When learning about Math 180 for the first time, many educators have questions about the intensive intervention program known for helping to raise student achievement in math by more than two years in one school year. The program, which is rooted in relevant, real-world connections, leverages research on effective teaching and learning in math and provides students with the skills needed for college and career success. This article came about to help answer some of the most frequently asked questions about Math 180.
Math 180: Purpose and Origin
1. What is the Math 180 program?
Math 180 is a comprehensive, research-based math intervention program designed to accelerate math achievement for students in Grades 3–12 who are performing one or more years below grade level. The program combines teacher-led instruction, adaptive technology, and independent practice to build conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, and problem-solving skills. It targets key mathematical domains such as number sense, algebraic thinking, and data analysis, while also supporting academic confidence. Math 180’s flexible structure allows it to be implemented in various instructional settings to meet the needs of diverse learners.
Implementation models:
- Flex model: Integrated into the core math classroom or used during tutoring or extended learning time, this model allows students to receive personalized intervention while in a core classroom environment. Students get the support they need without taking away from teacher-led instruction delivered in a core classroom.
- Dedicated model: Delivered in a separate, designated intervention class period, this teacher-led model provides more intensive support for students who require additional instructional time and focus. It’s best suited for Tier 3 intervention, offering structured rotations that include whole-group instruction, small-group learning, and individualized practice through adaptive software.
2. Is Math 180 a curriculum?
Math 180 is a comprehensive intervention curriculum for students performing below grade level. It combines teacher-led instruction with an adaptive student application. Lessons are age-appropriate, personalized, and designed to build conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, and problem-solving skills. With built-in assessments, real-time data tracking, and targeted support, Math 180 serves as a full curriculum solution for intervention classrooms, tutoring settings, and flexible instructional models.
3. What is the goal of Math 180?
The goal of Math 180 is to accelerate math achievement for students in Grades 3–12 who are performing below grade level, with a clear focus on readiness for algebra. By targeting priority standards along the progression to algebra, Math 180 helps students close learning gaps more efficiently, build confidence, and reach grade-level proficiency faster—preparing them for success in higher-level math.
4. Is Math 180 an effective program?
Math 180 is a highly effective intervention program, backed by rigorous research and recognized by leading education organizations. It has been shown to accelerate math achievement for students who begin the program significantly below grade level, helping them reach grade-level proficiency and readiness for algebra. Math 180 is the only intensive math intervention endorsed by the Council of Administrators of Special Education (CASE), underscoring its credibility and effectiveness in supporting diverse learners, including those with special education needs.
More research about Math 180 can be found here.
5. How long has Math 180 been around?
Math 180 was first released in 2013, and over the past 10+ years, the program has been updated and enhanced. Since 2022, the program is on Ed, HMH’s learning platform. The current version of Math 180 features a recently launched series of Math 180 units specifically geared to students who need foundational support in addition, subtraction, and place value.
Math 180 was initially conceived to support middle school intervention students. It now supports students as early as Grade 3 with a new series on addition, subtraction, and place value. By targeting priority standards along the progression to algebra, Math 180 helps students close learning gaps more efficiently, build confidence, and reach grade-level proficiency faster.
6. Who started Math 180?
Many researchers and experts in intervention and education were involved in developing Math 180. One key contributor was Dr. Ted Hasselbring from Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College, whose work in the areas of adaptive technology, neuroscience, and the language of math were a part of the program’s design.
Dr. Deborah Ball, an education professor from the University of Michigan Marsal Family School of Education and expert on the practice of teaching mathematics, served as the lead advisor on teacher-facilitated instruction and support. Additionally, researchers at the Center of Applied Special Technology (CAST) helped to use Universal Design for Learning, or UDL, as a framework for ensuring the program was inclusive and effective for all learners.
Math 180 included many additional authors and advisors, including Harold Asturias (language support), Dr. Freeman Hrabowski (motivation), Dr. Lee Peng Yee (problem solving), and others. Most recently, Dr. Juli Dixon, a leading voice in math education and professor emerita at the University of Central Florida, has helped to develop an addition, subtraction, and place value scope and sequence expansion for students in Grades 3 and up. This expansion was released in 2024.
How Math 180 Supports Every Student
7. Who should be in Math 180?
Math 180 is ideally suited for students in Grades 3 and above who require intensive intervention in mathematics. It is designed to support students who struggle with foundational math skills, have significant learning gaps, or need extra assistance to develop algebra readiness. Additionally, Math 180 is beneficial for educators and schools seeking comprehensive solutions to improve math proficiency among striving students and to address diverse learning needs in the classroom. The program includes ample teacher support and embedded professional learning with the understanding that the ability to successfully reach every struggling student is a formidable challenge.
8. What grade level is Math 180?
Math 180 was initially designed in 2013 to provide intervention support for middle school students. Today, the content in Math 180 supports Grades 3–12 intervention students and, in particular, addresses the priority standards along the progression to algebra associated with Grades K–8.
All said, the program has a broad span of content that’s appropriate for intervention as early as third grade and as late as high school. It’s a comprehensive solution that’s intended to remain accessible to all students who use it, with a strong focus on middle school skills associated with lifelong math success, such as rates, ratios, proportional relationships, and functions.
9. How is Math 180 designed to be engaging for all students?
Math 180 engages students through interactive technology, relevant content, and personalized instruction. Its adaptive student application and differentiated approach cater to diverse learning needs, build critical thinking skills, and strive to give students just the right amount of challenge. Gamification elements enhance motivation, creating an engaging learning environment for math success.
The content itself anchors itself in real-world contexts that regularly show students why the math matters. Each unit is given an overarching career theme such as entrepreneurship or environmental science, with problems and contexts that drive home the connection between the math of the unit and the work found in that career.
