Download the Texas Response to Curriculum Focal Points for K–8 Mathematics Revised 2013.
The Texas Response to Curriculum Focal Points for K-8 Mathematics (TXRCFP) provides a guide for making decisions regarding areas of emphasis, pacing of instruction, curriculum design, and professional development in K-8 mathematics.
- Identifying areas of emphasis - A focused and coherent curriculum can increase the likelihood that Texas students have gained the knowledge and skills that are needed for success in mathematics courses in college and the wide array of courses that require knowledge of mathematics.
- Pacing instruction - Instructional time is measured not by exposure to individual student expectations, but to engagement in building the connections among the groups of student expectations that provide the important foundational mathematical understandings.
- Designing curriculum - Focal points provide a concise framework for developing and sequencing mathematics curricula for each grade level.
- Providing professional development - Coursework and field-based experiences need to enable teachers to gain the knowledge and skills to implement the focal points with ease and confidence. The focal points are meant to highlight connections across strands, or topics. Many focal points include student expectations that involve applications of the “big idea” presented in the focal point.