An Analysis of Mathematics Vocabulary Included in Elementary Textbook Glossaries

Teachers use mathematics textbook glossaries to select and define important terms for instruction. We do not currently have a common list of mathematics terms that students need to know at each grade level in the United States; this study fills that void. We identified three commonly used elementary mathematics curricula and coded glossaries for terms, definitions, Spanish translations, and visuals. We identified 866 unique terms students are expected to know by middle school. In this article, we present high-priority terms that appeared in all three curricula, vertically aligned terms that appeared in at least three consecutive grade levels, and recommended terms (i.e., high-priority and vertically aligned terms). We also categorized terms as technical, subtechnical, symbolic, or general. We discuss implications for publishers on ways to improve textbook glossaries, particularly for students with mathematics difficulty and emergent bilinguals, and present recommendations for teachers to consider when using textbook glossaries.