We translate state and national standards into a series of "big ideas" and then consolidate them into vivid, everyday language and meaningful activities. Train your staff to comprehend, apply and teach required grade-level standards in a more impactful way. ​

Rather than teach what's required for a single grade level, we show how the learning concepts unfold across grade levels so that teachers can understand what precedes or follows their own instruction. This allows teachers to tailor their instruction for students who may need more help or more of a challenge. ​

Research shows the importance of varied mathematical tasks to improve learning (Stein, et al., 2009). To build on commonly-used "low-level tasks" like worksheets and memorization, iMAKeIT emphasizes "high-level tasks" where participants learn about the connection between concepts and procedures as well as various forms of problem-solving.

Participants do more than listen to content. iMAKeIT integrates a series of engaging, hands-on activities that demonstrate what a big idea looks like in practice. Each module follows a pattern of presenting a big idea followed by practice activities where participants work in groups. Teachers are given tools and strategies for classroom application.​

We are not aligned to a particular curriculum. Instead, we focus on how to apply big ideas to required standards, choosing tools and manipulatives to help students visualize mathematics. You can expect to use counters, ten frames, place value coins, place value charts, pattern blocks, cuisenaire rods, tape diagrams and double number lines. ​

We use the latest range of emperical research in building each module and incorporate best practices from Instruction Practice Guides produced by the US Department of Education, Institute for Education Sciences and other relevant research from educational psychology and mathematics intervention studies. ​