8th Grade - Gateway 3
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Usability
Gateway 3 - Meets Expectations | 81% |
|---|---|
Criterion 3.1: Use & Design | 8 / 8 |
Criterion 3.2: Teacher Planning | 7 / 8 |
Criterion 3.3: Assessment | 6 / 10 |
Criterion 3.4: Differentiation | 10 / 12 |
Criterion 3.5: Technology |
Criterion 3.1: Use & Design
Use and design facilitate student learning: Materials are well designed and take into account effective lesson structure and pacing.
The instructional materials reviewed for Agile Mind Grade 8 meet expectations that the materials are well designed and take into account effective lesson structure and pacing. Overall, materials are well-designed, and lessons are intentionally sequenced. Students learn new mathematics in the Exploring section of each Topic as they apply the mathematics and work toward mastery. Students produce a variety of types of answers including both verbal and written answers. The Overview for the Topic introduces the mathematical concepts, and the Summary highlights connections within and between the concepts of the Topic. Manipulatives such as algebra tiles and virtual algebra tiles are used throughout the instructional materials as mathematical representations and to build conceptual understanding.
Indicator 3a
The underlying design of the materials distinguishes between problems and exercises. In essence, the difference is that in solving problems, students learn new mathematics, whereas in working exercises, students apply what they have already learned to build mastery. Each problem or exercise has a purpose.
The instructional materials reviewed for Agile Mind Grade 8 meet the expectation for having an underlying design that distinguishes between problems and exercises.
Each Topic includes three sections: Overview, Exploring, and Summary. The Overview section introduces the mathematical concepts that will be addressed in the Topic. The Exploring section includes two to four explorations where students learn the mathematical concepts of the Topic through problems that include technology-enhanced animations and full-class activities. The Summary section highlights the most important concepts from the Topic and gives students another opportunity to connect these concepts with each other.
Each Topic also includes three additional sections: Practice, Assessment, and Activity Sheets. The Practice section includes Guided Practice and More Practice. Guided Practice consists of exercises that students complete during class periods and give opportunities for students to apply the concepts learned during the explorations. More Practice contains exercises that are completed as homework assignments. The Assessment section includes Automatically Scored and Constructed Response items. These items are exercises to be completed during class periods or as part of homework assignments. They provide more opportunities for students to apply the concepts learned during the explorations. The Activity Sheets also contain exercises, which can be completed during class periods or as part of homework assignments, that are opportunities for students to apply the concepts learned during the explorations.
Some Topics also include MARS Tasks, which are exercises that present students with opportunities to apply concepts they have learned from the Topic in which the MARS Task resides or to apply and connect concepts from multiple Topics.
Indicator 3b
Design of assignments is not haphazard: exercises are given in intentional sequences.
The instructional materials reviewed for Agile Mind Grade 8 meet the expectation for having a design of assignments that is not haphazard with problems and exercises given in intentional sequences.
The sequencing of Topics, and explorations within the Exploring section for each Topic, develops in a way that helps to build students’ mathematical foundations.
The Topics are comprised of similar content.
Within the explorations for each Topic, problems generally develop from more simple to more complex problems and incorporate knowledge from prior problems or Topics, which offers students opportunities to make connections among mathematical concepts. For example, solving systems of linear equations in Topic 12 incorporates and builds upon solving individual linear equations from Topic 11.
As students progress through the Overview, Exploring, and Summary sections, the Practice (Guided and More), Assessment (Automatically Scored and Constructed Response), and Activity Sheets sections are placed intentionally in the sequencing of the materials to help students build their knowledge and understanding of the mathematical concepts addressed in the Topic.
The MARS Tasks are also placed intentionally in the sequencing of the materials to support the development of the students’ knowledge and understanding of the mathematical concepts that are addressed by the tasks.
Indicator 3c
There is variety in what students are asked to produce. For example, students are asked to produce answers and solutions, but also, in a grade-appropriate way, arguments and explanations, diagrams, mathematical models, etc.
The instructional materials reviewed for Agile Mind Grade 8 meet the expectation for having a variety in what students are asked to produce.
