In a new edition of her standards-based math workbook, author Pearl Gold Solomon covers essential concepts and skills as defined by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics for learners in middle schools. Designed as a comprehensive resource for planning curriculum, instruction, and assessment, The Math We Need to Know and Do in Grades 6-9, Second Edition, offers a quick-reference, simple-to-follow matrix covering the sequential and specific development of concepts across grade levels. Responding to the current climate of accountability and new findings on how the brain works and how students learn, this updated and expanded handbook covers content standards and provides guidelines for formal and informal assessments. Teachers and instructional leaders will find practical tools that include: (1) Concept statements and scaffolds for building student understanding; (2) Suggestions for working with manipulatives, calculators, Web sites, and educational software and graphics programs and (3) Ready-to-use sample activities, problems, and assessments. Designed for teachers, math coaches, curriculum directors, and assessment specialists, this text presents detailed guidance for strengthening curriculum development and instruction. Following Note to Teachers, Preface to the Second Edition, Acknowledgments, and author information, the book includes: (1) Designing a Standards-Based Math Curriculum; (2) The Designed-Down Content Branches: Embedded Concepts, Performance Indicators, and Expectations and (3) Scaffolds for Teachers and Problems for Student. An additional resource, "Assessing the Content Standards" and an index are included. [For the first edition, see ED446974.]