Also known as SMPs, are enumerated in the Common Core State Standards and describe varieties of expertise that math teachers should strive to develop in their students. CPM lessons are aligned to the SMPs, which can be found in the Mathematical Practices section of the Teacher Notes.

• Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
• Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
• Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
• Model with mathematics.
• Use appropriate tools strategically.
• Attend to precision.
• Look for and make use of structure.
• Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.