➗ Math apps and platforms · 🏫 Classroom tools
Illustrative Mathematics (IM Math)
By Illustrative Mathematics (nonprofit). Visit Illustrative Mathematics (IM Math)
Desk research from the maker's own pages. Not yet tried by us. Checked 2026-10-24.
IM Math is a problem-based math curriculum for transitional kindergarten through grade 12. The full curriculum, including lessons, student tasks and printable PDFs, is free online at accessim.org, and schools can also buy printed and digital versions from certified partner publishers. In class, children work on a problem first, talk about their thinking in small groups, and then the teacher pulls ideas together. Families mostly meet it through their school; parents can read the same lessons and family pages.
Our take: A solid free choice for parents who want to see or reinforce what school math is teaching, and for homeschoolers comfortable leading lessons; families wanting a self-running app should look elsewhere.
Checked in a browser
A browser check on 2026-10-25: what loads, the ads and trackers we saw, and what a child meets first. Not a hands-on test.
| Child safety: 4 out of 5 | No ads or chat; a cookie banner and many links out to partner companies and education groups. |
|---|---|
| Data: 2 out of 5 | Google's ad tag, the Facebook and LinkedIn pixels, PostHog and Google Analytics all loaded while the cookie banner was still unanswered, though no ad was shown; this home page is meant for teachers and districts. |
| Ease: 2 out of 5 | The page is written for schools and districts and a cookie banner covered the bottom; a child would not know where to start. |
| Cost honesty: 4 out of 5 | The full curriculum is free online; paid print and digital partner versions are offered alongside. |
What we found
- The first visit contacted 17 third-party hosts on 12 sites and set 11 cookies, including a LinkedIn cookie.
- Facebook (connect.facebook.net), LinkedIn (px.ads.linkedin.com), Google (pagead2.googlesyndication.com) and PostHog loaded before the Accept / Decline banner was answered.
- The page links out to 25 other sites, many of them curriculum partners.
- "Access IM Math for free" sits next to "Explore enhanced print and digital options".
From the test: A free curriculum site for teachers, not kids, and its home page loads Facebook, LinkedIn and Google ad tracking before you answer the cookie banner.
| Ages it suits | grades TK-12 (about 4-18) |
|---|---|
| What its terms say about age | Registering for an account requires being 18 or older, or using it under a parent's or guardian's supervision. IM says it does not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13; student content needs no login and is meant for classrooms with an adult present. (terms) |
| Price | Free. Free online at accessim.org (Oct 2026); printed books and enhanced digital platforms are sold by IM Certified partners at school pricing, not public. |
| Works on | Web |
| Account | No account needed |
| Ads | None |
| In-app purchases | None |
| The AI in it | No AI in the free curriculum site. |
What's good
- Whole K-12 curriculum free online
- Students need no account
- Problem-first lessons that build reasoning
- Strong independent materials ratings
Watch for
- Built for teachers; parents get little guidance on their own
- Polished print and digital versions cost schools money
- Discussion-heavy lessons are harder to do alone at home
Data and privacy
The accessim.org privacy policy says students do not need to register and the site does not collect student information or work; teachers register with name, email and school. IM says it will not sell personal information and uses Google Analytics, PostHog and similar services for traffic analysis. Read the privacy policy.
Does it work?
EdReports, an independent reviewer of curriculum materials, rates IM Math v.360 all-green (meets expectations) across K-12 for alignment and usability; that is a materials review, not a study of student results. IM's own research page describes studies it runs or invites, but we found no independent outcome study linked there.
In the Big Index
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Where these facts come from
- https://illustrativemathematics.org/
- https://illustrativemathematics.org/terms-of-use/
- https://illustrativemathematics.org/privacy-policy/
- https://accessim.org/
- https://accessim.org/privacy-policy
- https://illustrativemathematics.org/research/
Prices, terms and features change. Nobody paid to be listed, nothing here is an affiliate link, and Peabody never rates itself. Where we and the maker disagree, the maker's own pages are the ones to trust.