The Mathematics Department offers a variety of courses that appeal to students with diverse interests and learning styles. Our goal is to provide student centered, standards-based instruction in every math class. Through hands-on exploration, problem solving experiences, discovery and discussion, students will make sense of mathematics and appreciate its power.

Instructional technology will play an important role in each course. In particular, graphing and scientific calculators will have major emphasis. Scientific calculators are suitable for any College/Tech Prep math class as well as Algebra 1 and Geometry CP. TI-83 Plus graphing calculators (or better) are strongly recommended in Algebra II, Pre-Calculus, Trigonometry and all AP courses. Students are encouraged to use graphing calculators as early as possible.

Each course within this department is aligned with the 2011 MA State Curriculum Framework for Mathematics. Within this framework, there are 8 Standards for Mathematical Practice that students proficient in math should meet. These 8 standards are essentially habits of mind that students of mathematics courses should be developing while they explore the content. They are as follows:

1. Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.

2. Reason abstractly and quantitatively.

3. Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.

4. Model with mathematics.

5. Use appropriate tools strategically.

6. Attend to precision.

7. Look for and make use of structure.

8. Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.