Step Up to the TEKS 6th Grade Math Full Program

Evaluation for 1.1a
Materials include a scope and sequence outlining the TEKS, ELPS, and concepts taught in the course.

The “scope and sequence” outlines comprehensive coverage of grade 6 Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), organized into coherent instructional units. Each unit explicitly identifies aligned the TEKS and correlates them with instructional materials, including the Math Practice Book, TEKS-tivity “activities” and “problem of the day.” This ensures systematic and complete TEKS coverage across the academic year.

Materials include a scope and sequence available with the TEKS and concepts; however, the English Language Proficiency Standards (ELPS) are not listed. In the front matter of the Math Practice Book Teacher Edition, the ELPS are correlated to the TEKS but not to lesson concepts.

Evaluation for 1.1b
Materials include suggested pacing (pacing guide/calendar) to support effective implementation for various instructional calendars (e.g., varying numbers of instructional days - 165, 180, 210).

The scope and sequence provide explicit pacing guidance for each unit, including suggested instructional days across multiple calendar models (165, 180, and 210 days). This structure supports flexible implementation while ensuring full TEKS coverage. Each unit includes aligned TEKS and recommended instructional duration, enabling educators to plan instruction with clear expectations for pacing while maintaining alignment to grade-level standards.

Flexibility in accommodating three different instructional calendars recognizes the diverse schedules in educational settings.

Evaluation for 1.1c
Materials include an explanation for the rationale of unit order as well as how concepts to be learned connect throughout the course.

The sequence rationale in the implementation guide explains the intentional progression of TEKS from foundational to applied concepts. Instruction begins with number relationships, followed by fractions and operations, and culminates in data analysis and financial literacy. This progression ensures students build prerequisite knowledge before engaging in more complex applications. Each unit includes a unit rationale, big ideas, and background knowledge. The unit rationale includes connections with other concepts and background knowledge with prior grade levels.

The Practice Book, Teacher Edition materials include an explanation for the rationale of unit order as well as how concepts to be learned connect throughout the course.

Evaluation for 1.1d
Materials include protocols with corresponding guidance for unit and lesson internalization.

Each unit includes a “unit rationale,” “big ideas,” “background knowledge,” “instructional notes,” “key academic vocabulary,” “required materials,” and “unit assessment overviews” to help educators internalize the unit. The “unit rationale” includes connections with other concepts and background knowledge from prior grade levels.

The Implementation Guide provides a “unit rationale” which includes guidance and lesson internalization. The “unit rationale” includes connections with other concepts in the grade and background knowledge from prior grade levels.

Evaluation for 1.1e
Materials include resources and guidance for instructional leaders to support teachers with implementing the materials as designed.

The materials provide guidance such as look-fors, implementation pitfalls, and coaching questions. The Implementation Guide includes a “Leadership Lens” at the unit level that provides guidance to instructional leaders on supporting educators in implementing the materials as designed. The “Leadership Lens” includes “Implementation Priorities,” “Classroom Look-Fors,” “Common Implementation Pitfalls,” “Coaching Questions,” and “Evidence to Review” for guidance.

However, the materials do not include resources for instructional leaders to support educators in implementing them as designed. The materials do not provide a framework or tools to assist instructional leaders to monitor implementation, or specific resources to help instructional leaders build their capacity to support educators, such as exemplar responses to the coaching questions.

Evaluation for 1.2a
Materials include comprehensive unit overviews that provide the background content knowledge and academic vocabulary necessary to effectively teach the concepts in the unit.

The materials organize all grade level TEKS into a coherent sequence of units with clearly defined instructional focus and pacing. Each unit aligns specific TEKS to instructional priorities, supporting systematic and standards-aligned planning across the course.

The TEKS Checklist includes the specificity of the standards along with expectations and vertical alignment expectations from other grade levels. Included are the verb, concepts, and essentials for each standard. This checklist is a great tool for educators to develop engaging lessons and formative and summative assessments.

Evaluation for 1.2b
Materials contain supports for families in both Spanish and English for each unit with suggestions on supporting the progress of their student.

The materials include a “Unit 1, Parent Letter” in English and Spanish that explains the key concepts students will learn, including number relationships, place value, and comparison of whole numbers. The letter includes a dedicated section with suggestions for supporting student learning at home, providing families with practical strategies to reinforce TEKS-aligned skills and monitor student progress.

The materials also include, for each unit 2 through 12, a “Parent Letter” in English and Spanish that explains the key concepts students will learn. The materials also provide strategies and activities for families in English and Spanish to use at home to support students’ learning and development for each unit.

Evaluation for 1.3a
Materials include comprehensive, structured, detailed lesson plans that include daily objectives, questions, tasks, materials, and instructional assessments required to meet the content and language standards of the lesson (aligned with the TEKS and the ELPS).

The “lesson-at-a-glance” provides a structured lesson sequence including I do, we do, partner practice, independent practice, and reflection, with defined time allocations for each phase to support effective lesson pacing and implementation.

The materials include comprehensive, structured, detailed lesson plans that include daily objectives, questions, tasks, materials, and instructional assessments required to meet the content and language standards of the lesson (aligned with the TEKS and the ELPS).

Evaluation for 1.3b
Materials include a lesson overview listing the teacher and student materials necessary to effectively deliver the lesson, and the suggested timing for each lesson component.

The “lesson at a glance” shows the materials needed for the lesson, and it shows the amount of time for each component; however, it does not separate the student and educator materials. It also gives generic guidance to use lesson components.

The “lesson at a glance” provides a structured lesson sequence including I do, we do, partner practice, independent practice, and reflection, with defined time allocations for each phase to support effective lesson pacing and implementation. However, the materials are missing a separate list of educator and student materials at the lesson level.

Evaluation for 1.3c
Materials include guidance on the effective use of lesson materials for extended practice (e.g., homework, extension, enrichment).

The materials include guidance for lesson materials for extended practice, embedded formal assessments support daily instructional adjustments for Tier 2 intervention or extended/enrichment, and materials provide two pathways for differentiated instruction. However, there is no guidance for extended practice based on student performance.

The Implementation Guide provides a list of homework, extension, and enrichment activities. However, there is not much guidance on how to use them effectively.

