The Challenge

Recent data on student math achievement is sobering. ~50% of middle school students are performing below grade level, and newly released NAEP data show the gap between the highest and lowest-performing 8th grade students is the widest in the test's history.

Educators widely acknowledge that supporting below grade-level students requires exposing them to grade-level work through acceleration rather than remediation strategies. This approach creates on-ramps to grade-level content, instead of waiting for students to catch up before introducing rigorous material. In this model, teachers provide necessary scaffolds and just-in-time supports to make grade-level lessons accessible.

The Implementation Gap

Acceleration depends on High Quality Instructional Materials (HQIM) in classrooms. However, a growing body of evidence shows that simply having these materials does not always lead to student success. This compelled us to ask, “Why not?” 

To answer the question, we spoke to a lot of teachers about their experiences using HQIM - especially in classrooms where many students are below grade-level. We heard consistent challenges:

• Limited practice opportunities: Students missing foundational skills need more practice than the curriculum provides

• Time constraints: Lessons are designed for longer class periods than some teachers actually have

• Accessibility gaps: Content often assumes grade-level readiness, but many students lack prerequisite knowledge

• Missing scaffolds: Teachers must create their own supports, adding significant prep time

Coteach: Your Curriculum Co-Planner

After listening to these challenges, we developed Coteach - a chat-based assistant and co-planner specifically designed to help teachers maximize the potential of IM K-12 Math™. (For those unfamiliar, IM K-12 Math™ is one of the nation’s most popular math curricula, used by over 4 million students.)

What makes Coteach unique is its direct integration with the IM curriculum. This allows Coteach to work alongside teachers to internalize and customize lessons while maintaining the curriculum’s core instructional objectives. 

From Beta to Launch 

We’re excited to officially launch Coteach after an extended beta phase with 1,000 IM teachers. During this period, we’ve seen how Coteach has helped teachers to:

• Internalize lessons: Teachers used Coteach to deepen their understanding of lesson plans and learning objectives

• Maintain rigor while increasing accessibility: Create targeted scaffolds for specific student needs without diluting content

• Support unfinished learning: Develop additional practice problems for students needing reinforcement of prerequisite skills

• Enhance instructional quality: Design observation protocols aligned to IM lessons

• Differentiate instruction: Build lesson extensions for advanced students and specialized supports for English Language Learners

• Optimize for time: Shorten or combine lessons while preserving core learning goals

Making Curriculum Work for Every Student

We firmly believe in the power of high quality instructional materials, but recognize that no single curriculum can be designed to meet the needs of every student. And for teachers, it is a herculean task to customize content for all their learners. This is what Coteach is designed to do — it draws directly from IM K–12 Math™ to create customized access points to the curriculum to ensure all students can succeed.

Try Coteach Today

Start using Coteach today at coteach.ai. We’re always improving and would really appreciate your feedback!