The Course Catalog
The Meridians
MATH 0–90 and ELA 0–90, aligned to the Common Core progressions — each course named for the level at which it sits, each visibly a fraction of the distance to the collegiate 100 level.
MATH 0 – 90
The Mathematics Meridian
Mathematics is the model's natural proving ground: its concepts are cumulative, its prerequisites unforgiving. What the renumbering adds is proportion: MATH 14 is not “second-grade math” — a phrase that invites condescension — but fourteen percent of the road to college mathematics, traveled in a single year.
Where the entire sequence stands.
- ·Counting and cardinality
- ·Numbers to 100
- ·Basic addition and subtraction concepts
- ·Shapes and spatial reasoning
- + 2 more
5 units · 37 practice items →
The long climb to KS-10 begins.
- ·Addition and subtraction within 20
- ·Place value to 100
- ·Basic measurement
- ·Time and money introduction
- + 2 more
6 units · 46 practice items →
The largest single-year gain on the scale.
- ·Addition and subtraction within 1000
- ·Place value to 1000
- ·Foundations of multiplication
- ·Length measurement
- + 2 more
6 units · 49 practice items →
The year of facts.
- ·Multiplication and division facts
- ·Fractions as numbers
- ·Area and perimeter
- ·Multi-step word problems
- + 1 more
6 units · 42 practice items →
Algorithms as application.
- ·Multi-digit multiplication
- ·Long division foundations
- ·Fraction equivalence
- ·Decimal notation
- + 2 more
6 units · 42 practice items →
The halfway meridian.
- ·Operations with fractions
- ·Decimals to thousandths
- ·Volume
- ·Coordinate plane
- + 2 more
6 units · 38 practice items →
The transition to abstraction opens.
- ·Ratios and rates
- ·Percentages
- ·Negative numbers
- ·Algebraic expressions
- + 2 more
6 units · 45 practice items →
Proportionality in five costumes.
- ·Proportional relationships
- ·Rational numbers
- ·Percent increase/decrease
- ·Probability
- + 2 more
6 units · 38 practice items →
The taxonomy's house example arrives.
- ·Linear equations
- ·Systems of equations
- ·Functions
- ·Irrational numbers
- + 2 more
6 units · 44 practice items →
Abstract reasoning proper.
- ·Algebra I
- ·Linear functions
- ·Systems of equations
- ·Exponents
- + 3 more
6 units · 41 practice items →
Proof is KS-8 made into a subject.
- ·Geometry
- ·Formal proofs
- ·Congruence
- ·Similarity
- + 3 more
6 units · 43 practice items →
Families of functions.
- ·Algebra II
- ·Polynomial functions
- ·Rational functions
- ·Logarithms
- + 3 more
5 units · 43 practice items →
The terminal course.
- ·Precalculus / Statistics
- ·Trigonometric functions
- ·Advanced functions
- ·Probability
- + 3 more
5 units · 36 practice items →
ELA 0 – 90
The ELA Meridian — Composition & Rhetoric
The same discipline applied to the mother tongue. The print code is driven to internalization and verified by latency — the reading gate at ELA 50 is the tables audit's twin — while composition climbs the ladder from sentence to paragraph to essay to argument to the defended thesis, each rung consumed by the next.
Print encodes speech — everything stands on this.
- ·Print concepts and all letter names
- ·Phonological awareness: rhyme, syllables, phonemes
- ·Letter-sound correspondences and first high-frequency words
- ·Retelling stories from read-alouds
- + 2 more
6 units · 55 practice items →
The code opens; the first complete sentence.
- ·Phonemic blending and full segmentation
- ·Decoding: digraphs, final-e, vowel teams, two-syllable words
- ·Reading with accuracy and self-correction
- ·The complete sentence: capital, subject, predicate, end mark
- + 2 more
6 units · 60 practice items →
The code faces its first audit.
- ·Vowel teams, two-syllable words, prefixes and suffixes
- ·Fluency on grade-level text: accuracy, rate, expression
- ·Retelling and key details: fables, folktales, informational text
- ·How authors use reasons — the seed of argument
- + 2 more
Course outline →
The seam: learning to read ends here.
