Absolutely! The Desmos Math 6–A1 lessons align to the Common Core standards. Grades 6–8 were reviewed by EdReports and received an all-green, perfect score. We have started work with specific states to adapt our program to their standards.

Yes. While much of what Desmos Classroom provides is and will continue to be free, Desmos Math 6–A1 is a paid subscription. Unlocking a subscription provides you with a full year of standards-aligned lessons, dynamic teacher facilitation tools, and lessons that celebrate students’ brilliance. Additionally, you’ll receive access to comprehensive teaching materials and our dedicated coaching and support.

No. We have deep respect for IM K–12™ and continue to draw strong inspiration from all of their work. Because we are working on adapting the Desmos Math 6–A1 based on real-time feedback, we didn’t pursue certification.

If you’re wondering about the similarities or differences between IM and the Desmos Math 6–A1, here is the alignment between IM and Math 6, IM and Math 7 and IM and Math 8.

EdReports has awarded Desmos Math 6–8 perfect scores and an all-green rating. Green ratings represent EdReports' highest ranking and mean that materials met expectations for standards alignment and other indicators of quality, such as design and usability, after undergoing EdReports’ rigorous, educator-led reviews of curriculum programs. Read more here.

We designed Desmos Math 6–A1 using Universal Design for Learning . Custom accessibility (i.e., writing image/video descriptions and adding graph/sketch narration) is available in select lessons and more details can be found later in this article. We’re eager for feedback from teachers who work with students with learning differences. Email your feedback to us at desmos-program@amplify.com .

Desmos Math 6–A1 is designed to be paired with Mathematical Language Routines. Specific student supports can be found on screens throughout each digital lesson and in the lesson guide of each paper lesson. Our digital lessons make animations, images, and interactions more accessible to students learning English.

Desmos Classroom tools are designed from the ground up with accessibility in mind. We comply with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 standards at the AA level wherever possible, and go beyond the AA level where we can. Please see http://my.amplify.com/help/en/articles/6792486-accessibility for details on our approach, as well as for instructions on setting up screen readers. For details on WCAG compatibility within our classroom tools, please see our Classroom WCAG 2.1 Compliance chart.

The lessons in Desmos Math 6–A1 make use of our accessibility features, including dynamic narration for interactive elements. We work to apply a layer of custom accessibility to our lessons, including narrations for Graph and Sketch components and descriptions for images and videos. The student workbooks that accompany each course are also available in the National Instructional Materials Access Center (NIMAC) library. In addition, text to speech (beta) is available for students to turn on in the Accessibility Settings area in the student sidebar (click the Menu in the upper-left corner of an activity). Once enabled, students will be able to hear the text in any note on a screen and adjust the playback speed.

Yes! To navigate difficult decisions that can come up when teaching in a hybrid or distance-learning model, our lesson developers created suggestions for consolidation and omission for each unit, in addition to our remote learning guidance. The suggestions offer tips to support students in maximizing their time as possible given that some content will need to be skipped. You can find them at the end of each Unit Facilitation Guide. Here are a few examples:

The recommended bandwidth is at least 200 kbps per student.

The suggested student to device ratio is two students to every device, or 1:1 student/tech ratio.

We support the most recent two versions of every popular browser on ChromeOS, Windows, and Apple devices. For a complete list, please see our article on browser and system requirements.

For in-person learning, we recommend having at least 2:1 devices. Students do not need to have access to devices outside the classroom. For hybrid/elearning, we recommend that every student have their own device.

We are FERPA and COPPA compliant and support Google SSO. Learn more about our privacy and policy and your privacy rights at amplify.com/site-privacy. Questions? Please feel free to reach out to us at privacy@amplify.com.

In general, we don’t start building lessons saying to ourselves, “This one needs to be paper or this one needs to be digital.” We ask ourselves, “What medium would most benefit student learning here?” So in lessons where we’re able to represent mathematical ideas with animations and let students power through their mathematical ideas, we use digital. In lessons where students would benefit from moving around a classroom, manipulating paper, or sketching, we use paper. The current balance is roughly 80% digital lessons and 20% paper lessons. Each digital and paper lesson also includes access to paper or digital practice problems and printable student notes. All assessments are also available on paper.

We know that schools have a wide variety of programming models, and Desmos Math 6–A1 is adaptable to various class time formats (with some teacher decision-making about how best to do that). Most Desmos lessons are designed to take 45 minutes.

Yes! Desmos Classroom has a commitment to not charge for parts of our service that are currently free. Our Activity Builder and free activities will remain free and are available at teacher.desmos.com. By purchasing Desmos Math 6–A1, you are contributing to improving the free Desmos Classroom capabilities for everyone.

Yes! Visit amplify.com/desmosmath to request a free trial.

We’ve added built-in professional learning support, directly in response to feedback from our hundreds of pilot teachers over the past few years. Each site will also have a dedicated Desmos coach, onboarding webinars, unit overviews, and more. For even more specific details, you can also check out what’s provided as part of the program here.

Yes, we can provide additional fee-based professional development for those who are interested. Feel free to email us directly at desmosclassroom-pd@amplify.com if you have any questions or to learn more about our webinars for Desmos Math 6–A1 users here. If you're looking for free PD opportunities, check out our professional learning page.

Is there a community where teachers and administrators can connect?

Yes, there is a Desmos Math 6–A1 Facebook community where teachers can connect and share their experiences with the program. There are also opportunities to join Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) with other teachers using the program.