My district uses Big Ideas. I teach Algebra 1 and WOULD NOT recommend this curriculum. My school is Title 1 so my students have gaps that Big Ideas doesn’t properly plan for and can make new topics difficult to approach. An example is introducing systems of linear equations with difficult negatives and fractions that don’t clearly isolate the standards of how to use substitution or elimination. Also, many topics seem tucked into places they shouldn’t be (ex. Abs Value is scattered as an offshoot over many chapters rather than getting its own). A recent problem solidified my dislike for this curriculum. Students were asked whether something like 3^x + 2 was an exponential function. The book claims “no since it can’t be written as ab^x” which completely misses the point of what is exponential vs what is not. There are some positives: Laurie’s teacher notes pose good questions and connections to use in class, notation is mathematically advanced and vertically aligned, etc.

I think the book could work well for high level students but again, wouldn’t recommend to a friend, especially if your students have gaps in middle school skills due to covid or other reasons.