Evaluation for 2.1a
Materials include a variety of instructional assessments at the unit and lesson level (including diagnostic, formative, and summative) that vary in types of tasks and questions.

The materials include diagnostic, formative, and summative assessments that vary in types of tasks and questions. The diagnostic assessments are included in the TEKSnology platform. A variety of formative instructional assessments are available in the Practice Book. This includes guided, partner, and independent practices. The TEKS-tivity Book contains daily activities, math talks, reflection questions, journaling, and tickets out the door, which provides a variety of tasks and questions.

The materials include summative assessments at the unit level that vary in types of tasks and questions. They are labeled as formative in the table of contents, and summative in the unit overview in the Implementation Guide.

Evaluation for 2.1b
Materials include the definition and intended purpose for the types of instructional assessments included.

The instructional materials provide guidance on the use of formative and instructional assessments throughout the learning process. Examples such as activities, math talks, exit tickets, reflections, journal writings, pre-checks, quick checks, and daily quizzes are embedded within lessons to help educators monitor student understanding, identify misconceptions, and make informed instructional decisions. The TEKS-tivity, Teacher Edition references these assessment opportunities and explains their intended purpose, offering educators examples of when and how each type of assessment can be used to gather evidence of student learning and adjust instruction as needed.

In addition, the materials distinguish the role of summative assessments at the unit level. The Math Assessment, Teacher Edition Introduction explains the overall purpose of the assessment system, while the Implementation Guide provides a Unit Assessment Overview that defines each assessment type and its intended use. These resources support educators in understanding how formative and instructional assessments work together to guide daily instruction, while unit assessments measure students’ mastery of standards and learning outcomes at the conclusion of instruction.

Evaluation for 2.1c
Materials include teacher guidance to ensure consistent and accurate administration of instructional assessments.

The materials include clear guidance for educators on administering the assessments efficiently, such as reminders or tips on the time allotted to complete the assessment.
The materials also include recommendations for breaking extended assessments into parts across days or class periods.

The materials provide educators with guidance to ensure consistent and accurate assessment administration across classrooms. The materials include clear guidance for educators to administer the assessments efficiently,

Evaluation for 2.1d
Diagnostic, formative, and summative assessments are aligned to the TEKS and objectives of the course, unit, or lesson.

The materials provide diagnostic, formative, and summative assessments that are aligned to the TEKS and objectives of the course, unit, and lesson. The Implementation Guide provides the objectives of the unit and each lesson within the unit, as well as which diagnostic, formative, and summative assessments to use within each lesson. The resource includes “item analysis tools” that provide TEKS-level performance data, allowing educators to identify strengths and areas for improvement. These tools support targeted instructional adjustments and ensure that assessment data is directly connected to the TEKS mastery.

There are pre-checks, daily quizzes, and summative assessments that are aligned to the TEKS and the objectives of lessons and units. Assessments are broken down by reporting category to assess which specific TEKS students are mastering. Each unit includes a diagnostic aligned with the TEKS and the unit’s objectives. Diagnostic assessments are included in the TEKSnology platform, and educator guidance for using the diagnostic is included in the Implementation Guide.

Evaluation for 2.1e
Instructional assessments include TEKS-aligned items at varying levels of complexity.

The materials include instructional assessments with TEKS-aligned items that assess at different levels of complexity, including procedural tasks, the application of multiple skills to problems and tasks, and open-ended questions. The materials include an online assessment bank with technology-enhanced items such as inline choice, hot spot, and multi-select.

Instructional assessments include open-ended questions, multiple choice, and choose-two-correct answer questions. They are TEKS aligned and include varied levels of complexity.

Evaluation for 2.2a
Instructional assessments and scoring information provide guidance for interpreting student performance.

The materials provide “answer analysis tools” that guide educators in reviewing student responses. The answer analysis provides an opportunity to interpret scoring information to determine students’ strengths, weaknesses, and/or gaps, as well as common misconceptions, yet it lacks guidance on interpreting the data.

The materials also provide scoring information. However, guidance is lacking on how to interpret student performance on assessments and reflect on levels of understanding and/or proficiency.

Evaluation for 2.2b
Materials provide guidance for the use of included tasks and activities to respond to student trends in performance on assessments.

Materials provide guidance on how to use tasks and activities in response to trends in assessments. In the educator guide, educators are provided a lesson flow; educators are told to make a “data-informed decision” after students take an exit ticket (formative assessment), then “extend/enrich” or “reteach using the power review” based on the data.

In the Implementation Guide, educators can find suggestions for “extend/enrich” or “reteach/power review”. When students complete their Exit Tickets, educators are to make a decision on whether students receive an “Extend / Enrich” or “Reteach / Power Review” based on Exit Ticket data. When educators go to the specified activity, there are directions, materials, and facilitating questions to guide the educator.

Evaluation for 2.2c
Materials include tools for teachers to track student progress and growth, and tools for students to track their own progress and growth.

The regular courses have an assessment book available that includes “STAAR Chart tracking tools”, allowing students and educators to monitor progress across reporting categories. Students record their performance by shading stars for correctly answered items, providing a visual representation of mastery for each TEKS. This tool supports ongoing progress monitoring and helps identify trends over time.

The materials include error analysis reflection tools that help students review their assessment errors. These allow students to identify what they understand and determine what they need to learn next. The Assessment for Learning Book also provides benchmarks and tools for tracking progress.

Evaluation for 3.1a
Materials include teacher guidance for differentiated instruction, activities, and paired (scaffolded) lessons for students who have not yet reached proficiency on grade-level content and skills.

The materials provide on grade-level activities and lessons, and provide educator guidance for supporting students who are performing below grade level. The Teacher Edition provides a structured lesson with several components, such as guided practice, independent practice, and some suggestions for extensions, along with two different pathways to utilize materials.

The materials contain educator guidance, support for differentiation, or recommendations for modifying instruction for students who have not yet reached proficiency or students who are below grade level. There are recommendations for scaffolding instruction or modifying lessons.

Evaluation for 3.1b
Materials include pre-teaching or embedded supports for unfamiliar vocabulary and references in text (e.g., figurative language, idioms, academic language).