Throughout a Topic, students are asked to produce answers and solutions as well as explain their work, justify their reasoning, and use appropriate models. The Practice section and Automatically Scored items include questions in the following formats: fill-in-the-blank, multiple choice with a single correct answer, and multiple choice with more than one correct answer. Constructed Response items include a variety of ways in which students might respond, i.e. multiple representations of a situation, modeling, or explanation of a process. Also, the types of responses required vary in intentional ways. For example, concrete models or visual representations are expected when a concept is introduced, but as students progress in their knowledge, students are expected to transition to more efficient solution strategies or representations.
Indicator 3d
Manipulatives are faithful representations of the mathematical objects they represent and when appropriate are connected to written methods.
The instructional materials reviewed for Agile Mind Grade 8 meet the expectation for having manipulatives that are faithful representations of the mathematical objects they represent and, when appropriate, are connected to written models. The materials include a variety of virtual manipulatives, as well as integrate hands-on activities that allow the use of physical manipulatives.
Most of the physical manipulatives used in Agile Mind are commonly available: ruler, patty paper, graph paper, algebra tiles, and graphing calculators. Due to the digital format of the materials, students also have the opportunity to represent equations or functions virtually with tables and graphs. Each Topic has a Prepare Instruction section that lists the materials needed for the Topic. Manipulatives accurately represent the related mathematics. For example, Topic 15 Exploring Volume, students use physical geometric models to explore finding the volumes of various solids along with having interactive, virtual models of the same shapes.
Indicator 3e
The visual design (whether in print or online) is not distracting or chaotic, but supports students in engaging thoughtfully with the subject.
Criterion 3.2: Teacher Planning
Teacher Planning and Learning for Success with CCSS: Materials support teacher learning and understanding of the Standards.
The instructional materials reviewed for Agile Mind Grade 8 meet expectations that materials support teacher learning and understanding of the standards. The instructional materials provide Framing Questions and Further Questions that support teachers in delivering quality instruction, and the teacher’s edition is easy to use and consistently organized and annotated. The materials provide full, adult-level explanations and examples of the more advanced mathematics concepts in the lessons so that teachers can improve their own knowledge of the subject. Although each Topic contains a list of Prerequisite Skills, this list does not connect any of the skills to specific standards from previous grade levels, so the instructional materials partially meet the expectation for explaining the role of the specific grade-level mathematics in the context of the overall mathematics curriculum.
Indicator 3f
Materials support teachers in planning and providing effective learning experiences by providing quality questions to help guide students' mathematical development.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 8 meet the expectation for supporting teachers in planning and providing effective learning experiences by providing quality questions to help guide students' mathematical development. The Deliver Instruction section for each Block of a Topic includes Framing Questions for the start of each lesson. For example, in Topic 12 Block 3 the Framing Questions are: “What do we mean by a 'solution' to a system of equations? How would solve these systems?” During the lesson the Deliver Instruction section includes multiple questions that teachers can ask while students are completing the activities. At the end of each lesson, Deliver Instruction includes Further Questions. For example, in Topic 12 Block 5 “Could we have solved the two equations modeling the tickets in terms of d? What would the equations have been? If so, what would the solution have looked like?”
Indicator 3g
Materials contain a teacher's edition with ample and useful annotations and suggestions on how to present the content in the student edition and in the ancillary materials. Where applicable, materials include teacher guidance for the use of embedded technology to support and enhance student learning.
The instructional materials reviewed for Agile Mind Grade 8 meet the expectation for containing a teachers edition with ample and useful annotations and suggestions on how to present the content in the student edition and in the ancillary materials. Also, where applicable, the materials include teacher guidance for the use of embedded technology to support and enhance student learning.
The materials contain Professional Support which includes a Plan the Course section and a Scope and Sequence document. The Plan the Course section includes Suggested Lesson-planning Strategies and Planning Resources. Each Topic contains an Advice for Instruction section that is divided into Prepare Instruction and Deliver Instruction. For each Topic, Prepare Instruction includes Goals and Objectives, Topic at a Glance, Prerequisite Skills, Resources, and Language Support, and for each Block within a Topic, Deliver Instruction includes Agile Mind Materials, Opening the Lesson, Framing Questions, Lesson Activities, and Suggested Assignment. In Lesson Activities, teachers are given ample annotations and suggestions as to what parts of the materials should be used when and Classroom Strategies that include questions to ask, connections to mathematical practices, or statements that suggest when to introduce certain mathematical terms or concepts.
