About Grades 9–12 Mathematics

Denver Public Schools’ vision for high-quality mathematics instruction embraces the technological advances of the 21st century: global commerce and the ubiquitous use of computers. The Mathematics Department wants to ensure that students are equipped to qualify for employment in a global economy by preparing them to “absorb new ideas, perceive patterns, and solve unconventional problems”

(L. Steen (1989). “Teaching Mathematics for Tomorrow’s World.” Educational Leadership, 47: 18–22).

To meet this challenge, DPS math educators designed a program that moves students beyond collecting and recollecting facts and performing memorized procedures. The program reflects dramatic changes that have occurred in mathematics and capitalizes on our understanding of how students learn. Ultimately, the program guides students through a discipline that has practical and useful outcomes: employment in a world where a solid understanding of mathematics can help pave the way to employment success.

Goals for Denver Students of Mathematics

• Solve problems when no routine path to the answer is apparent.
• Use mathematical signs, symbols, and terms to communicate ideas and to clarify, refine, and consolidate mathematical thought processes.
• Reason mathematically by moving through the process of gathering data, making conjectures, assembling evidence, and supporting or refuting conjectures.
• Make mathematical connections among seemingly unrelated ideas or concepts through holistic portrayal of the role mathematics plays in our world.
• View mathematics as a common human activity that helps make sense of any problem situation.
• Appreciate and enjoy an exploratory view of the world through mathematics.

Read about support for our math program from Colorado higher education mathematicians: a letter to the Denver Public Schools’ community.