In the Math Practice Book, Teacher Edition, “Appendix C,” there are a variety of vocabulary activities along with strategies for teaching vocabulary, a correlation of the TEKS to the vocabulary words, and the unit in which they are found. Included are fill-in-the-blank vocabulary activities and matching activities for assessment or practice. Lesson plans also include embedded “turn and talks” tied to specific academic vocabulary, along with opportunities for students to justify or explain during peer interaction with educator-guided questions.

The Teacher Guide provides sentence frames connected to each unit’s problem solving tasks, such as “I can compare...” and “I can write...”. Materials include educator guidance and sample language to model how the sentence frames can be introduced and incorporated into mathematical discussions to support the development of academic language.

Evaluation for 3.1c
Materials include teacher guidance for differentiated instruction, enrichment, and extension activities for students who have demonstrated proficiency in grade-level content and skill.

In the Math Practice Book, Teacher Edition, there is a short suggestion for an activity for students to do an extension, “create a rate hunt where students find examples of rates (eg. miles per hour, dollars per pound) in advertisements or online stores, and record their findings.” However, the guidance provided is vague and does not support the educator in implementation.

The material provides enrichment activities for students who have already demonstrated proficiency, however guidance on how to use the enrichment activities is missing. One enrichment activity states: “Analyze a real-world measurement error and correct it”, however the measurement error is not given.

Evaluation for 3.2a
Materials include explicit (direct) prompts and guidance to support the teacher in modeling and explaining the concept(s) to be learned.

The materials include explicit prompts to support the educator in explaining and modeling concepts. For example, at the bottom of the page for TEKS Lesson over 6.8A under Geometry and Measurement, very specific directions given to the educator are explicit and guide for effective implementation. When working through problem-solving situations, the materials include a series of think-aloud questions to model understanding and the process of creating a plan to solve problems in a new context found at the bottom of the page labeled “guided practice.” The materials give educators specific guidance on problems that students may need support with due to misconceptions. When developing concepts during a lesson, the “important concept” box at the bottom of the page guides educators in working through math problems with their students, emphasizing key learning moments within the content.

The Teacher Edition provides directions and prompts to help the educator effectively teach students how to model integer operations. Guiding questions are provided to support the educator.

The materials provide explicit educator prompts through facilitating questions, discussion prompts, and structured directions that support educators in explaining concepts and guiding mathematical discussions. Educator notes also include sample responses and guidance for highlighting key distinctions between concepts, such as equations and expressions, which assists educators in explaining student learning.

Evaluation for 3.2b
Materials include teacher guidance and recommendations for effective lesson delivery and facilitation using a variety of instructional approaches.

The Implementation Guide provides a detailed plan that includes activities that include grouping, strategies to use, and guidance for effective lesson delivery. It includes different approaches and time allotments for the activities.

The materials provide educator guidance for lesson facilitation through multiple instructional approaches, including “math talks,” “reflection pages,” “ticket out the door” activities, also hands on matching tasks, and facilitating questions with sample responses. These structures support student discourse, written reflection, conceptual understanding, and formative assessment throughout instruction.

The materials provide two separate pathways, the Practice Book pathway and the TEKS-tivity Book pathway. Each pathway is detailed with suggested pacing, grouping, and content/activity. Each activity within the lesson provides guidance and recommendations for lesson delivery.

Evaluation for 3.2c
Materials support multiple types of practice (e.g., guided, independent, collaborative) and include guidance for teachers and recommended structures (e.g., whole group, small group, individual) to support effective implementation.

The Implementation Guide provides lesson plans that include multiple types of practice. Each lesson has whole group activities, partner practice, and independent practice. It outlines a TEKS-activity pathway that also includes various group structures for effective implementation.

Within the two pathways, several opportunities are provided for multiple types of practice, including guided whole group instruction, independent work, small group, and partner activities.

The materials support multiple types of practice through individual work, partner discussions, whole class sharing, and collaborative reasoning activities. Educator directions provide explicit guidance for implementing recommended instructional structures, including partner work, whole group discussions, “math talks,” “reflection pages,” and “ticket out the door” activities.

Evaluation for 3.3a
Materials include teacher guidance on providing linguistic accommodations for various levels of language proficiency [as defined by the English Language Proficiency Standards (ELPS)], which are designed to engage students in using increasingly more academic language.

The ELPS are targeted by allowing students to interact with the mathematical concepts through listening, speaking, writing, and reading activities. The materials include guidance for educators to accommodate the various levels of proficiency using word banks, cognates, or varied sentence stems to provide to students during the lesson.

Educators do have the guidance necessary to ensure students are able to progress through the language proficiencies while simultaneously acquiring the math skills.

Evaluation for 3.3b
Materials include implementation guidance to support teachers in effectively using the materials in state-approved bilingual/ESL programs.

In the Step Up to the TEKS Math Practice, Teacher Edition, the ELPs are listed in the lesson. In the activities, they are encouraging students to discuss their thinking and place words in sentences. Materials provide guidance on how to incorporate the strategies and support educators.

Cognates and general guidance are provided for new math vocabulary, and guidance is provided for educators to effectively use the materials in state-approved bilingual/ESL programs.

In the Implementation Guide on the “Emergent Bilingual Oral and Written Discourse Support,” the materials include implementation guidance to support educators in effectively using materials in the state-approved bilingual/English as a Second Language (ESL) programs.

Evaluation for 3.3c
Materials include embedded guidance for teachers to support emergent bilingual students in developing academic vocabulary, increasing comprehension, building background knowledge, and making cross-linguistic connections through oral and written discourse.

The TEKS-tivity Book includes embedded guidance for educators to develop vocabulary and increase comprehension through oral discourse using “Math Talks” and working in pairs to complete activities. The “Reflection,” “Ticket Out the Door,” and “Journal” sections allow students to utilize vocabulary and improve comprehension through written discourse of the math concept using prompts such as, “What method do you use to represent multi-step problems with an equation that includes a letter to represent the unknown quantity?”

In the Implementations Guide, materials include educator guidance on providing linguistic accommodations for various levels of language proficiency, including sentence frames, precise language and peer conversation guidance, and example responses.