Where applicable, the materials include teacher guidance for the use of embedded technology to support and enhance student learning. For example, in Topic 3 Block 4 teachers are directed to, “Show students the animation on page 7 that combines multiplication and division with different bases in the same problem. [SAS, question 7] Next, have students work on finding the solution for the expression on page 8. [SAS, question 8]”
Indicator 3h
Materials contain a teacher's edition (in print or clearly distinguished/accessible as a teacher's edition in digital materials) that contains full, adult-level explanations and examples of the more advanced mathematics concepts in the lessons so that teachers can improve their own knowledge of the subject, as necessary.
The instructional materials reviewed for Agile Mind Grade 8 meet the expectation for containing full, adult-level explanations and examples of the more advanced mathematics concepts in the lessons so that teachers can improve their own knowledge of the subject, as necessary.
In Professional Support, Professional Learning, there are four interactive essays entitled “Developing concepts across grades”. There is an Overview that explains the purpose of the four essays, and the topics for these four essays are Functions, Volume, Rate, and Proportionality. Each essay is accessible to teachers and not students, and the Overview states “these essays are available for educators to illustrate connections and deepen understanding around what students may have already learned, and where they are headed on their journey.” Each essay examines the progression of the concept from Grades 6-8 through Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, and beyond. By examining the progressions of the concepts beyond Algebra II, teachers have the opportunity to improve their own knowledge of more advanced mathematics concepts that build upon grade-level standards. For example, in Volume, teachers progress from packing a right, rectangular prism with unit cubes to developing the formulas for the volume of cylinders and cones to finding the volume of a figure generated by rotating a two-dimensional shape around a horizontal axis. Also, in Proportionality, teachers explore how proportional relationships are part of the following mathematical concepts: scaling images, linear functions, trigonometric ratios, rational functions, and the derivative.
In addition to “Developing concepts across grades”, the Grade 8 materials also contain a section of interactive essays entitled “Going beyond Grade 8”. There is an Overview that explains the purpose of the three essays, and the Overview states, “These essays are not intended for use with your 8th grade students; rather, they are designed to provide you with important connections and background that will support you as you help your students master 8th grade content.” The topics for these three essays are are Rate of Change, Finding the Line of Best Fit, and Trigonometric Ratios. Along with having their own section in Professional learning, each of these essays are also referenced in Deliver Instruction for the Blocks where they are appropriate under the title of Teacher Corner. For example, in Topic 9, the essay Finding the Line of Best Fit is referenced for teachers in Block 1 on pages 1-2 of Exploring Trend Lines, and in Topic 1, Trigonometric Ratios is referenced in Block 9 on page 12. The three essays connect the Grade 8 content to advanced mathematical concepts through multiple grades and courses.
In Professional Support, there is a section of Professional Essays which are in either Print or Video format. The Print essays are divided as either Curriculum or Course Management Topics, and although some of the Curriculum Essays are content specific, they do not address mathematical concepts that extend beyond the current grade. The Video Essays - categorized into Teaching with Agile Mind, More Teaching with Agile Mind, and Dimensions of Mathematics Instruction - do not directly provide adult-level explanations or examples of advanced mathematics concepts.
Indicator 3i
Materials contain a teacher's edition (in print or clearly distinguished/accessible as a teacher's edition in digital materials) that explains the role of the specific grade-level mathematics in the context of the overall mathematics curriculum for kindergarten through grade twelve.
The instructional materials reviewed for Agile Mind Grade 8 partially meet the expectation for explaining the role of the specific grade-level mathematics in the context of the overall mathematics curriculum. In the course materials for Grade 8, the specific reference to the Standards is the following statement in the Plan the Course materials: “Alignment to standards. To support the use of our Grade 8 course, you will find correlations from Agile Mind topics to your state learning standards. These alignments can be found in Course Materials.” There are no specific references within the online lesson materials as to the standards that are being taught for the courses. A Scope and Sequence is provided where the standards for each lesson are listed for each Topic.
Within Professional Support, Practice Standards Connections is provided. Also, the materials include a table for each Standard for Mathematical Practice that lists examples of where the MPs are used within the course. “The citations below are examples from the Grade 8 program that show how the materials provide students with ongoing opportunities to develop and demonstrate proficiency with the Standards for Mathematical Practice.” Teachers are able to make connections between the standards being taught and the activities and instruction for the lesson.