10. Is Math 180 a special education program?
Math 180 is a powerful tool for special education and has been used successfully across various classroom implementations with diverse student populations, such as students with disabilities or multilingual learners.
However, the program is not only for students in special education. The program is also effective for students who are close to achieving on-grade level proficiency in math and need some intervention to get there.
More Math 180 research can be found here.
11. Is Math 180 Tier 2 intervention?
Yes. Math 180 has demonstrated success with Tier 2 students by providing tailored intervention instruction beyond the core curriculum to students who do not require intensive Tier 3 services.
If students are pulled out into a dedicated math intervention classroom, the Math 180 instructional model supports Tier 2 students by balancing whole-group instruction with small-group learning that is targeted to different skills based on students’ needs.
In 2023, HMH developed Math 180 Flex, which is designed to address the needs of Tier 2 students within a core class, before school, or after school. In both the dedicated and Flex implementations, Math 180 uses the adaptive student application, scaffolded content, and real-time data to meet students where they are and accelerate their progress toward grade-level proficiency.
12. Is Math 180 Tier 3 intervention?
Yes, Math 180 is especially effective for Tier 3 students. For students in a dedicated math intervention classroom, the instructional model offers an intensive balance of whole-group instruction with small-group learning that is targeted to different skills based on students’ needs within a dedicated classroom.
Students using Math 180 Flex receive Tier 3 supports as well, as both implementations include independent practice through adaptive student software, which adjusts in real time to their performance. This combination of targeted instruction, personalized pacing, and consistent scaffolding makes Math 180 a powerful solution for helping Tier 3 students accelerate progress and build readiness for algebra.
13. How does Math 180 ensure students can achieve grade-level proficiency in math?
Math 180 accelerates students toward grade-level proficiency through:
- Building deep understanding and mastery of the essential concepts necessary to unlock algebra;
- Supporting teachers with the technology, professional learning, and resources, no matter the experience level, so that they can achieve classroom success; and
- Building a growth mindset in students and educators and demonstrating how hard work leads to success.
Math 180: Structure and Curriculum
14. What is the structure of Math 180?
The Math 180 program is divided into seven half-year modules that include options for both full teacher-led and full student application delivery of the curriculum.
Math 180 is structured around a comprehensive framework that includes various components such as whole-class instruction, small-group instruction, independent practice, and ongoing assessment. It consists of interactive lessons, adaptive software, teacher-led instruction, and data-driven assessments to support students in developing foundational math skills and progressing toward grade-level proficiency.
Math 180 can be implemented using two models:
- Dedicated model: Students are in a separate intervention class, with teacher-led intensive support, structured rotations, and targeted instruction. This is particularly effective for Tier 3 support.
- Flex model: Students receive tailored intervention within core classrooms, tutoring, or extended learning time, using adaptive software and digital resources without requiring a separate class period.
15. What topics does Math 180 cover?
Math 180 focuses on the priority standards along the progression to algebra and contains half-year modules that address the following:
- Addition, subtraction, and place value
- Multiplication and division
- Decimals and integers
- Rates and ratios
- Proportional relationships
- Linear and nonlinear functions
16. How many blocks of content does Math 180 have?
In Math 180, individual units are called blocks, and modules made up of blocks are called series. Each of the seven series contains three blocks of instruction. Thus, in total, Math 180 comprises 21 blocks. Each series is intended to take up around half a school year, meaning two series can be covered in one school year.
Each block starts with an engaging anchor video that contextualizes the content to come. The video and content of each block connect to an overarching career cluster, such as “science and engineering” or “art and design,” to engage students and bridge concepts to real-world scenarios.
17. How many lessons are in Math 180?
In one school year, students generally complete a small subset of the hundreds of lessons available. Classrooms typically cover two series of instruction in one school year. Each series contains three blocks of instruction, and each block contains three topics. Topics contain an average of five lessons, meaning that students can generally complete 90 lessons across one school year.
18. How long is a Math 180 lesson?
When there is a dedicated intervention classroom, each lesson is structured to fit within a 45-minute period using a rotational model. Each teacher-led Math 180 lesson is designed with 20-minute small-group sessions in mind, so teachers can deliver two small-group sessions in a 45-minute class.
The student application focuses on the concept lessons and allows students to progress at their own pace. During a concept lesson, students learn new concepts, skills, and strategies using visual models and engagement routines. Teacher-led instruction also includes classroom games and problem-solving lessons not included in the software.
19. What are the zones in Math 180?
Math 180 includes a student application that organizes lessons into learning zones:
- The Explore Zone includes anchor videos and career simulations to engage students with why math matters and how it is used to solve problems in the context of a career.
- The Learn Zone provides adaptive practice and instruction and includes “Fast Track,” where students can demonstrate lesson proficiency and jump to the next lesson.
- The Success Zone provides topic-level assessment for progress monitoring.
- The Brain Arcade contains 11 engaging math games.
20. What are the video games like in Math 180?
The Math 180 Brain Arcade contains 11 adaptive math games that each progress from simple calculation and fact fluency to higher-level content directly aligned to the Math 180 instruction. Teachers can limit how much Brain Arcade time is available within each student application session.
Additional Questions about Math 180
21. How do students access Math 180?
Math 180 is a browser-based online program that is accessed via Ed, HMH’s learning platform.
22. How much does Math 180 cost?
Math 180 is sold on a per-student license basis. Please contact your HMH account executive for a quote.
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Explore Math 180, our revolutionary approach to math intervention for students in Grades 3–12.
This blog, originally published in 2024, has been updated for 2025.
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