- ·Multisyllabic decoding — pseudowords as the pure witness
- ·Fluency sufficient to support comprehension
- ·Main idea distinguished from topic; inference, cause, structure
- ·Referring explicitly to the text as the basis for answers
- + 3 more
Course outline →
Reading to learn, behind the gate.
- ·The reading-to-learn gate: cold two-passage fluency probe
- ·Reading to learn across content-area text; summarizing
- ·Inference anchored in textual evidence
- ·Multi-paragraph structure: grouped ideas, introduction, conclusion
- + 2 more
Course outline →
Both audits at once — the halfway meridian.
- ·The oral-reading-fluency audit: two cold passages, ≥145 WCPM at 98%
- ·The teacher-read timed dictation audit at the 98% floor
- ·Quoting accurately from texts
- ·The essay form understood: what each part does and why
- + 2 more
Course outline →
Opinion is consumed by argument.
- ·Argument enters: claim, reasons, relevant evidence from credible sources
- ·Citing textual evidence inside the student's own analysis
- ·Tracing an argument: claims supported by evidence versus claims that are not
- ·The timed-draft conventions audit: zero fragments, run-ons, or agreement errors
- + 2 more
Course outline →
The counterclaim enters; the untaught word cracks.
- ·Counterclaims acknowledged — the ladder's first rung
- ·The research cycle to spec: questions, credibility, citation
- ·Phrases, clauses, and dangling modifiers
- ·Evaluating soundness of reasoning and sufficiency of evidence
- + 2 more
Course outline →
The essay arrives unprompted.
- ·The thesis-driven essay on prompts that never say 'essay'
- ·Counterclaims distinguished from the writer's claim
- ·Strongest-evidence selection and ranking
- ·Sound reasoning — and the irrelevant evidence slipped in
- + 2 more
Course outline →
The steelman year.
- ·Precise claims; counterclaims developed fairly — the steelman
- ·The first sustained research paper
- ·The September sweep: across-the-summer retest of the metalanguage
- ·Parallel structure; semicolon and colon logic
- + 2 more
Course outline →
Style is analysis made a subject.
- ·Rhetorical analysis: word choice, structure, and appeals
- ·Delineating and evaluating arguments
- ·Syntax as deliberate choice: register, voice, and mood defended
- ·The rhetorical-analysis essay with oral defense
- + 2 more
Course outline →
The audience enters the argument.
- ·Counterclaims anticipating audience knowledge, concerns, and biases
- ·The Two Audiences practical: one argument, two readers
- ·Research synthesis without patchwriting
- ·The researched Public Comment on a live local matter
- + 2 more
Course outline →
The defended thesis; the collegiate reading load.
- ·The thesis-driven research argument: conflicting sources reconciled
- ·Oral defense under live, unscripted questioning
- ·Civil discussion carried to resolution or a named crux
- ·The timed on-demand transfer essay
- + 2 more
Course outline →
The Visible Transition Points
Structural Seams
What the renumbering makes visible — and conventional numbering conceals — are the seams in development. Each seam is an assessment mandate: crossing from arithmetic mastery into the algebra transition (50 → 60) presupposes KS-10 number facts and KS-7 fractions; crossing from print mastery into argument presupposes KS-10 fluency and transcription. The seams are where honest verification matters most — and where the conventional system, promoting by birthday, verifies least.
| Levels | Mathematics | ELA |
|---|---|---|
| 0 – 14 | Numeracy acquisition | Literacy acquisition |
| 27 – 50 | Arithmetic mastery | Print mastery |
| 60 – 75 | Pre-algebra to algebra transition | Opinion-to-argument transition |
| 81 – 90 | Abstract mathematical reasoning | Rhetorical & analytical reasoning |
| 100+ | Genuine collegiate mathematics | Genuine collegiate composition |
Beyond the Meridian
The Collegiate Levels
The scale does not end at 100; it merely changes hands. A student completing MATH 90 is positioned to enter MATH 100 exactly as a senior completing AP Calculus enters a freshman university sequence.
| Level | Typical Course |
|---|---|
| 100 | College Algebra / Calculus I |
| 200 | Calculus II–III, Linear Algebra |
| 300 | Real Analysis, Abstract Algebra |
| 400 | Advanced Undergraduate Mathematics |
| 500–600 | Master's Mathematics |
| 700–900 | Doctoral Mathematics |