Big Ideas Learning, LLC is an educational publisher in the United States. The company's headquarters is located in Erie, Pennsylvania. It publishes mathematics textbooks and instructional technology materials.
Big Ideas Learning is a privately owned Limited liability company.[1]
The origins of Big Ideas Learning go back to 1980, when mathematics textbook author Ron Larson started a small company called Larson Texts. The company became incorporated in Pennsylvania in 1992 and became Larson Texts, Inc.[2]
In 2008, the owners of Larson Texts formed a separate publishing company called Big Ideas Learning.[3] Big Ideas Learning develops and publishes mathematics textbooks. The name of the company is related to the 2006 "Focal Point" recommendations of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.[4] In September 2006, NCTM released Curriculum Focal Points for Prekindergarten through Grade 8 Mathematics: A Quest for Coherence. In the Focal Points, NCTM identifies what it believes to be the most important mathematical topics ("the big ideas") for each grade level, including the related ideas, concepts, skills, and procedures that form the foundation for understanding and lasting learning.
In 2017 Big Ideas Learning announced a new partnership with National Geographic Learning (NGL), a Cengage company. National Geographic Learning is the sole distributor of the Big Ideas Math programs.
The first publication for Big Ideas Learning was a series of middle school mathematics textbooks that implemented the NCTM's focal point curriculum. Each book had a national edition and a Florida edition, which was submitted for adoption in the state of Florida.[5] In the spring of 2010, Big Ideas Math was adopted by over half of Florida's 67 counties.[6] The series won the 2010 Textbook Excellence Award ("Texty") for excellence in textbook publishing in the Elementary-High School Division for Mathematics.[7]
In 2010, Big Ideas Learning published a series of middle school mathematics textbooks that implemented the Virginia Standards of Learning.[8] In 2011, Big Ideas Learning published a series of middle school mathematics textbooks that implemented the Common Core State Standards. The series won the 2012 Textbook Excellence Award ("Texty") for excellence in textbook publishing in the Elementary-High School Division for Mathematics.[9] In 2013, Big Ideas Math: A Common Core Curriculum Algebra 1 received the award for Most Promising Textbook from the Text and Academic Authors Association.
In 2014, Big Ideas Learning debuted the Big Ideas Math Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2 Common Core high school mathematics curriculum. The company also announced that it will be releasing the Big Ideas Math Course 1, Course 2, and Course 3 Common Core integrated high school mathematics curriculum in the spring of 2015.