Evaluation for 3.3d
If designed for dual language immersion (DLI) programs, materials include resources that outline opportunities to address metalinguistic transfer from English to the partner language.

This guidance is not applicable because the program is not designed for dual language immersion (DLI) programs.

Evaluation for 4.1a
Practice opportunities over the course of a lesson and/or unit (including instructional assessments) require students to demonstrate depth of understanding aligned to the TEKS.

The TEKS-tivity Book demonstrates depth of understanding by providing opportunities for students to solve real-world problems involving the calculation of the areas of trapezoids, rectangles, parallelograms, and triangles. Some problems require students to use fractions and decimals. Students are also asked to use error analysis to explain the volume of a rectangular prism. Additionally, students are asked to write an explanation of the meaning and purpose of the formula.

The materials require students to demonstrate depth of understanding through multi-step application tasks involving area and volume formulas for rectangles, triangles, trapezoids, and parallelograms in real-world contexts. Students solve problems, justify formula selection, and apply geometric reasoning using visual models and measurement. The TEKS-tivity Teacher Edition provides practice through activities such as collaborative group work, guided math discussions, student-written reflections, and journal writing, as well as opportunities for vocabulary review.

The “Practice Pathway” in grade 6 provides multiple opportunities throughout the unit for students to showcase their depth of knowledge of area and volume. Students begin by decomposing parallelograms, triangles, and trapezoids to find area, then progress to using formulas to find area and volume in real-world problems (including rational numbers), with and without diagrams. Students are also tasked with working problems backward, such as finding the base of a triangle given its area and height.

Evaluation for 4.1b
Questions and tasks progressively increase in rigor and complexity, leading to grade-level proficiency in the mathematics TEKS.

The materials increase in rigor and complexity by starting with comparing and ordering integers, then moving to ordering rational numbers and analyzing relationships. Students are required to work with multiple relationships, such as number lines, benchmark values, and equivalent representations. The 6th Grade Math, Teacher Edition has facilitating questions such as, “What do the arrows mean on a number line? How can you remember that numbers to the left on a number line are less than numbers to the right? When listing numbers in order from greatest to least, on which side of the number line would you begin your list?”

The Practice Book, Student Edition, grade 6, provides questions and tasks that increase in rigor and complexity. When learning about equivalent expressions, the materials begin by establishing the difference between expressions and equations. Students are then tasked with translating verbal descriptions into expressions, such as four less than c, before moving on to equivalent expressions. When introducing equivalent expressions, lessons begin with concrete models and strip diagrams before moving on to more complex problems that require students to use properties of operations to identify equivalent expressions.

In the Practice Book, Student Edition, students begin by placing integers and benchmark decimals on a number line. As the lesson progresses, complexity increases—from ordering and comparing rational numbers with a number line to doing so without it. The lesson moves from guided and partner practice to grade-level, TEKS-aligned independent practice.

Evaluation for 4.2a
Materials demonstrate coherence across units by explicitly connecting patterns, big ideas, and relationships between mathematical concepts.

The materials connect proportional reasoning concepts by engaging students in activities that involve ratios, rates, tables, graphs, and multiple representations. Through collaborative exploration and mathematical modeling, students analyze relationships and make connections across related mathematical concepts.

The 6th Grade TEKS-tivity, Student Edition supports coherence across mathematical concepts by connecting proportional reasoning, ratios, rates, tables, graphs, and multiple representations through collaborative exploration and modeling tasks. In Unit 4, students relate division to ratios and distinguish between ratios and rates. In Unit 5, they extend their understanding to solve percent problems by connecting percentages with ratios, rates, fractions, and decimals.

Unit 6 of the Practice Book pathway demonstrates coherence across units by exploring additive and multiplicative relationships through multiple representations. This unit begins to bridge the gap between arithmetic and conceptual understanding of equations and inequalities, as introduced in Unit 7.

Evaluation for 4.2b
Materials demonstrate coherence across units by connecting the content and language learned in previous courses/grade levels and what will be learned in future courses/grade levels to the content to be learned in the current course/grade level.

The materials connect current learning to previously taught content through background knowledge sections that identify prerequisite skills from prior grade levels. These sections explicitly show how students build on earlier mathematical understanding to access new concepts and learning in the current grade.

In the Implementation Guide, the “Unit Sequence Rationale” demonstrates how students extend their prior learning and connect it to the next unit’s concept. In addition, the “Background Knowledge for Students” explains what students should already know and understand to support their learning of new content. Furthermore, the TEKS from prior grade levels are also noted in this section to provide context. The Math Practice, Teacher Edition provides a section of vocabulary activities to promote consistency in the math language from one course to the next.

In the 6th Grade Math Practice, Teacher Edition, each lesson begins with a vertical alignment section that highlights previously aligned TEKS as well as the TEKS that will be taught in future grade levels. These vertically aligned TEKS provide educators with insight into previously taught vocabulary words.

Evaluation for 4.2c
Materials demonstrate coherence at the lesson level by connecting students' prior knowledge of concepts and procedures from the current and prior grade level(s) to new mathematical knowledge and skills..

The materials support coherence across data analysis concepts by connecting graphing, statistical measures, data interpretation, and mathematical communication through a sequence of related activities. Students build conceptual understanding by analyzing data, interpreting results, and explaining their reasoning using multiple representations.

Materials demonstrate coherence within lessons by linking students’ existing understanding of concepts and procedures—from current and previous grades—to new knowledge. For example, the Implementation Guide specifies what students should already know and identifies relevant grade-level TEKS, such as “…how to use benchmark numbers (0, 1/2, 1) for comparison (Grade 4 TEKS 4.2E).” As the unit continues, it consistently references previously taught, on-grade-level TEKS skills.

The pre-checks in the Assessment for Learning book provide opportunities for students to review and connect concepts and procedures from their prior grade level. For example, the pre-check for 6.2B on Numerical Representations and Relationships has students graph points on a number line (from 3rd and 4th grade) before they work with graphing absolute value problems on a number line.

Evaluation for 4.3a
Materials provide spaced retrieval opportunities with previously learned skills and concepts across lessons and units.

