K–12 Educators

The American Statistical Association is dedicated to and involved in enhancing statistics education at all levels, including providing resources for K–12 teachers and teacher educators. Here, you will find information about classroom resources, publications in statistics education, guidelines and reports, workshops and webinars for teachers, and student competitions.

Classroom Resources

STatistics Education Web (STEW) is a free, online resource for peer-reviewed statistics lesson plans.


Census at School - U.S. is a free international classroom project that engages students in grades 4–12 in statistical problem solving using their own real data. Students complete an online survey, analyze their class census results, and compare their class with random samples of students in the United States and abroad.


What’s Going On in This Graph? is a free, weekly online feature of the ASA and New York Times Learning Network. New York Times graphs of different types and context act as a springboard for middle- and high-school students in any course (college also welcome) to think critically about graphs. On most Wednesdays from September to April, graphs are released. Students respond to three questions: What do you notice? What do you wonder? What’s going on in this graph? Teachers moderate their responses online from 9 a.m. – 2 p.m. ET. On Friday, the original article, additional questions, and “stat nuggets” —definitions of statistical terms and where they are seen in the graph—are revealed. No statistics background is necessary.


Resources for Teaching K–12 Statistics - This document includes resources from the ASA, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, and others that support the teaching of statistics and probability as covered by the Common Core State Standards and other state career and college preparation standards. Included are lesson plans, applets, videos, data sources, media, technology, teacher preparation materials, and assessment resources.


Levels of Conceptual Understanding in Statistics (LOCUS) is an NSF-funded project that developed assessments of statistical understanding across levels of development as identified in the Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education (GAISE) Report: A Pre-K–12 Curriculum Framework.


This is Statistics provides videos and resources for educators to promote the study of statistics.


Stats + Stories Podcast is a partnership of the ASA and Stats + Stories group at Miami University—a collaboration between statisticians and journalists—to produce podcasts that give the statistics behind the stories and the stories behind the statistics. To listen, visit the Stats + Stories website or iTunes.


Stats 101 Toolkit provides a series of case studies that show statistics in action. Each case starts with a real-world problem and leads the reader through the steps taken to explore the problem, highlighting the techniques used in introductory classes.


The World of Statistics offers education resources created during the 2013 International Year of Statistics.

Publications

Statistics and Data Science for Teachers provides teacher educators with a resource to guide courses and professional development when preparing teachers of all school level grade levels to teach the foundations of statistics and data science in their classrooms. In supporting the spirit of Pre-K–12 Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education II (GAISE II): A Framework for Statistics and Data Science Education, this book presents statistical ideas through investigations and engagement with the statistical problem-solving process of formulating statistical investigative questions, collecting/considering data, analyzing data, and interpreting results. Download a low-resolution version or a high-resolution version for free, and printed copies will soon be available to purchase via Amazon.


The Journal of Statistics and Data Science Education is a free online, international journal focusing on statistics and data science teaching and learning. Issues from 1993 to 2014 when the journal was called the Journal of Statistics Education (JSE) are archived along with the JSE data archive.


Statistics Teacher (ST) is a free, online journal published by the American Statistical Association (ASA) – National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Joint Committee on Curriculum in Statistics and Probability for Grades K-12. ST supports the teaching and learning of statistics through education articles, lesson plans, announcements, professional development opportunities, technology, assessment, and classroom resources.


Focus on Statistics: Investigations for the Integration of Statistics into Grades 9–12 Mathematics Classroom consists of 19 investigations to help classroom teachers implement key statistical concepts in their classrooms. Each investigation has an overview, learning goals, mathematical practice through a statistical lens, materials, instructional plans, and ideas for extensions. Focus on Statistics can be downloaded for free or purchased on Amazon for $15.99.


Bridging the Gap Between Common Core State Standards and Teaching Statistics includes 20 data analysis and probability investigations for teachers to use in their K–8 classrooms. Each investigation is based on the four-step statistical process as defined in the Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education (GAISE) Report: A Pre-K–12 Curriculum Framework. Hard copies are available to purchase or a free PDF is available to download.


The Making Sense of Statistical Studies (MSSS) student module consists of 15 hands-on investigations that help students design and analyze statistical studies. It is written for an upper-middle-school or high-school audience having some background in exploratory data analysis and basic probability. The teacher’s module includes supporting resources to help teachers use MSSS, as well as all the pages from the student module. Hard copies are available to purchase or a free PDF is available to download.


People Count! (And Their Data Stories) is a free collection of 16 lessons in which students develop, analyze, and redesign population projection models using past and present population totals by age groups to estimate future population estimates of various countries.


