Welcome to ROCKtober!
You rock. Your students rock. Math rocks. And, if I do say so myself, Next Gen Math rocks. So I’ve dubbed October “ROCKtober" and I’m running with it.
Here’s what’s on this month’s set list.
October Set List
- Improved navigation in Individual Student Results
- Reports Downloads
- Constructed Response Stems
- Roll the Dice Grade-Level Update
Updates and New Features
The Next Gen Math Professional Development Center
Ready to rock your next math assignment? Head to the PD Center!
Through an introduction and five self-paced lessons, you’ll learn to find content, create and customize assignments, support learners, and use results to plan next steps.
Follow the lessons in order for a complete introduction, or jump to the lesson that best matches your current needs.
Lessons include videos, interactive activities, and knowledge checks.
Learn more: The NGM PD Center
Student-Specific Dynamic Printables
Prefer the classics? Pencil and paper still have their place. Seeing students’ work helps you understand not just their answers, but how they got there.
Online assignments give you immediate access to results and follow-up tools.
Did you know that on Next Gen Math, you can get the best of both worlds?
By creating an assignment that is both online and printable, you can enter scores manually or, even better, students can work out the problems on paper first, and then enter their answers on the platform.
You have two options for this:
- Static: Students receive the same questions, including the same nouns and numbers. You can enter scores manually, or students can enter their answers online.
-
Dynamic—new printable option: Students receive individual worksheets that match their own online questions.
Step 1: Create a dynamic assignment and print student worksheets:
Step 2: Students complete the assignment on paper, showing their work.
Step 3: Students enter their answers online:
Step 4: Analyze the data:
Individual question variations help discourage answer sharing (ahem) while giving you useful data to plan next steps without leaving the platform.
Learn more: Student-Specific Dynamic Printables
Platform Enhancements: Small Updates, Big Impact
Improved Navigation in Individual Student Results
You can now move between students’ individual assignment reports without scrolling back to the top of the page.
A new “floating widget” (my next band name?) stays visible at the bottom of the results page as you scroll. Jump directly to a student, move through the roster, and choose whether to stay at the same question or return to the summary.
Report Downloads
When you export a report, you will now get your spreadsheet or PDF in a new download popup rather than through email. A download notification also appears in your Dashboard Activity Feed.
While downloading, yet another floating widget lets you know the status of your download.
Constructed Response Stems
We’re adding more constructed response stems so students can practice explaining their mathematical thinking in writing.
These draw on the Standards for Mathematical Practice and Claims 2, 3, and 4. As a reminder, these are the kinds of questions often seen on the Performance Task portion of the SBAC.
(Rock and ) Roll the Dice!
Roll the Dice is an interactive game for students to practice basic operations and the order of operations.
The objective of the game is to create an equation that matches either the sum or the product of the rolled dice.
Now, grades K-2 can play Roll the Dice while practicing basic operations.
Students in grades 3 and up play the same game, but with the product as the target.
Roll the Dice is not something you assign, but students can access it anytime on their platform. Try it for early finishers!
Learn more: Roll the Dice
Next Gen Math in Numbers
This month, we’ve added:
- 55 Claim 1 Stems
- 23 Claims 2-4 Stems
- 16 Grades 6-8 Instructional Videos
- 37 High School Instructional Videos
Rock on, teachers. Rock on!
Written by Sarah Stickle sarah@nextgenmath.com 10/08/2026