Christopher Danielson

As a parent, you’re most likely to encounter the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (Common Core Standards for short) in the homework that your child brings home. The Common Core Standards are a set of statements about what students should know and be able to do at each grade level from kindergarten through high school.

In fourth grade math, Common Core students begin to study how numbers are built from multiplication relationships. The important relationship here is between factors and multiples. A number's factors are all the whole numbers by which you can divide it with no remainder. For example, the factors of 12 are 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 12.

In Common Core math, seventh grade students add and subtract both positive and negative numbers using the number line. On the number line, numbers have two important meanings: A number is a point on the number line. A number is a distance on the number line. What the first one means is that each little tick mark you put on a number line represents a number — 0, 1, 2, and so on: Each of these is matched with a point on the number line.

In the Common Core program, eighth grade algebra is mostly linear. Linear relationships, which are equations with straight-line graphs, can include the slope-intercept form, standard form, and point-slope form. A proportional relationship has a graph that makes a straight line and goes through the point (0,0).

Being able to solve proportions is important in seventh grade math. In a Common Core classroom, the emphasis is on making sense of the solution method, rather than on memorizing a given procedure. One general rule for whether your child is making sense of his solution is this: Does he know what each number means along the way?

In seventh grade math, Common Core students begin to learn about probability. Probability is the study of how likely something is to happen. Students develop theories about probability and then test these theories with experiments. The common example is flipping a coin. If the coin isn't weighted, if you let it hit the ground, and if you don't otherwise interfere with the flip, then the probability of getting heads is The probability of getting tails is also so these two outcomes are equally likely.

Sixth grade is the first time that Common Core math students start to solve problems using variables and the property of equivalence (specifically, the distributive property). They typically use variables that closely match the values they represent, so s for side length, v for volume, and so on. They also notice that some expressions — even though they may look quite different — always have the same values as each other, and they explore this property, called equivalence.

In Common Core math, sixth graders apply their knowledge of factors and multiples to look for the greatest common factor (or GCF) of two numbers and the least common multiple (LCM) of two numbers. The greatest common factor of two numbers is the largest number that is a factor of both numbers. The first step in thinking about GCF is to think about common factors.

A lot of misinformation is available about the Common Core Standards. These standards guide the math your child learns in school each year. In order to advocate for and to support your child, you need to be well informed. Here are some important facts that counter some of the common myths about the Common Core Standards.