Standards Review and Revision - Mathematics

The 12-member high school mathematics standards review and revision committee worked from April 2025 through November 2025 to make revisions to the high school mathematics standards. Public feedback prior to the revision expressed a desire for high school mathematics to place a greater focus on mathematical and statistical modeling and to leverage more technology to enhance conceptual understanding. Stakeholders also called for a simpler, more concise document.

The committee has produced draft recommendations for revised standards in response to this feedback. This most obvious changes are to the structure of the document. Below is a summary of changes to both the content and layout of the document:

• Length: The content of the draft recommendations is 13 pages, compared to 67 pages in the 2018 document.
• Headings/subheadings: The draft recommendations has a 4-level structure (content area, grade level, standards "cluster," and standards), which is simpler compared to the 2018 structure (content area, grade level, standards category, prepared graduate statements, grade level expectations, evidence outcomes, academic contexts and connections, Colorado Essential Skills, mathematical practices, inquiry questions, and coherence connections).
• Groupings of standards: The draft recommendations organizes 137 standards into 19 groupings, compared to 193 evidence outcomes in 54 grade level expectations in the 2018 standards.
• Advanced content: The draft recommendations contains 91 "foundational" standards for all students, in addition to 46 advanced standards that belong to one or more of three advanced pathways: quantitative reasoning, statistics, advanced algebra/calculus. The 2018 standards did not indicate pathways and used a single "+" sign to indicate advanced content.
• Supporting material: The committee and CDE proposes moving supporting material (examples, inquiry questions, coherence connections, etc.) to supplementary documents that are created and maintained separately from the standards documents and the standards review and revision cycles.

The committee was able to significantly reduce the length of the high school standards by moving supporting material out of the main standards document and reducing the amount of text used to describe what is expected of high school students.

Watch the video that explains changes to the design of the high school mathematics standards document.

A crosswalk document is available that compares the current standards, adopted in 2018, to those being proposed in the draft revisions.

The expected process for review follows this timeline:

• December 2024: The State Board of Education determines if content area standards need revision.
• January and February 2025: Coloradoans can apply for standards revision committee membership.
• March 2025: The committees are selected, announced, and organized.
• April through November 2025: Standards revision committees meet to develop recommendations for revision.
• January 2026: The committees' recommendations are presented to the State Board of Education and stakeholders for feedback.
• January and February 2026: CDE collects public feedback on draft recommendations.
• March 2026: Public feedback report is shared with the State Board of Education and the review and revision committee.
• April 2026: Final recommendations for revisions are shared with the State Board of Education.
• May 2026: Consider possible board amendments to standards.
• June 2026: State Board of Education finalizes revisions to standards.

Youth Involvement in Standards: By statute, CDE is required to involve students in the review and revision of the Colorado Academic Standards. For the Group 3 revisions, CDE Commissioner Susana Córdova has selected Sarah Elmore of Campo High School (Campo School District RE-6) to be the Colorado Youth Advisor to the Academic Standards Review and Regional Educator Meetings for 2025-26.

Meeting 1

• Date: Tuesday, April 8, 6:30 to 8:30 pm
• Agenda: (1) Committee Introductions; (2) Understand the committee's charge; and (3) Begin to conceptualize the revision process.
• Summary: Committee members introduced themselves and learned about the standards revision process.

Meeting 2

• Date: Tuesday, April 22, 6:30 to 8:30 pm
• Agenda: (1) Review process discussions from Meeting 1; (2) Discuss the current standards; and (3) Determine external resources to review in Meetings 3 and 4.
• Summary: Committee members shared their notes and thoughts about the current high school mathematics standards.

Meeting 3

• Tuesday, May 13, 6:30 to 8:30 pm
• Agenda: (1) Process feedback from the State Board of Education and public input; (2) Learn about the Colorado Math Pathways work and other states' standards; and (3) Continue to conceptualize the form of the revised standards.
• Summary: Committee members shared what they learned by reviewing public feedback about the standards. Committee members then learned about Colorado's math pathways initiative and standards in Oregon, Ohio, Utah, and Virginia.

Meeting 4

• Tuesday, May 27, 6:30 to 8:30 pm
• Agenda: (1) Review NCTM publications relevant to high school math; (2) Review standards from additional states; and (3) Plan for June and July meetings.
• Summary: Committee members shared what they learned from the summaries of Catalyzing Change and High School Mathematics Reimagined, Revitalized, and Relevant before hearing about standards revisions being made in Hawaii and Maryland.

