MIDAS

OPEN UP HIGH SCHOOL MATHEMATICS

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Core Code Alignment

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

Recommendation

Recommended Primary

Evaluation

OpenUp High School Math is an excellent, discovery-based program. Teachers are expected to guide students in building deep conceptual knowledge and connections between concepts and representations. Choosing this program will require a full commitment to discussion and discovery and open-ended assessments.

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.
Aligns with state standards and focuses student effort on the core learning of the 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
This is the core strength of this program. OpenUp has taken the goal of building conceptual understanding and designed every aspect of the program to support that goal. Where other programs use artificial "real world" scripted problems in an attempt recycle old strategies, OpenUp uses wide open spaces on the page and open questions to ask, "what do you know?"
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
This is the weaker aspect of this program. As noted above, the entire program is built around the idea that conceptual understanding is preferable to procedural fluency in terms of where instruction should focus. Those who want lots of practice opportunities and sample problems should look elsewhere.
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
There is a nice balance where most of the work is on conceptual understanding, while each lesson has at least some application problems.

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
By having open-ended work, and even open-ended assessment, students are encouraged to respond with what they know instead of placing the focus on what they don't know. This is frankly a beautiful way to teach and learn math where student thinking is honored and used as the raw materials for instruction.
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
See above.
Materials support the Standards’ emphasis on mathematical reasoning.	Meets	Partially meets	N/A	Does not meet
The entire program is built to optimize mathematical reasoning. See other sections for details.

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
Lessons that are discussion and exploration based give all students a chance to contribute what they know. Open-ended assessments and tasks also encourage students to use what representations and strategies they wish to try to advance their progress on a task. Since much of this allows for visual representations, students learning English, or those with learning disabilities should have better success with this kind of program. Where there might be more difficulty is this students on the autism spectrum where the plethora of choices could be a barrier. Teachers skilled in working with such students would need to accommodate, perhaps by limited the range of response types, or providing other means of adding structure for those students.
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
This work is largely left to teachers (rather than the printed materials) with extensive guides to teachers on how to structure questions and help for struggling students.
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
This is another core strength of this program. Multiple representations are encouraged (or required!) in most tasks and assessments. Providing open-ended answer fields allows students who are below grade-level to bring what knowledge they have to bear on the tasks at hand.
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
Student work should be assessed regularly, but this requires more teacher work than in an automated quiz platform. Teachers should be circulating during discussions and tasks and assessing, at least informally, and providing constructive hints or questions. The program does not rely on a self-grading quiz platform to build fluency with procedural problems.
Assessments measure what students understand and can do through well designed mathematical tasks and applications.	Meets	Partially meets	N/A	Does not meet
These are very well-designed tasks that foster both deep understanding, and student courage. For teachers ready to put their whole focus on deep understanding, this program has ideal assessments.

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Phone: 801.538.7807