The Hidden Lane in Math Education: Why HQIM Curriculum Work Is Niche, Necessary, and Made for Educators Like You
- Jaliyla Fraser
- Nov 21
- 4 min read
Before we go any further, let’s define something clearly… because this term gets thrown around in PDs, staff meetings, and district emails with no real explanation.
So what is HQIM… really?
HQIM stands for High-Quality Instructional Materials.
And no, it is not just “good curriculum.” HQIM means materials that are:
aligned to standards
coherent across grade levels
rich in conceptual understanding
built for student reasoning, not compliance
accessible to multilingual learners and students with disabilities
designed to build fluency from understanding
accurate, rigorous, and developmentally appropriate
relevant and interesting to students' worlds and experiences
HQIM is curriculum that is intentionally crafted to support how students learn, think, model, talk, and problem-solve in math.
It is the gold standard.
HQIM is not about how cute the curriculum looks. It’s about how powerfully it supports student thinking.
You’ve Probably Done Some HQIM Work Before… and Didn’t Even Realize It
Scenario 1: The “This Lesson Isn’t Actually Teaching the Standard” Moment
You’re planning for next week. The lesson says “students will identify equivalent fractions.” But the task is students literally just coloring circles.
You stop and say: “This is not what the standard is asking for.” Then you rewrite the activity so students actually generate and justify equivalence.
That’s HQIM reviewing.
You analyzed alignment, caught a flaw, and elevated the rigor. That’s exactly what curriculum reviewers get paid to do.
Scenario 2: The “This Is Out of Order” Moment
You’re teaching multiplication strategies. You notice the curriculum wants kids to jump from arrays straight into the standard algorithm with no area model in between.
You look at it like: “Yeah… no.” Then you shift things around so students build conceptual understanding before fluency.
That’s coherence work. That’s HQIM.
You protected the progression. You ensured the learning was built logically. That is exactly what HQIM reviewers do when evaluating curriculum maps.
Scenario 3: The “Why Are We Using This Word Problem?” Moment
You’re reading a task and see a culturally irrelevant, unrealistic, or confusing context.
You replace it with something that makes sense to your kids… something that reflects their lives, their interests, their language patterns.
That is HQIM equity work.
Reviewers literally analyze materials for cultural responsiveness and access.
And you’ve already been doing it.
Scenario 4: The “This Pacing Is Setting Us Up To Fail” Moment
You look at the pacing guide. It gives four days for a major cluster. Then nine days for a minor supporting standard.
You roll your eyes. You adjust. You rebalance days based on what kids actually need.
Congratulations. You just performed a curriculum audit move.
HQIM reviewers do this every cycle.
Now pause and think about that.
If you’ve done any of the above, even once, you’ve already operated like an HQIM reviewer. You’ve been doing the work without the title, the language, the formal training, or the paycheck.
HQIM Is a Niche Lane… Because Most Educators Don’t Know How to Use What They are Already Know and Take It to the Next Level
Most educators are doing the right things… but they’ve never been shown how to take what they’re already doing and push it into true curriculum expertise.
You are already doing pieces of HQIM work… you just don’t know how to elevate it, formalize it, or articulate it in a way that gets you into the rooms where curriculum decisions are made.
Most educators know how to fix a lesson. Most know when something feels “off.” Most know when kids need more representation, more scaffolding, or more rigor. But HQIM asks you to take those instincts and push them further.
It requires you to stop reacting to curriculum… and start evaluating it.
It asks you to stop fixing things one lesson at a time… and start seeing the entire progression.
It challenges you to move from “this doesn’t work for my kids” to “here’s why it doesn’t work… and here’s the instructional progression that will.” It makes you solutions oriented.
HQIM requires that next level.
It’s niche because educators were never shown how to turn their instincts into a skillset. Nobody taught you how to break down standards at a deep level. Nobody taught you how learning progressions actually function across grade spans. Nobody taught you how to analyze rigor inside a task. Nobody taught you how coherence is built… or how it breaks.
Educators like you, who see patterns, understand kids, and care deeply about how math is taught, deserve to be in the rooms where curriculum decisions are made.
And once you learn how to do this — truly do it — you unlock an entirely new lane of influence, leadership, and opportunity.
Here’s the Real Truth
You can only be an official HQIM reviewer when you truly know your standards and know how to build a coherent curriculum from the ground up.
That’s the part that separates “I can fix lessons” from “I can evaluate entire programs.”
That’s the part that turns a strong teacher into a subject-matter expert. And my friend… that’s my lane. That’s my niche. That’s what I wake up every day to do.
I teach educators how to understand their standards deeply, how to see the learning progressions clearly, how to build coherence intentionally, and how to step into curriculum work with confidence, clarity, and purpose.
Because once you understand standards and coherence at this level, you don’t just change lessons, you change outcomes for entire communities of kids.
If This Is Your Lane, Step Into It
If something in this article made you say, “Wait… that’s me,” then this is your next step. Join my DOPE MATH® Curriculum Writing Intensive and let me teach you the standards, coherence, and foundations of HQIM work that turn strong teachers into subject-matter experts.
Your next lane is waiting.
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