Significance is a magazine that demonstrates the practical use of statistics and shows how statistics benefits society. Back issues of Significance are freely available online.


CHANCE is a magazine about statistics intended for anyone who has an interest in using data to advance science, education, and society.


The Statistical Significance Series highlights the contributions statisticians make to society, from health care and the economy to national security and the environment.


The Quantitative Literacy Series is a four-part series of books with student and teacher editions written through a collaborative effort of teachers and statisticians. It is designed for use with middle- and high-school students. The books are part of an ASA project that was funded in part by the National Science Foundation. Though out of print, the books listed below are available through book resale sites.


  • Exploring Data, by James Landwehr and Ann Watkins
  • Exploring Probability, by Claire Newman, Thomas Obremski, and Richard Scheaffer
  • The Art and Techniques of Simulation, by Mrudulla Gnanadesikan, Richard Scheaffer, and Jim Swift
  • Exploring Surveys: Information from Samples, by James Landwehr, Jim Swift, and Ann Watkins

The Elementary Quantitative Literacy (EQL) Series was written by a team of elementary school teachers and statisticians to introduce the key ideas and lessons in data analysis and probability in the K–6 mathematics curriculum. Though out of print, the books listed below are available through book resale sites.


  • Exploring Statistics in the Elementary Grades, Book One, by Carolyn Bereska, L. Carey Bolster, Cyrilla H. Bolster, and Richard Scheaffer
  • Exploring Statistics in the Elementary Grades, Book Two, by Carolyn Bereska, L. Carey Bolster, Cyrilla H. Bolster, and Richard Scheaffer

Data-Driven Mathematics is a series of modules funded by the National Science Foundation and written by statisticians and mathematics teachers. Intended to complement a modern mathematics curriculum in the secondary schools, the modules offer materials that integrate data analysis with topics typically taught in high-school mathematics courses and provide realistic, real-world data situations for developing mathematical knowledge. Scanned copies of these books (the copyrights have been transferred to ASA) are freely available to download (PDF) through the following links:


Guidelines and Reports

Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education (GAISE) Report: A Pre-K–12 Curriculum Framework provides recommendations and a curriculum framework with examples for teaching statistics in the pre-K–12 years.


The Statistical Education of Teachers (SET) (PDF download) report outlines the content and conceptual understanding teachers need to know in assisting their students develop statistical reasoning skills. SET is intended for everyone involved in the statistical education of teachers, both the initial preparation of prospective teachers and the professional development of practicing teachers.


Preparing PK–12 Teachers of Statistics and Data Science: A Joint Position Statement of the American Statistical Association and National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (PDF download) details the preparation and support teachers need to successfully support students’ learning of statistics in the pre-K–12 curriculum.

Professional Development

The American Statistical Association offers free K–12 teacher meetups (via Zoom) to share resources and discuss K–12 statistics topics. Meetup topics have included the AP Statistics exam and statistics reading, assessment, applets, software resources, and lesson plans. View recordings or indicate interest in participating in future meetups and suggest topics or presenters.


K–12 Statistics Education Webinars were developed as part of the follow-up activities for the Meeting Within a Meeting Statistics Workshop for Mathematics and Science Teachers.


The Meeting Within a Meeting (MWM) Statistics Workshop for Mathematics and Science Teachers supports teaching of statistics within the Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards through conceptual understanding, active learning, real-world data applications, and appropriate use of technology.


The Beyond AP Statistics Workshop is offered for AP Statistics teachers and consists of enrichment material just beyond the basic AP syllabus.

Student Competitions

The ASA Data Visualization Poster Competition is for grade K–12 students to create a display containing two or more related graphics that summarize a set of data, look at the data from different points of view, and answer specific questions about the data.


The ASA Statistics Project Competition (written report) is for grade 7–12 students to answer a research question using statistical techniques and present the work in a written report.


The Fall Data Challenge is for high-school and undergraduate students to apply their statistical and data visualization skills to a relevant and timely topic and demonstrate the real-world impact of data.


Statsketball encourages high-school and undergraduate students to use statistics to predict results for the NCAA Basketball Tournament.


The Virtual Science Fair allows grade K–12 students to investigate an interesting topic and submit a short video highlighting their process and results.


Statistics for Science Fair Projects is a ThisIsStatistics resource to help students apply statistics to their science fair projects.


COMAP’s Mathematical Contest in Modeling (MCM) is an international competition for high-school and undergraduate students. The ASA provides the Data Insights Award for the MCM data insights problem C.


The Curtis Jacobs Memorial Prize for Outstanding Statistical Project is for middle- and high-school students in the Washington, DC, area.

 

K-12 Trial Membership
Census at School
What's Going on in this Graph?