The Teacher Guide states that “Assessment for Learning” tasks provide spiraled opportunities for spaced retrieval and cumulative review and that Power Review revisits prior concepts. However, evidence of these retrieval opportunities was not identified within the reviewed instructional materials.

The Teacher Guide includes a section on “Retrieval Practice and Long-Term Retention,” explaining that the Power Review revisits prior concepts. However, the only guidance provided for the Power Review is a 2-week-long review for STAAR. The section further explains that spiral opportunities strengthen cumulative understanding, but it does not specify where or how the concepts are spiraled. It also states that the Assessment for Learning tasks provide spiraled opportunities for spaced retrieval and cumulative review, but does not specify what those spiral opportunities are.

The quick check and exit ticket for each lesson only covers the TEKS taught in the lesson. While the pre-check incorporates prerequisite TEKS learned in previous grade levels, it does not provide the spaced practice referenced in the Teacher Guide.

Evaluation for 4.3b
Materials provide interleaved practice opportunities with previously learned skills and concepts across lessons and units.

In the Practice Book, Teacher Edition, ratios are both a fundamental concept and a core skill. They serve as the theoretical foundation for understanding relationships between numbers, while requiring practical skills to solve real-world problems. There are opportunities for students to use the idea of ratios, a way to compare two or more quantities, as a skill to find unit rates and solve proportions in other units.

In the Step Up to the TEKS 6th Math Practice, Teacher Edition, “Unit Numerical Representations and Relationships,” the materials provide interleaved practice opportunities with previously learned skills and concepts. Students practice more than one strategy to represent ratios and percents, using models, one hundred grids, fractions, decimals, and percents. Students are prompted to make connections with benchmarks (fractions, decimals, or percents) and models. They will also use the same skills later when solving proportions and algebraic representations.

Evaluation for 5.1a
Questions and tasks require students to interpret, analyze, and evaluate models and representations for mathematical concepts and situations.

The materials develop conceptual understanding by having students analyze the relationships among the areas of rectangles, triangles, trapezoids, and parallelograms using models, formulas, and real-world contexts.

In the 6th Grade Math Practice Book, students begin by using a pictorial diagram of different colored circles to interpret the ratio of white circles to black circles. The educator asks students “How does a ratio describe the relationship” and “How can you create an equivalent ratio?” The educator then draws more white circles and asks the students to analyze them to determine how many black circles would make this new ratio equivalent to the first. After guided and partner practice, students move to independent practice, where they evaluate real-world ratio problems to determine which ratios are equivalent.

In the Grade 6 Math TEKS-tivity Book, Student Edition, students develop conceptual understanding through investigations that require students to analyze area relationships among rectangles, triangles, trapezoids, and parallelograms using models, measurements, formulas, and geometric reasoning in real-world contexts.

Evaluation for 5.1b
Questions and tasks require students to create models to represent mathematical situations.

The materials require students to create mathematical models by constructing frequency tables and dot plots from data sets.

In the 6th Grade TEKS-tivity, Teacher Edition, Unit Data Analysis, students represent data in several forms. They create a bar graph showing the percentage of students who like different ice cream flavors. A table shows the number of students who like each flavor, and the numbers are converted to percentages to create the graph.

In the 6th Math Practice, Teacher Edition, “Unit Geometry and Measurement,” students are given paper and scissors and asked to create a triangle model. They use the model to cut out the 3 angles and form a straight line, showing that the sum of a triangle’s angles is 180 degrees. Students will also use straws cut in varying lengths to see which ones form triangles. Lastly, students will draw triangles with a ruler, measure the angles with a protractor, and label the angle measures. Then measure the side lengths and label them. The students will understand the geometric relationships within triangles, including angle sums, side-length rules, and the triangle inequality.

Evaluation for 5.1c
Questions and tasks provide opportunities for students to apply conceptual understanding to new problem situations and contexts.

The materials develop mathematical reasoning and problem-solving by having students analyze temperature, elevation, distance from zero, and integer relationships using visual representations.

In the 6th Grade Math Assessment for Learning, Student Edition, students develop mathematical reasoning and problem-solving skills through contextual tasks that require students to analyze temperature changes, elevations, distances from zero, and integer relationships using mathematical reasoning and visual representations

In the 6th Grade Math TEKS-tivity Book, Student Edition, questions and tasks provide opportunities for students to apply conceptual understanding to new problem situations and contexts using problem-solving skills through collaborative exploration activities that require students to analyze ratios and rates, explain relationships, justify strategies, and communicate mathematical thinking using multiple representations.

Evaluation for 5.2a
Materials provide tasks that are designed to build student automaticity and fluency necessary to complete grade-level tasks.

The materials develop procedural fluency by providing repeated opportunities for students to compare, order, classify, and graph rational numbers using benchmark values, number lines, and equivalent representations. These activities build accuracy and efficiency through repeated application of grade-level procedures.

In the 6th Grade Math Practice Book, Student Edition, tasks are designed for students to develop fluency by providing repeated opportunities for students to compare, order, classify, and graph rational numbers using benchmark values, number lines, and equivalent representations. Students build efficiency and accuracy through consistent independent application of grade-level procedures.

In the 6th Grade Math Practice, Teacher Edition, “the Properties of Operations” lesson includes tasks designed to build the automaticity needed to complete grade-level tasks. The tasks include investigating properties by matching with a partner. Once completed (5-6 minutes), partners pair with others to form a group of four to discuss their justification for the matching activity. If students need more time to understand the concept, guidance is provided on completing the TEKS activity in Appendix A. Once they are ready to move on, there is a guided practice and an independent practice to complete.

Evaluation for 5.2b
Materials provide opportunities for students to practice the application of efficient, flexible, and accurate mathematical procedures within the lesson and/or throughout a unit.

Students practice applying multiplication procedures with fractions in multiple examples, recognizing when products increase or decrease and using those patterns to solve additional problems accurately and efficiently.

In the 6th Grade Math Practice Book, Teacher Edition, there is support for flexible and efficient problem-solving by engaging students in comparing rational numbers, identifying opposites, analyzing absolute-value relationships, and reasoning with multiple representations, including number lines, fractions, decimals, and integers. The educator is provided with facilitating questions such as, “How could you use an open number line to help visualize the order of numbers?”

