Foundational Standards

At our last Tiered Algebra day, we spent an entire morning choosing foundational standards for Algebra 1 (specifically looking through the Appendix A standards that were identified for Algebra 1).  We wanted to be make sure to state that we are not choosing Power Standards.  Common Core specifically clarifies that all standards are equally important.  In our core instruction, we need to be teaching all standards.  
However, we felt it might be helpful to identify some standards that were critical to the learning of other standards.  We wanted our foundational standards to be ones that:

• would help students learn other Algebra standards

• would be necessary for life

• might help bridge between 8th grade math and Algebra

An example is that if students have trouble solving linear equations, it is likely that they would have trouble solving systems of equations, quadratic equations, etc.  In that way, solving linear equations is a foundational standard.

After much discussion we came up with the following foundational standards/groups of standards:

EQUATIONS/INEQUALITIES
A.CED.1:  Create equations and inequalities in one variable and use them to solve problems.
A.REI.1:  Explain each step in solving a simple equation as following from the equality of numbers asserted at the previous step, starting from the assumption that the original equation has a solution.  Construct a viable argument to justify a solution method.
A.CED.4:  Rearrange formulas to highlight quantities of interest, using the same reasoning as in solving equations.

SLOPE
F.IF.6: Calculate and interpret the average rate of change of a function (presented symbolically or as a table) over a specified interval. Estimate the rate of change from a graph.
S.ID.7: Interpret the slope (rate of change) and the intercept (constant term) of a linear model in the context of the data.

POLYNOMIAL OPERATIONS
A.APR.1: Understand that polynomials for a system analogous to the integers, namely, they are closed under the operations of addition, subtraction, and multiplication; add, subtract, and multiply polynomials.

MEANING OF A GRAPH
F.IF.1: Understand that a function from one set (called the domain) to another set (called the range) assigns to each element of the domain exactly one element of the range. If f is a function and x is an element of its domain, then f(x) denotes the output of fcorresponding to the input x. The graph of f is the graph of the equation y = f(x).

A.REI.10:  Understand that the graph of an equation in two variables is the set of all its solutions plotted in the coordinate plane, often forming a curve (which could be a line).

INTERPRET PARTS OF AN EXPRESSION

A.SSE.1:  Interpret expressions that represent a quantity in terms of its context.  Interpret parts of an expression, such as terms, factors, and coefficients.  Interpret complicated expressions by viewing one or more of their parts as a single entity.

EXPONENTS AND RADICALS

N.RN.2:  Rewrite expressions involving radicals and rational exponents using the properties of exponents.

USE UNITS

N.Q.1:  Use units as a way to understand problems and to guide the solution of multi-step problems; choose and interpret units consistently in formulas; choose and interpret the scale and the origin in graphs and data displays.

It was a morning of long debates, so I would easily say that almost all of us would argue to change something about what we came up with...overall what to you think?  Is there something you would add or remove?

-Kathryn

#MTBoS30

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