Meeting 5

• Wednesday, June 11, 9:00 to 11:00 am and 1:00 to 3:00 pm
• Agenda: (1) Organize ideas generated in Meetings 1 through 4 into potential revision actions for the committee; and (2) Begin developing consensus on high-level actions to shape the direction of the revisions.
• Summary: Committee members shared ideas for revising the standards asked questions. The ideas were then sorted into categories to assist with decision making at future meetings.  

Meeting 6

• Monday, July 7, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm and Tuesday, July 8, 8:00 am to 2:00 pm (in-person at CU Boulder School of Education)
• Agenda: (1) Re-engage as a committee in an in-person format; and (2) Review ideas from Meeting 5 and engage in decision-making protocols to select and prioritize ideas for drafting revisions.
• Summary: Committee members discussed ways the revised standards could be organized, as well as the content the standards should describe.

Meeting 7

• Wednesday, August 6, 4:00 to 6:00 pm via Zoom
• Agenda: Review current Colorado Academic Standards to discuss what to potentially keep, revise, or delete.
• Summary: Committee members conducted a preliminary assessment of each of the current evidence outcomes to identify potential changes.

Meeting 8

• Wednesday, August 20, 6:30 to 8:30 pm via Zoom
• Agenda: Backwards design from guaranteed transfer courses that serve as gateways to higher education math pathways.
• Summary: Committee members identified current standards that serve as prerequisites for guaranteed transfer courses.

Meeting 9

• Wednesday, September 3, 4:00 to 6:00 pm via Zoom
• Agenda: Continued backwards design from guaranteed transfer courses and attention to math that essential for all students.
• Summary: Committee members completed their preliminary assessment of each of the current evidence outcomes to identify what to potentially keep, revise, or delete.

Meeting 10

• Wednesday, September 17, 6:30 - 8:30 pm via Zoom
• Agenda: Reconceptualizing the bigger picture and making connections across references and work done so far.
• Summary: Committee members revisited resources from earlier meetings to contextualize the keep, revise, and delete decisions made in the September 3 meeting.

Meeting 11

• Thursday, September 25, 9:00 am to 4:30 pm, and Friday, September 26, 8:00 am to 2:00 pm (in-person at the Cherry Creek Innovation Campus, 8000 S Chambers Rd, Centennial)
• Agenda: Drafting standards for State Board and public feedback.
• Summary: Committee members made decisions about which evidence outcomes to keep, revise, and delete and drafted language for the proposed revisions.

Meeting 12

• Wednesday, October 1, 4:00 to 6:00 pm via Zoom
• Agenda: Work to finalize draft of standards for State Board and public feedback.
• Summary: Committee members have most standards written and identified as foundational or in an advanced pathway.

Meeting 13

• Wednesday, October 15, 5:00 to 7:00 pm via Zoom
• Agenda: This will be working time for subgroups of the committee. Some committee members are unable to attend.
• Summary: Committee members worked to refine and complete parts of the revision drafts.

Meeting 14

• Wednesday, October 29, 4:00 to 6:00 pm via Zoom
• Agenda: Working time to finalize changes to the standards draft and discussion of alignment with current high school testing.
• Summary: Committee members worked to refine and complete parts of the revision drafts.

Meeting 15

• Wednesday, November 12, 6:30 to 8:30 pm via Zoom
• Agenda: Optional working time to finalize changes to the standards draft and associated documents.
• Summary: Committee members worked to refine and complete parts of the revision drafts.

Meeting 16

• Thursday, March 5, 5:00 to 6:00 pm via Zoom
• Agenda: Discuss and make sense of public feedback collected from January 16 to February 16

Meeting 17

• Friday, March 6, 9:00 to 5:00 pm, and Saturday, March 7, 8:30 am to 3:30 pm (in-person at the Lowry Campus, 1061 Akron Way, Denver, Room 104)
• Agenda: Make revisions based on public feedback

 

Standards revision committee meetings are open to the public and the press. While visitors are welcome, they are not allowed to insert themselves as participants.

To avoid interrupting the work of the committee, we ask that visitors:

For online meetings:

• Register in advance of the meeting
• Arrive before the work time begins to minimize disruptions
• Leave their cameras and microphones off
• Don't engage with the chat
• Ask questions outside of the meeting

For in-person meetings:

• Arrive before the work time begins to minimize disruptions
• Sign in when entering the meeting room
• Sit in the area designated for visitors
• Avoid interrupting the meeting
• Wait until after the meeting to ask any questions

If you are a journalist, introduce yourself to the CDE facilitator and let them help you get any information you are looking for.

For more information, contact Raymond Johnson at johnson_r@cde.state.co.us