In the 6th Grade Math Practice Book, “Unit 6: Multiplicative and Additive Relationships,” students will strengthen their flexible thinking by determining the appropriate strategy to represent situations given in graphs, tables, equations, and verbal descriptions. The educator edition provides facilitating questions for the educator to use during guided and partner practice to help the students determine the appropriate strategy, such as “How can data from a graph be used to create an equation?”, before students embark on independent practice.

Evaluation for 5.2c
Materials provide opportunities for students to evaluate procedures, processes, and solutions for efficiency, flexibility, and accuracy within the lesson and throughout a unit.

Students analyze patterns when multiplying and dividing fractions, compare how different fractional values affect products, and explain relationships between operations. The reflection prompts require students to evaluate procedures and justify conclusions, promoting flexible and efficient mathematical reasoning.

In the 6th Grade TEKS-tivity Book, Teacher Edition, students explore a variety of problems involving percents. The educator is guided by the facilitating questions to ask students about which types of models can be used to represent fractions and percents, what a benchmark percent is, and how a model can be used to find the fraction it represents. The next activity for students is to match fractions, decimals, or percents to their equivalent situation. Again, the educator is guided by the facilitating questions to prompt students to explain how and why they decided on the matches.

Students create and interpret percent bar graphs, determine percentages from data, and justify whether graphical representations accurately reflect the data. Reflection questions require students to explain the procedures used to analyze and summarize data, reinforcing evaluation of accuracy and mathematical reasoning.

Evaluation for 5.2d
Materials contain embedded supports for teachers to guide students toward increasingly efficient approaches.

The materials support procedural fluency through scaffolded instruction, cumulative review, and TEKS-aligned practice opportunities that reinforce skills and promote accuracy and efficiency over time.

In the 6th Math Practice, Teacher Edition, the materials contain embedded supports to guide students toward increasingly efficient approaches. Educators are provided with facilitating questions to help students connect modeling to solving equations and inequalities, and to solving them without a model, as students examine the limitations of using a model. The lesson is scaffolded as educators guide students to work with partners and, finally, to independent work, reinforcing the sequence of instruction.

In the Grade 6 Practice Book, “Unit 6: Multiplicative and Additive Relationships,” students identify additive and multiplicative relationships, and independent and dependent variables, to create linear equations. Embedded supports in the Teacher Edition include facilitating questions such as “How can you tell whether a verbal description is an additive or multiplicative situation?” as well as key mathematical concepts and common misconceptions. These supports help students recognize patterns, distinguish between additive and multiplicative relationships, and develop fluency in writing and interpreting linear equations.

Evaluation for 5.3a
Materials explicitly state how the conceptual and procedural emphasis of the TEKS are addressed.

The materials explicitly state the conceptual learning goal and provide step-by-step instructional guidance that connects conceptual understanding with procedural application, addressing both aspects of the TEKS.

The materials include detailed educator notes that guide instruction toward conceptual understanding by emphasizing how and why mathematical relationships work. Educators are provided with explanations, instructional cues, and strategies to build foundational understanding before procedural. in the Implementation Guide. For example, in Unit 1: Number Concepts, “Unit Rationale” under “instructional notes” provides guidance on introducing negative numbers using real-world contexts before formal notation, using visual models such as number lines, counters, and set diagrams.

In the 6th Grade Math TEKS-tivity Book, Teacher Edition, the materials include detailed educator notes that guide instruction toward conceptual understanding “Why” by emphasizing how mathematical relationships work. Educators are provided with guided questions, asking “how”, instructional cues, and strategies to build foundational understanding before procedural practice. (Guided questions in the Teacher Edition provide guidance for students in the TEKS-tivity book.)

Evaluation for 5.3b
Questions and tasks include the use of concrete models and manipulatives, pictorial representations (figures/drawings), and abstract representations, as required by the TEKS.

The materials intentionally progress students from concrete manipulatives (two-color counters) to pictorial representations and abstract algebraic expressions, helping students develop conceptual understanding through multiple representations as required by the TEKS.

In the 6th Grade Math Practice, Teacher Edition, Lesson Integer Operations, students use two colored counters (concrete), number lines and models (pictorial models), and standard algorithms (abstract) to learn integer operations as required by the TEKS.

In the 6th Grade Math Practice Book, Teacher Edition, “Unit 9: Area and Volume,” students begin by decomposing parallelograms, trapezoids, and triangles using graph paper and scissors to determine their areas and develop the corresponding area formulas. In the following lesson, students apply these formulas to pictorial representations of shapes to find their areas, strengthening the connection between decomposition and symbolic formulas. Students then extend their understanding to real-world situations, identifying and calculating the area of these shapes in context.

Evaluation for 5.3c
Materials include supports for students in connecting, creating, defining, and explaining concrete and representational models to abstract (symbolic/numeric/algorithmic) concepts, as required by the TEKS.

The Conceptual Learning Goal states that students connect hands-on models of integer operations, such as two-color counters and number lines, to written algorithms to build conceptual understanding. The facilitating questions reinforce the connection by asking students to explain how the algorithms relate to the models. They also ask students to identify the algorithms represented by the models.


In the TEKS Lesson section, students are directed to use two-color counters to model algebraic expressions and compare equivalent expressions. The independent practice extends this work by having students draw models to represent expressions. This provides opportunities to create both concrete and representational models.


The facilitating questions ask students to define variables, coefficients, like terms, and equivalent expressions. The Important Concepts and Extension ask students to explain how they know two expressions are equivalent and to justify their reasoning using the models they create.

Evaluation for 5.4a
Materials provide opportunities for students to develop academic mathematical language using visuals, manipulatives, and other language development strategies.

The materials develop academic mathematical language by having students use visual models and two-color counters while responding to educator questioning and explaining their mathematical reasoning using mathematical vocabulary. In the 6th Grade Math Practice, Teacher Edition materials, there are embedded opportunities for students to develop academic mathematical language through visual representations, manipulatives, and additional language development strategies. Students use snap cubes to model the arithmetic mean, while the educator explicitly connects the model to the term’s meaning. Students interpret and discuss visual representations, including dot plots, tables, and box plots, while using vocabulary such as mean, median, range, and interquartile range. The lesson also includes educator-facilitated discussions, guiding questions, collaborative work, and opportunities for students to explain and apply mathematical vocabulary as they solve problems.