Indicator 3j
Materials provide a list of lessons in the teacher's edition (in print or clearly distinguished/accessible as a teacher's edition in digital materials), cross-referencing the standards covered and providing an estimated instructional time for each lesson, chapter and unit (i.e., pacing guide).
Indicator 3k
Materials contain strategies for informing parents or caregivers about the mathematics program and suggestions for how they can help support student progress and achievement.
Indicator 3l
Materials contain explanations of the instructional approaches of the program and identification of the research-based strategies.
Criterion 3.3: Assessment
Assessment: Materials offer teachers resources and tools to collect ongoing data about student progress on the Standards.
The instructional materials for Agile Mind Grade 8 partially meet exceptions that materials offer teachers resources and tools to collect ongoing data about students progress on the Standards. Opportunities for ongoing review and practice, and feedback occur in various forms. Standards are identified that align to the Topic; however, there is no mapping of Standards to items. There are limited opportunities for students to monitor their own progress, and there are no assessments that explicitly identify prior knowledge within and across grade levels. The materials include few opportunities to identify common misconceptions, and strategies to address common errors and misconceptions are only found in a few Deliver Instruction topics.
Indicator 3m
Materials provide strategies for gathering information about students' prior knowledge within and across grade levels.
The instructional materials reviewed for Agile Mind Grade 8 partially meet the expectations for providing strategies for gathering information about students' prior knowledge within and across grade levels. The materials do not provide any assessments that are specifically designed for the purpose of gathering information about students’ prior knowledge, but the materials do provide indirect ways for teachers to gather information about students’ prior knowledge if teachers decide to use them that way.
In Prepare Instruction for each Topic, there is a set of Prerequisite Skills needed for the Topic, and the Overview for each Topic provides teachers with an opportunity to informally assess students prior knowledge of the Prerequisite Skills. For example:
In Topic 15 two of the Prerequisite Skills are: “Finding the area and circumference of circles and Finding the surface area and volume of prisms and pyramids.”
Then, in the Lesson Activities for the Overview, teachers are told, “This Exploring connects to students’ prior understandings of surface area of pyramids and prisms and extends that understanding to include cylinders, cones and spheres. The formulas for surface area and volume are developed from physical models so that students are able to see and make strong connections.”
Indicator 3n
Materials provide strategies for teachers to identify and address common student errors and misconceptions.
The instructional materials reviewed for Agile Mind Grade 8 partially meet the expectation for providing strategies for teachers to identify and address common student errors and misconceptions. There is not an explicit way in which the materials help teachers identify and address common student errors and misconceptions, but there are a few instances in the Deliver Instruction where common errors and misconceptions are identified and suggestions are given for how to address them. For example, in Topic 7 Block 5 teachers are told, “A common misunderstanding that students make when working with this task (MARS Task: Squares and CIrcles) is that they graph points incorrectly, or forget to graph the points, in questions 1 and 2. If this misunderstandings occurs, ask students to re-read both parts of each prompt or ask them to explain how they determined the coordinates or location of the point they graphed.”
Indicator 3o
Materials provide opportunities for ongoing review and practice, with feedback, for students in learning both concepts and skills.
The instructional materials reviewed for Agile Mind Grade 8 meet the expectation for providing opportunities for ongoing review and practice, with feedback, for students in learning both concepts and skills. The materials provide opportunities for ongoing review and practice, and feedback occurs in various forms. Within interactive animations, students submit answers to questions or problems, and feedback is provided by the materials. Practice problems and Automatically Scored Assessment items are submitted by the students. Immediate feedback is provided letting students know whether or not they are correct, and if incorrect, suggestions are given as to how the answer can be improved. The Lesson Activities in Deliver Instruction provide some suggestions for feedback that teachers can give while students are completing the lessons.
Indicator 3p
Materials offer ongoing formative and summative assessments:
Indicator 3p.i
Assessments clearly denote which standards are being emphasized.
The instructional materials reviewed for Agile Mind Grade 8 partially meet the expectation for assessments clearly denoting which standards are being emphasized.
The pre-made assessments provided in the Assessment section align to the standards addressed by the Topic, but the individual items are not clearly aligned to particular standards. The set of standards being addressed by a Topic can be found in the Scope and Sequence document or in Course Materials through Alignment to Standards. The MARS Tasks also do not clearly denote which CCSSM are being emphasized.
