Following California’s mandate to reevaluate textbooks every seven years, the school’s math department has chosen Big Ideas Math as the textbook provider for the Algebra I, Geometry and Algebra II (AGA) courses starting next school year.
A major reason for switching to the Big Ideas series is that it offers improved technological compatibility compared to the current textbook company, math department head Kristen Hamilton said. The new Big Ideas textbooks will replace the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) textbooks currently in use.
After a notice was sent out to parents and students in the spring of 2023 explaining the upcoming textbook reevaluation, AGA teachers conducted a “pilot program” during the fall semester to evaluate two possible textbook publishers, Reveal Math and Big Ideas Math. During this pilot period, AGA teachers incorporated modules from both Reveal Math and Big Ideas textbooks into their existing curriculum.
According to Hamilton, AGA teachers took modules from the old and new textbooks, alternating between teaching them for three weeks before switching back to the old textbooks for another three weeks. Afterwards, the other textbook being piloted would be taught for three weeks, and so on.
“The pilot means we taught from the two textbooks — we picked 1-2 chapters from each textbook and [taught those chapters] in the fall AGA courses,” Hamilton said.
When evaluating textbooks, the math department used a five-criteria rubric, comprising content and organization, depth and rigor, engagement and relevance, accessibility and usage, and teacher support and professional development, to evaluate the eligibility of the two textbook publishers.
After the pilot period, the math department also released a survey to students, which found the Big Ideas textbook more favorable than Reveal Math for classroom use.
As a result, Big Ideas Math will be adapted into all AGA classes next fall. According to Hamilton, much remains to be done to smoothly incorporate the new curriculum into current AGA classes and teachers must overcome many challenges to restructure their class lectures.
“As you know, teachers here at SHS create their notes and curriculum [instead of] ‘teaching from the text,’ which is why our students are so successful,” Hamilton said. “This [textbook change] will be a lot of work for teachers of these courses.”