Materials provide opportunities for students to develop their mathematical language through visuals, manipulatives, and other language-development strategies. In the 6th Grade Math Practice Book, Student Edition, students locate the number on their cards on the large number line model on the floor and stand at the corresponding point, creating a human number line. After that activity, they fill in the lesson page using the number line visual at the top. Vocabulary words are embedded in the lesson to be discussed and to make connections to the number line. In the TEKS-tivity Book, Student Edition, students have several opportunities to develop their academic language.

Evaluation for 5.4b
Materials include embedded teacher guidance to scaffold and support students' development and use of academic mathematical vocabulary in context.

The materials scaffold academic mathematical vocabulary by using guided questions and sample responses that require students to describe the center, spread, and shape of data using precise statistical language. The Implementation Guide provides embedded educator guidance to scaffold students’ development and use of academic mathematical vocabulary by directing educators to use concrete models before symbolic equations, emphasizing the meaning of variables, providing sentence frames for explaining solution steps, and using visuals and structured talk to support academic language development. The Math Practice Book, Teacher Edition implements these supports through facilitating questions that require students to discuss how models are used to solve equations and compare equations and inequalities using precise mathematical language, providing opportunities for students to develop and use academic vocabulary in meaningful mathematical contexts.

The Implementation Guide provides embedded educator guidance to scaffold students’ development and use of academic mathematical vocabulary by directing educators to use concrete models before symbolic ratio notation and equations, to use tape diagrams and tables consistently to show multiplicative relationships, and to emphasize language structures such as “for every _______ there are ______.” Provide sentence frames, visuals, and bilingual supports for academic language development.

Evaluation for 5.4c
Materials include embedded teacher guidance to support the application of appropriate mathematical language to include vocabulary, syntax, and discourse to include guidance to support mathematical conversations that provide opportunities for students to hear, refine, and use math language with peers and develop their math language toolkit over time as well as guide teachers to support student responses using exemplar responses to questions and tasks.

The materials include embedded educator guidance in the Math Talks, including recommendations for grouping students, suggested discussion time, and directions for students to share their responses. The materials provide educator guidance to support mathematical syntax, including sentence stems, sentence frames, and prompts that encourage students to communicate using complete mathematical statements. The Teacher Guide provides educator guidance to support emergent bilingual students’ academic language development, strengthen mathematical language for all learners, and explicitly teach mathematical vocabulary. The materials include suggested strategies and instructional supports. Materials include syntax to support mathematical conversations and exemplar student responses to model how students might use the targeted mathematical language.

The “Math Talks” provide opportunities for students to hear peers use mathematical language through discussion and shared responses. The materials provide educator guidance to help students refine their math language by revising, elaborating, restating, or responding to another student’s reasoning. The educator materials include exemplar responses for reflection and facilitating questions.

Evaluation for 5.5a
TEKS process standards are integrated appropriately into the materials.

The materials appropriately integrate TEKS process standards into instruction by embedding problem solving, reasoning, communication, modeling, and justification within grade-level mathematical tasks. The Math Practice Book and the Implementation Guide direct the educator by embedding mathematical process standards through instructional routines, and students are encouraged to explain their reasoning, critique strategies, and represent mathematical ideas in multiple forms, such as tables, graphs, equations, diagrams, and verbal explanations.

The TEKS-tivity Book emphasizes conceptual development through math talks, exploration activities, debriefings, academic discussions, journals, and vocabulary components. Students are allowed to articulate strategies, compare representations, and justify solutions. Each unit has a Unit Overview that explicitly states the unit progression and what the students should be able to do. It also states what students are required to do, for example, in Unit One: “students are required to explain their thinking about how numbers are classified and the relationship between number sets.”

The materials integrate mathematical process standards through instructional routines such as “Math Talks”, “partner discussions”, “journals”, and activities requiring students to connect multiple representations. For example, students determine equivalent forms using visual models, fractions, decimals, and percents, and explain the process they used to make the connections. Additional activities require students to analyze errors, justify solutions, and explain their proportional reasoning, while educators facilitate discussion with questions that prompt students to explain and defend their mathematical thinking.

Evaluation for 5.5b
Materials include a description of how TEKS process standards are incorporated and connected throughout the course.

The Teacher Guide explicitly describes how the TEKS Mathematical Process Standards are intentionally integrated throughout instruction and embedded within lessons, activities, discussions, and assessments across the program.

The 6th Grade Math, Teacher Guide includes a table that indicates which process standards are used in each TEKS lesson. Below the table, it states, “Alignment to process standards is demonstrated through instructional design and student tasks rather than the content standard alone. Process standards are embedded across instruction and are not required to be demonstrated independently by each content standard.”


The 6th Grade Math Practice, Teacher Edition includes the “Process Standards” alignment matrix that crosswalks each grade-level content TEKS with the applicable Mathematical Process Standards. The matrix demonstrates that the process standards are intentionally embedded across the curriculum rather than addressed in isolated lessons, supporting their incorporation throughout the course.”

Evaluation for 5.5c
Materials include a description for each unit of how TEKS process standards are incorporated and connected throughout the unit.

Each Lesson begins with a section that outlines the process standards covered, highlights how they will be applied throughout the lesson, describes the relevant process standards, and connects them to the learning objectives.

The activities begin with a header that identifies a learning objective aligned to the content TEKS rationale, reinforcing the intended instructional focus. The materials include a description for each unit of how the TEKS process standards are incorporated and connected throughout the unit.

Evaluation for 5.5d
Materials include an overview of the TEKS process standards incorporated into each lesson.

The materials describe the TEKS mathematical process standards at the beginning of each unit and provide a lesson-level overview identifying the process standards incorporated into each lesson as required by the indicator.

In the Lesson at a Glance, each lesson begins with a section that outlines the process standards covered, how they are applied throughout the lesson, and how they connect to the learning objectives.

Evaluation for 6.1a
Materials provide opportunities for students to think mathematically, persevere through solving problems, and to make sense of mathematics.

