 - Extensive	2 - Adequate	1 - Inadequate	0 - None
Non-negotiable materials must focus coherently on the Major Work of the grade in a way that is consistent with the progressions in the standards.	Student and teachers using the materials as designed devote the majority of time to the Major Work of the grade.	Supporting Work enhances focus and coherence simultaneously by also engaging students in the Major Work of the grade.	Materials follow the grade-by-grade progressions in the Standards. Content from previous or future grades does not unduly interfere.	Lessons that only include mathematics from previous grades are clearly identified.
These materials follow the standards and focus student efforts on the core ideas of each grade level.

Rigor and Balance

Item	3 - Extensive	2 - Adequate	1 - Inadequate	0 - None
The materials support the development of students’ conceptual understanding of key mathematical concepts, especially where called for in specific standards or cluster headings.	Meets	Partially meets	N/A	Does not meet
These materials use discovery and discussion to build conceptual understanding of the materials, particularly in the "model lesson" materials. The practice problems and game practice problems really fail to support the building of conceptual understanding. In other words, the practice problems are procedural examples with little to no help materials attached to them. If a student was absent from the model lesson, they would have very little chance to learn the concepts at all, much less in a deep conceptual way, from the other materials.
The materials are designed so that students attain the fluencies and procedural skills required by the Standards.	Meets	Partially meets	N/A	Does not meet
The practice problems provide procedural practice, but they limit students' attempts to learn by treating practice as assessment. Students get 3 attempts on each question (with vague hints after the first two failed attempts). On the final failed attempt, the question locks and provides an explanation of the correct answer. A better approach that supports learning would be to provide more instructional intervention based on which incorrect answer a student chose, then allow the student to reattempt the question. It might be preferable to change the questions after providing help. Given that the question doesn't change after getting it wrong, it is also likely that the questions are the same for all students, which could produce test item security problems.
The materials are designed so that teachers and students spend sufficient time working with applications, without losing focus on the Major Work of each grade. (Are there single and multi-step contextual problems that develop the mathematics of the grade, afford opportunities for practice, and engage students in problem solving?)	Meets	Partially meets	N/A	Does not meet
Most of the work is application problems rather than on conceptual understanding of the underlying mathematics. From the teacher materials, this focus is justified as a way to boost student interest in the topics. "Real world" topics do not necessarily boost interest, and can distract from the core work of learning the underlying concepts. Ideally, there is a balance between core ideas and application. These materials are somewhat imbalanced in this respect.

Standards for Mathematical Practice

Item	3 - Extensive	2 - Adequate	1 - Inadequate	0 - None
Materials address the practice standards in such a way as to enrich the Major Work of the grade; practice standards strengthen the focus on Major Work instead of detracting from it, in both teacher and student materials.	Meets	Partially meets	N/A	Does not meet
Tasks and assessments have few helps for students. Tasks during model lessons assume students will discover the right approaches with little help, and provide limited instructions to teachers on how to lead these activities. Assessments fail to provide avenues for students to learn during the assessment. Assessments could preserve data on student knowledge while using the time to reteach concepts. Instead, the assessments focus on determining whether or not the student correctly answered the question in 3 tries, then gives a correct answer and explanation and moves on. Once the question locks, there is little incentive to read and study the explanation. This approach is likely to feel discouraging and fails to reward persistence and therefore doesn't support the Standards of Mathematical Practice.
Tasks and assessments of student learning are designed to provide evidence of students’ proficiency in the Standards of Mathematical Practice.	Meets	Partially meets	N/A	Does not meet
Tasks and assessments have few helps for students. Tasks during model lessons assume students will discover the right approaches with little help, and provide limited instructions to teachers on how to lead these activities. Assessments fail to provide avenues for students to learn during the assessment. Assessments could preserve data on student knowledge while using the time to reteach concepts. Instead, the assessments focus on determining whether or not the student correctly answered the question in 3 tries, then gives a correct answer and explanation and moves on. Once the question locks, there is little incentive to read and study the explanation. This approach is likely to feel discouraging and fails to reward persistence and therefore doesn't support the Standards of Mathematical Practice.
Materials support the Standards’ emphasis on mathematical reasoning.	Meets	Partially meets	N/A	Does not meet
The model lessons focus heavily on mathematical reasoning, and are a good resource. However, the practice problems and game problems fail to match this focus, or even to adequately support the focus on reasoning (see above).

Access to the Standards for All Students

Item	3 - Extensive	2 - Adequate	1 - Inadequate	0 - None
Support for English Language learners and other special populations is thoughtful (evidence-based) and helps those students meet the same Standards (and rigor) as all other students. The language in which problems are posed is carefully considered.	Meets	Partially meets	N/A	Does not meet
Spanish language materials are available, as are vocabulary helps for struggling learners.
Materials provide scaffolding, differentiation, intervention, and support for a broad range of learners with gradual removal of supports, when needed, to allow students to demonstrated their mathematical understanding independently.	Meets	Partially meets	N/A	Does not meet
If delivered by a skilled teacher, the model lessons are designed to provide scaffolding and other supports to learning through student pairing, discussion, and real-time feedback through the teacher dashboard.
Design of lessons incorporates strategies such as using multiple representations, deconstructing/reconstructing the language of problems, providing suggestions for addressing common student difficulties, etc. to ensure grade-level progress for all learners.	Meets	Partially meets	N/A	Does not meet
Teacher help materials provide suggestions on common misconceptions and fruitful questions to ask.
Ethnic Studies- (Ethnic studies in core standards and curriculum should be a narrowly tailored incorporation of age-appropriate opportunities that naturally arise through education without pretextual effort in courses, programs, or activities where ethnic studies is not a primary focus. The material should incorporate a curriculum of people and cultures that reflect the state’s various demographics without commentary that seeks to violate the neutrality standard established in codes: 53B-1-118, 53G-2-103, 53G-2-104, 53G-2-105, 67-27-107,	This item has not been graded.

Shared Values and Character Traits	This item has not been graded.

Assessment

Item	3 - Extensive	2 - Adequate	1 - Inadequate	0 - None
Multiple measurements of individual student progress occur at regular intervals ensuring success of all students.	Meets	Partially meets	N/A	Does not meet
Students are assessed during the model lessons by interacting with the online lesson inputs in real time. They are also assessed in a more standard quiz format, and can participate in game-like quizzes that have no hints and offer badges as rewards.
Assessments measure what students understand and can do through well designed mathematical tasks and applications.	Meets	Partially meets	N/A	Does not meet
The assessments are heavily focused on application, which has several consequences. The problems are more complex and wordy in order to provide the "real-world" scenario. This has the advantage of reducing cheating using apps like mathway or photomath, since the equation is often not explicitly stated in the question. This verbal complexity increases the difficulty dramatically for students with disabilities and for those learning English.

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