Massachusetts Standards
Massachusetts 6th Grade Math Standards
All 29 Massachusetts math standards for 6th grade, each explained in plain English. The official wording is in Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's document, linked at the end of this page.
29 standards
Ratios and Proportional Relationships
3 standards6.RP.A.1
Explain what a ratio and its value are, telling part-to-part from part-to-whole, and describe ratio relationships in words, like 2 wings for every 1 beak.
6.RP.A.2
Explain a unit rate as the amount for one unit in a ratio, and use rate language with units, like $75 for 15 hamburgers being $5 per hamburger.
6.RP.A.3
Solve ratio, rate and percent problems with tables, tape diagrams and double number lines, including unit prices, constant speed and converting units.
The Number System
8 standards6.NS.A.1
Divide fractions by fractions, explain the quotient with models, equations, and the general rule, and solve word problems, like how many 3/4-cup servings fit in 2/3 cup.
6.NS.B.2
Divide multi-digit numbers with standard long division, quickly and accurately.
6.NS.B.3
Add, subtract, multiply and divide multi-digit decimals with the standard written method for each.
6.NS.B.4
With prime factorization, find greatest common factors of numbers to 100 and least common multiples of numbers to 12, and factor sums like 36 + 8 into 4 times 9 plus 2.
6.NS.C.5
Use positive and negative whole numbers, fractions, and decimals for opposite real quantities, like temperatures above and below zero, and explain what zero means.
6.NS.C.6
Place positive and negative numbers on a number line, know that -(-3) = 3, and plot points with negative coordinates in all four quadrants.
6.NS.C.7
Order positive and negative numbers, like -3 is warmer than -7, and read absolute value as distance from 0, so a balance of -30 is a debt of 30.
6.NS.C.8
Solve problems by graphing points in all four quadrants and find the distance between two points that line up horizontally or vertically.
Expressions and Equations
9 standards6.EE.A.1
Write and work out expressions with whole-number exponents, like 5³ = 125.
6.EE.A.2
Write and work out expressions with letters standing for numbers, like 5 - y, name their parts (terms, factors, coefficients) and follow the order of operations.
6.EE.A.3
Use the properties of operations to rewrite an expression in an equivalent form, like 3 (2 + x) as 6 + 3x.
6.EE.A.4
Tell when two expressions are equivalent because they always give the same value, like y + y + y and 3y.
6.EE.B.5
Check whether a given number makes an equation or inequality true by substituting it in.
6.EE.B.6
Use a letter for an unknown or changing number when writing an expression for a real problem.
6.EE.B.7
Solve real problems with one-step equations like x + 3 = 7 or 4x = 20, using positive whole numbers, fractions and decimals.
6.EE.B.8
Write an inequality like x > 5 for a real condition, know it has infinitely many solutions, and show them on a number line.
6.EE.C.9
Write an equation for two quantities that change together, like d = 65t for distance and time, and show the relationship in a table and a graph.
Geometry
4 standards6.G.A.1
Find the area of triangles, quadrilaterals and other polygons by splitting them into rectangles and triangles.
6.G.A.2
Find the volume of a box-shaped prism with fraction edge lengths by packing it with unit-fraction cubes, show it matches multiplying the edges, and use V = lwh and V = Bh.
6.G.A.3
Draw polygons from the coordinates of their corners and use the coordinates to find side lengths.
6.G.A.4
Unfold three-dimensional figures into nets of rectangles and triangles, use the nets to find surface area, and apply this to real-world and math problems.
Statistics and Probability
5 standards6.SP.A.1
Tell a statistical question, one with varied answers like how old are the students in my school, from one with a single answer.
6.SP.A.2
Explain that data for a statistical question has a distribution with a center like the mean, median, or mode, a spread like the range or interquartile range, and a shape.
6.SP.A.3
Know that a measure of center, like the mean or median, sums up a data set in one number, while a measure of spread tells how much the values vary.
6.SP.B.4
Show numerical data on a number line as a dot plot, histogram or box plot.
6.SP.B.5
Summarize a data set in its context, reporting how many values there are, what was measured, the mean or median, the spread and the overall shape.
The official Massachusetts documents
- Massachusetts Curriculum Framework for Mathematics, Pre-K to 12, 2017 · adopted March 2017 · current for 2026-27
The plain-English lines on this page are EMStudio's own explanations of Massachusetts's standards, not the official wording, which Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education publishes in the documents above. Codes and strand names identify each standard.