Akan-rooted
Learning values community, memory, responsibility, wisdom, creativity, and relationships across generations.
Curriculum foundation
Inclusive by design
Students receive explicit teaching, accessible materials, purposeful repetition, multiple representations, and multiple ways to demonstrate learning.
Restorative and humane
Reflection, dialogue, repair, collaboration, and growth replace fear-based discipline and unnecessary high-stakes testing.
Enduring learning goals
01
Build fluency without sacrificing conceptual understanding
02
Represent relationships with objects, drawings, tables, graphs, words, and symbols
03
Solve multi-step problems connected to daily life and community
04
Explain, compare, and revise mathematical reasoning
05
Use calculators and digital tools strategically
06
Recognize patterns and apply mathematics across subjects
9 weeks
Number Sense, Operations & Rational Numbers
Essential question: How can different representations make numbers easier to understand?
Core learning: Integers; fractions; decimals; percent; estimation; order of operations
Culminating demonstration
Design a budget for a class event and justify every calculation and estimate.
Design a budget for a class event and justify every calculation and estimate.
9 weeks
Ratios, Rates & Proportional Reasoning
Essential question: How do rates help us compare situations fairly?
Core learning: Ratios; unit rates; proportions; scale; percent change
Culminating demonstration
Create a scaled community-space plan with costs, measurements, and proportional reasoning.
Create a scaled community-space plan with costs, measurements, and proportional reasoning.
9 weeks
Expressions, Equations & Patterns
Essential question: How can symbols describe a pattern or unknown?
Core learning: Variables; equivalent expressions; one- and two-step equations; inequalities
Culminating demonstration
Model a real recurring cost or growth pattern and explain the equation in plain language.
Model a real recurring cost or growth pattern and explain the equation in plain language.
9 weeks
Geometry, Data & Probability
Essential question: How can measurement and data support decisions?
Core learning: Area; circumference; volume; sampling; graphs; probability
Culminating demonstration
Conduct a school-interest survey, analyze the data, and present a recommendation.
Conduct a school-interest survey, analyze the data, and present a recommendation.
9 weeks
Linear Relationships
Essential question: How can change be represented and predicted?
Core learning: Slope; rate of change; tables; graphs; equations; systems concepts
Culminating demonstration
Compare two real pricing plans and recommend the better option under different conditions.
Compare two real pricing plans and recommend the better option under different conditions.
9 weeks
Functions & Algebraic Reasoning
Essential question: What makes a relationship a function?
Core learning: Functions; input/output; exponent rules; scientific notation; equations
Culminating demonstration
Build and explain a function-based model using a chosen real-world dataset.
Build and explain a function-based model using a chosen real-world dataset.
9 weeks
Geometry, Transformations & the Pythagorean Theorem
Essential question: How can we reason about distance, shape, and movement?
Core learning: Transformations; congruence; similarity; angles; Pythagorean theorem
Culminating demonstration
Design an accessible room or route plan supported by scale, distance, and geometric reasoning.
Design an accessible room or route plan supported by scale, distance, and geometric reasoning.
9 weeks
Statistics, Bivariate Data & Capstone Problem Solving
Essential question: How can data reveal a relationship without telling the whole story?
Core learning: Scatter plots; association; trend lines; data critique; cumulative review
Culminating demonstration
Complete a teacher-guided data investigation and defend conclusions and limitations.
Complete a teacher-guided data investigation and defend conclusions and limitations.
Weekly instructional cycle
ConnectActivate background knowledge and establish purpose.
ModelTeacher demonstrates the skill with clear thinking aloud.
PracticeStudents rehearse with scaffolds, feedback, and repetition.
ApplyStudents use the learning in a meaningful task or problem.
ReflectStudents explain growth, revise work, and plan a next step.
Daily practice: Lessons may combine mini-lessons, movement, music, visuals, discussion, hands-on materials, small groups, independent work, and teacher conferencing. Pacing changes when student evidence shows that reteaching or extension is needed.
Signature learning experiences
Personal-finance and budgeting challenge
Students plan, create, revise, explain, and share a product that demonstrates both content learning and communication.
Scaled design or accessibility plan
Students plan, create, revise, explain, and share a product that demonstrates both content learning and communication.
Student survey and data story
Students plan, create, revise, explain, and share a product that demonstrates both content learning and communication.
Mathematics-through-music fluency routine
Students plan, create, revise, explain, and share a product that demonstrates both content learning and communication.
Assessment without high-stakes testing
Frequent evidence
- Conferences and observation
- Exit responses and retrieval practice
- Notebook, portfolio, or model checks
- Short performances and explanations
Culminating evidence
- Unit projects and demonstrations
- Presentations, exhibitions, or performances
- Student reflection and revision
- Standards-aligned teacher rubrics
Reporting progress
Progress reports describe what a student understands, can do independently, can do with support, and should learn next. Grades never stand alone without feedback.
Reteaching and reassessment
Students receive another pathway to learn and another reasonable opportunity to demonstrate growth after feedback and practice.
Inclusive supports
Concrete–representational–abstract instruction
Worked examples and color-coded steps
Abrafi Mathematics songs for retrieval practice
Reference charts and calculator access
Reduced problem sets with purposeful repetition
Multiple ways to show reasoning
Individualization: Teachers follow each student’s IEP and use present-level data, accommodations, assistive technology, and specially designed instruction. Supports provide access without lowering the intellectual dignity of the work.
Family and community connection
Each semester includes at least one opportunity for students to connect learning to family knowledge, New Orleans, Akan or African diasporic culture, a community concern, or a public audience. Participation options protect privacy and respect different family circumstances.
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