In the 6th Grade Math TEKS-tivity Book, Student Edition, students think mathematically as they determine and apply appropriate geometric formulas within authentic problem contexts. They make sense of mathematics by evaluating two students’ solutions, identifying misconceptions, and explaining mathematical errors using evidence. The tasks require students to reason through multiple steps, analyze their mathematical thinking, and justify their conclusions, providing opportunities to persevere in problem solving rather than rely on procedural computation alone.

In the 6th Grade Math Practice Book, Student Edition, students solve multiple real-world, open-ended problem situations involving integer operations by determining appropriate operations, representing situations mathematically, and solving multi-step problems independently. These tasks require students to think mathematically, persevere through problem solving, and make sense of mathematical relationships as they interpret and apply integer operations in context.

The materials support productive struggle and perseverance through investigations that require students to analyze area relationships, select appropriate formulas, test strategies, justify conclusions, and revise reasoning while solving real-world geometry problems using visual models and measurements.

Evaluation for 6.1b
Materials support students in understanding, explaining, and justifying that there can be multiple ways to represent and solve problems and complete tasks.

Materials support students in understanding that there can be multiple ways to represent and solve problems by having students translate among verbal descriptions, tables, graphs, and equations, and by encouraging the use of different representations to determine equations. Educator guidance notes that students may create a table before writing an equation from a graph or a verbal description, and encourages them to use other representations to clarify solutions. Guided Practice, facilitating questions, and Reflection activities prompt students to explain how to write equations from tables, graphs, and verbal descriptions, and to describe the processes used to graph equations. However, materials do not provide opportunities for students to justify that there can be multiple ways to represent or solve problems.

Materials support students in understanding and explaining that there can be multiple ways to solve problems by encouraging students to use several appropriate methods to solve proportions and by discussing alternative approaches for setting up and solving measurement conversion problems. Educator guidance states that proportional reasoning problems may be solved in many ways when proportions are set up correctly and encourages students to use reasonableness to justify their strategies. However, the materials do not support students in justifying that there can be multiple ways to represent problems.

In “Unit 6: Multiplicative and Additive Relationships,” the materials support students in understanding and explaining that mathematical problems can be represented and solved in multiple ways. During guided practice, students create equations from verbal descriptions, tables, and graphs, and the educator encourages them to choose the representations that best support their thinking. In partner work, students explain and justify connections among representations by responding to questions such as, “How can data from a graph be used to write an equation?” and “How can data from a table be used to write an equation?” Students then independently create equations, tables, and graphs from multiple representations, reinforcing the idea that mathematical relationships can be represented in different ways. However, the materials do not provide opportunities for students to justify that there are multiple solution methods for solving the same problem or task.

Evaluation for 6.1c
Materials are designed to require students to make sense of mathematics through multiple opportunities for students to do, write about, and discuss math with peers and teachers.

In the 6th Grade Math TEKS-tivity Book, students work collaboratively to determine whether values satisfy equations and inequalities, record and reflect on their mathematical reasoning, and participate in “Math Talks” with peers. The lesson includes opportunities for students to do mathematics with peers, write about mathematics through student work and reflections, and discuss mathematical concepts with peers and educators throughout the lesson.

In the 6th Grade Math Practice Book, students engage in mathematics with peers and educators by collaboratively generating equivalent fractions, decimals, and percents, discussing strategies with partners, and participating in class discussions. Students write about mathematics by completing tasks and explaining their reasoning, while opportunities to share solution methods and respond to facilitating questions support mathematical discourse throughout the lesson.

In the 6th Grade Math Practice Book, the lesson begins with peer-led exploration, in which students identify a rate and discuss with a partner how to create an equivalent rate. During guided and partner practice, students solve mathematical problems together, explain their strategies, and compare solution methods. During partner practice, the educator uses facilitating questions to help guide the discussion. In the TEKS-tivity Book, students answer reflection questions such as “Why are the labels important when talking about rates?” or “How is scale factor related to rates?”

Evaluation for 6.2a
Materials support teachers in guiding students to share and reflect on their problem-solving approaches, including explanations, arguments, and justifications.

The materials support educators in guiding students to share and reflect on their problem-solving approaches by asking students to explain and describe the processes used to solve multiplication and division problems through written reflections and Math Talks. Students communicate their mathematical thinking during discussions with peers and reflect on their own solution processes by explaining how they solved problems and describing relationships between mathematical procedures. The facilitating questions also support the educator in guiding students to reflect on their problem-solving.

The materials support educators in guiding students to share and reflect on mathematical arguments and justifications by engaging them in error-analysis tasks that require them to evaluate different solution strategies, determine which argument is mathematically correct, and justify their conclusions with mathematical evidence. After completing the activity, students summarize the process they used to solve the problems while the educator asks facilitating questions that prompt students to explain, defend, and reflect on their mathematical reasoning.

Both the 6th Grade Math Practice, Teacher Edition and 6th Grade Math TEKS-tivity, Teacher Edition are designed to support educators in guiding students to share and reflect on their problem-solving approaches, including explanations, arguments, and justifications. With partners, students model and solve area problems by decomposing shapes and finding relationships among formulas. The educator facilitates learning and has students share their findings. Together, students explain and justify their findings and relationships in formulas and areas. The educator uses guided questions that promote math conversation and facilitate learning, helping students justify, make arguments, and explain their thinking. Students share and reflect as they work through this concept.

Evaluation for 6.2b
Materials include prompts and guidance to support teachers in providing explanatory feedback based on student responses and anticipated misconceptions.

Although the materials identify anticipated misconceptions and suggest instructional actions, they do not provide prompts or guidance that support educators in giving principle-based explanatory feedback explaining why student responses are correct or incorrect. The materials provide a section titled “Providing Effective Feedback in Mathematics.” This section is a generic list of actions an educator can take to provide feedback. However, it is not specific about how to address specific responses or misconceptions.

In the 6th Grade Math Practice, Teacher Edition, TEKS lesson, Comparing and Ordering, one problem informs the educator to listen for a misconception “caused by students not sure…” and in the lesson there is a section titled “Misconceptions” with a list of lesson misconceptions for reference. Neither section offers prompts or guidance to help address student responses, facilitate learning, or lead students away from these misconceptions.