• Provide teachers and students with materials that implement the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) curriculum and evaluation standards and the Illinois Learning Standards for Mathematics (ILSM)
• Provide students with access to high school mathematics success
  

Implementing the NCTM and ILSM Standards
Our junior high mathematics program incorporates the NCTM and ILSM standards. It is a program with rigorous content that builds on prior knowledge and provides carefully sequenced instruction in the building blocks of algebra: numerical, proportional, and algebraic reasoning.

Course 1, which is covered at the sixth grade level focuses on numerical reasoning and lays a solid foundation for algebra readiness.

Numerical reasoning includes:

• Number sense
  • understanding numbers and their relative magnitudes
  • rounding numbers
  • finding patterns
  • using referents for estimating measures of common objects
  • recognizing real-life uses of numbers
• Operation sense
  • estimating results of computations using strategies
  • doing mental computations using strategies
  • understanding the effects of operations
  • choosing an appropriate operations/computation method
  • interpreting the answer
    

Course 2, which is covered at the seventh grade level focuses on proportional reasoning providing all the readiness skills necessary to prepare students for high school algebra.

• Proportional reasoning includes:
  • recognizing, using, and expressing proportional relationships
  • finding equivalencies between ratios and percents
  • using tables and graphs to compare proportional and non-proportional relationships
  • using proportional reasoning in common applications
    

Course 3, which is covered at the eighth grade level focuses on algebraic reasoning and provides an extension to Course 1 and 2 for students.

• Algebraic reasoning includes:
  • translating real-world and mathematical relationships into expressions and equations
  • representing algebraic relationships in tables and graphs
  • understanding variables and constants
  • applying formulas
  • finding patterns in sets of equations
  • understanding functions and relationships
  • using algebra to solve problems
    

The junior high program provides daily real-world problem solving experiences, stresses oral and written mathematical and cross subject communication skills. The program also makes connections between mathematics and other academic areas, provides varied technology (computer and other) connections and applications for developing understanding and presenting mathematical concepts and problems, opportunities for independent and cooperative learning, and provisions for a variety of student needs and learning styles.