Evolving standards, technology solutions and teachers keeping up.

GUEST COLUMN | by Rohit Agarwal

As many school districts and teachers know, math standards have been evolving and changing over the last few years, causing administrators and educators to rush to get up-to-speed on the new standards. The biggest challenges have been with implementation with fidelity and ensuring that the instruction has the necessary depth and rigor. Of course, all teachers want to ensure their students deeply understand and conceptualize this new way of learning; however, not all teachers have the time or resources to help them efficiently implement the coursework.

There are many things districts can do to help teachers create efficiencies in learning these new standards.

In a recent national survey conducted by Amazon, and responded to by 4,400 K-12 teachers:

–          71% of teachers reported receiving standards-aligned math teaching resources from their school/district

–          96% of teachers routinely supplement from the Internet or create their own resources for math

–          86% of teachers spend multiple hours a week researching, finding, and creating math lessons

There are many things districts can do to help teachers create efficiencies in learning these new standards, and one of those is to provide instructional resources to help teachers plan, and quickly implement curriculum that ensures students develop deep conceptual understanding, critical thinking and problem solving skills, and ultimately prepare them for college and careers.

One resource that our company recently launched, TenMarks Math Teach, provides a comprehensive set of resources to guide effective instruction for each math standard. Teachers can use it to prepare for instruction or during class, and it is supported across multiple browsers. It is initially focused on Grades 2-6, with instructional resources for 12 core standards in each grade. Districts can also opt for the premium model ($399 per teacher annually) — providing access to all instructional resources for grade levels.

We think this program will provide ample support for teachers and provide in-depth resources as they implement math curriculum. Our hope is that this eliminates some, if not all, of the outside work teachers typically spend searching for additional math resources for their lesson plans — something that is particularly needed as we head into the second half of the school year!

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Rohit Agarwal is the CEO of TenMarks, an Amazon Company.