The school provides students with structured, educator-led classes that develop the students' understanding of foundational mathematics concepts. This type of understanding enables the students to visualize and apply their knowledge across a variety of problem solving situations. The school's goal is to provide every student with the knowledge and intellectual tools necessary to succeed in life.

Mathematical concepts can be difficult to teach to primary school students especially when an educator's only teaching technique is rote memorization of procedures. At Progress Math we believe that it in order to develop an understanding of a mathematical procedure, the student must be taught the concept in three sequential stages:

• Concretely – The use of hands-on manipulatives to introduce the actual underlying mathematical concept.

• Pictorially – The use of diagrams and pictures to illustrate a concept and to help the student mentally visualize the mathematical operation.

• Abstract – The use of standard mathematical notation to represent and solve problems.

This approach encourages an active thinking process, develops communication of mathematical ideas, and improves problem solving skills. At Progress Math our students learn a multitude of different ways to approach a problem. Think of it this way...You are stuck in a traffic jam due to an accident on a major highway. If you are a local, you can get out of the jam at the next exit and on to your destination because you know alternate routes. However, if you are from out of town without a map, you are stuck because you know of only one route! At Progress Math, we strive to help all students become locals in the land of math.

Once students are able to compute fluently, we teach the students to use bar modeling to solve complex word problems. This technique allows the students to understand and visualize the problem being presented. Bar models develop algebraic thinking. The use of bar models allows students to solve multi-step word problems.