Common Core Essential Elements Mathematics

1.  Make sense of problems and persevere in 
solving them.
2.  Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
3.  Construct viable arguments and critique the 
reasoning of others.
   4.      Model with mathematics.
   
5.      Use appropriate tools strategically.
    
  6.     Attend to precision.
    
     7.  Look for and make use of 
  
 
structure.
    
     8.  Look for and express regularity 
  
 
in repeated reasoning.
Algebra  •  G
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COMMON CORE ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS for MATHEMATICS 
 
 
XXI
Standards for Mathematical Content
The Standards for Mathematical Content describe the sequence of 
important mathematics content that students learn. They are a 
combination of procedures and understandings. These content 
standards are organized around domains and clusters which are 
specified by grade level, kindergarten through grade 8, and by 
conceptual category at high school. The domains at all levels are based 
on research-based learning progressions detailing what is known 
about students’ mathematical knowledge, skill, and understanding. The 
progressions build from grade to grade and topic to topic, providing 
K-12 focus and coherence. Other important cross-grade themes 
that should be noted and investigated are concepts such as the role 
of units and unitizing, the properties of operations across arithmetic 
and algebra, operations and the problems they solve, transformational 
geometry, reasoning and sense-making, and modeling of and with 
mathematics.
The 
narratives at each K-8 grade level specify 2-4 key areas 
that are identified as the primary focus of instruction. These are 
referred to as 
critical areas. At the high school level, the narratives 
describe the 
focus for each conceptual category, as well as the 
connections to other categories and domains.
Learning mathematics with understanding is a focus of the CCSSM. 
Many of the Standards for Mathematical Content begin with the verb 
“understand” and are crucial for mathematical proficiency. It is 
generally agreed that students understand a concept in mathematics if 
they can use mathematical reasoning with a variety of representations 
and connections to explain the concept to someone else or apply 
the concept to another situation. This is how ‘understand’ should be 
interpreted when implementing the CCSSM.
One hallmark of mathematical understanding is the ability to justify, 
in a way appropriate to the student’s mathematical maturity, why a