Selecting the Right EMP Resources for your Students

The Explicit Mathematics Program is split into year-levels which roughly correspond to years of schooling as follows:

  • Prep/Foundation/Transition → Level A
  • Year 1 → Level B
  • Year 2 → Level C
  • Year 3 → Level D
  • Year 4 → Level E (for release in 2027)
  • Year 5 → Level F (for release in 2028)
  • Year 6 → Level G (for release in 2029)

As such, a school commencing the program in Prep/Foundation/Transition can simply commence with Level A and progress these students chronologically through the program.

However, if you would like to commence the program with an older group of students who have not worked through prior levels of the EMP, it is important to follow the advice given below to select an appropriate program level.

To do so, simply go to the relevant year level for the student or group of students in question and follow the steps provided. Note: 'Year level' refers to the year level which the target student will be in in the year of implementation. E.g., if you have a group of Year 2s in 2026 and you are trying to select a program for their use from the start of 2027, go to the 'Year 3' heading below for more detail.

Foundation Year/Prep/Transition (Level A)

Recommendation:
Run Level A of the EMP

Year 1 (Choosing between Level A and Level B)

Recommendation:
Run Level B of the EMP unless a student has a specific learning difficulty with regards to mathematics.

Level B includes specific bridging resources for students entering the program at this level. This will help to smooth the transition for any students who are commencing Level B without having completed Level A.

Year 2 (Choosing between Level B and Level C)

Recommendation:
Run Level C of the EMP unless a student has a specific learning difficulty with regards to mathematics*.

Level C includes specific bridging resources for students entering the program at this level. This will help to smooth the transition for any students who are commencing Level C without having completed Level A or B.

*Exceptions:
The exception to the above recommendation could be if students do not have a diagnosed learning difficulty but they are clearly operating at around 2 years below level and if you would classify these children as 'at risk'. In such cases, consider the following:

For success in Level C, students must come into Level C with the following competencies:

  • Write all numerals
  • Count a collection (of up to 9) and record as a numeral
  • Count on one from any single-digit number
  • Count on by 1, 2, or 3 from any single-digit number
  • Count back by 1, 2, or 3 from any single-digit number
  • Count by 1s to 30
  • Count by 10s to 100

These are core competencies because, when possessed, they will enable a student to successfully commence the bridging resources for Level C and prepare them for success in lessons on topics such as the addition and subtraction algorithms (with and without re-grouping), making and saying 3- and 4-digit numbers, and learning about multiplication and place value.

For students within this 'at risk' category:

Recommendations overview for at risk students:
The placement test marking scheme provides a pass/fail indication for each of the seven core competencies. Based upon these results, we suggest the following courses of action:

  • Student passes all core competencies → Implement Level C
  • Student does not pass all core competencies but you have the ability to run targeted intervention with them at your school → you can do Level C with the bridging course PLUS specific and targeted intervention
  • Student does not pass all core competencies → do Level B

Year 3 (Choosing between Level C and Level D)

The placement test for students entering Year 3 assesses the following 3 core competencies:

  • Write 4-digit numbers (dictation activity)
  • Add 2-digit numbers with regrouping
  • Subtract 2-digit numbers with regrouping

These are core competencies because, when possessed, they will enable a student to successfully commence Level D and prepare them for success in lessons on topics such as reading and writing 6-digit numbers, addition and subtraction of large numbers, and solving a variety of worded problems.

To determine the appropriate level for Year 3 students:

Recommendations overview:
The placement test marking scheme provides a pass/fail indication for each of the three core competencies. Based upon these results, we suggest the following courses of action:

  • If a student can complete all three core competencies → implement Level D
  • If a student does not pass all core competencies but you have the ability to run targeted intervention with them at your school → you may also implement Level D and provide additional intervention targeted to missing skills. The level of support required will depend upon students' gaps. Intervention should be skillfully carried out by a trained professional and may need to be high intensity and multiple times per week
  • If a student does not pass all core competencies and you do not have resources for specific and targeted support → implement Level C

Also of note is that, built into the marking scheme are fluency benchmarks providing classifications of:

  • Fluent pass
  • Non-fluent pass
  • Non-pass

In cases of a non-fluent pass, we suggest that you run additional fluency practice with students. This is available to the schools through the empschools Resource Hub, included as part of the EMP program.

Year 4 (Choosing between C, D and E)

EMP strongly suggests that, as a general rule, Year 4 students who have not completed Level D in Year 3 commence the program with Level D (remembering that this program covers the vast majority of Year 4 curriculum outcomes).

For students who are particularly low, we suggest running the Year 3 placement test to determine whether level C may be a better option.

There are some cases in which an exception is appropriate and a Year 4 student who has not undertaken any prior EMP levels could commence at Level E. We suggest that it is likely that this would only be relevant for a very small subset of students and in this case we recommend running the Year 4 placement test with just these higher-achieving students.

The placement test for high-achieving students entering Year 4 assesses these 3 core competencies:

  • Fluency in all four operations
  • Worded problems
  • Fraction knowledge

The Level E program is notably challenging, commencing the year by diving straight into long division, expecting high levels of conceptual and procedural understanding of fractions (including expression as mixed numbers and improper fractions) and building on significant work previously done on single-step word problems to build into multi-step word problems.

To determine the appropriate level for a high-achieving Year 4 student:

Recommendations overview:
The placement test marking scheme provides a pass/fail indication for each of the three core competencies. Based upon these results, we suggest the following courses of action:

  • If a student can complete all three core competencies → implement Level E
  • If a student does not pass all core competencies → Implement Level D

Also of note is that, built into the marking scheme are fluency benchmarks providing classifications of:

4 tests:
  • 30 Qs each
  • 1 min each
 + and × problems − and ÷ problems
Fluent pass 29–30 29–30
Non-fluent pass 15–28 10–28
Non-pass less than 15 less than 10

In cases of a non-fluent pass, we suggest that you run additional fluency practice with students. This is available to the schools through the empschools Resource Hub, included as part of the EMP program.

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