Agile Assessment is an optional resource that can be licensed along with Agile Mind Grade 8, and Agile Assessment allows educators to create their own assessments by selecting from a repository of items aligned to standards and level of difficulty. Reports from assessments created with Agile Assessment denote which standard is being assessed.
Indicator 3p.ii
Assessments include aligned rubrics and scoring guidelines that provide sufficient guidance to teachers for interpreting student performance and suggestions for follow-up.
The instructional materials reviewed for Agile Mind Grade 8 partially meet the expectation for assessments including aligned rubrics and scoring guidelines that provide sufficient guidance to teachers for interpreting student performance and suggestions for follow-up. The MARS Tasks that are included in the materials are accompanied by rubrics aligned to the task that show the total points possible for the task and exactly what students need to do in order to earn each of those points. The Constructed Response items are accompanied by complete solutions, but rubrics aligned to the Constructed Response items are not included. For both the MARS Tasks and the Constructed Response items, alternate solutions are provided when appropriate, but sufficient guidance to teachers for interpreting student performance and suggestions for follow-up are not provided with either the MARS Tasks or the Constructed Response items.
Indicator 3q
Materials encourage students to monitor their own progress.
Criterion 3.4: Differentiation
Differentiated instruction: Materials support teachers in differentiating instruction for diverse learners within and across grades.
The instructional materials for Agile Mind Grade 8 meet expectations that materials support teachers in differentiating instruction for diverse learners within and across grades. Activities provide students with multiple entry points and a variety of solution strategies and representations. The materials provide strategies for ELLs and other special populations, but the materials do not always challenge advanced students to deepen their understanding of the mathematics. Grouping strategies are designed to ensure roles for each group member.
Indicator 3r
Materials provide strategies to help teachers sequence or scaffold lessons so that the content is accessible to all learners.
The instructional materials reviewed for Agile Mind Grade 8 meet the expectation for providing strategies to help teachers sequence or scaffold lessons so that the content is accessible to all learners.
Each Topic consists of three main sections- Overview, Exploring, and Summary, and these three sections are divided into Blocks. Each Block contains lesson activities including Practice, Assessment, and Activity Sheets, along with any MARS Tasks in the Topic. In each Topic, the Blocks are sequenced for the teachers, and the lesson activities within the Blocks are sequenced for the teachers. In the Advice for Instruction for each Topic, Deliver Instruction for each Block contains instructional notes and classroom strategies that provide teachers with key math concepts to develop, sample questions to ask, ways in which to share student answers, and other similar instructional supports.
Indicator 3s
Materials provide teachers with strategies for meeting the needs of a range of learners.
The instructional materials reviewed for Agile Mind Grade 8 partially meet the expectation for providing teachers with strategies for meeting the needs of a range of learners. Overall, the instructional materials embed multiple visual representations of mathematical concepts where appropriate, include audio recordings in many explorations, and give students opportunities to engage physically with the mathematical concepts.
However, the instructional notes provided to teachers do not consistently highlight strategies that can be used to meet the needs of a range of learners. When instructional notes are provided to teachers, they are general in nature and are intended for all students in the class, and they do not explicitly address the possible range of needs for learners. For example, in Topic 5, Block 1, the Deliver Instruction states “Give students the situation, either the verbal description or the graph, and give them time to see what information they can pull from it. Then, give them additional time to present that information in the opposing format. Students can usually catch on to analyzing graphs quickly, when given sufficient time initially to process important data from the graph. Ask students smaller, more specific questions about parts of a graph or situation before tackling the entire problem.”
In some explorations, teachers are provided with questions that can be used to extend the tasks students are completing, which are beneficial to excelling students. For struggling students, teachers are occasionally provided with strategies or questions they can use to help move a student’s learning forward. The Summary for each Topic does not provide any strategies or resources for either excelling or struggling students to help with their understanding of the mathematical concepts in the Topic.
Indicator 3t
Materials embed tasks with multiple entry-points that can be solved using a variety of solution strategies or representations.
The instructional materials reviewed for Agile Mind Grade 8 meet the expectation that materials embed tasks with multiple entry-points that can be solved using a variety of solution strategies or representations. Overall, tasks that meet the expectations for this indicator are found in some of the Constructed Response Assessment items and Student Activity Sheets that are a part of all Topics. MARS Tasks embedded in some Topics have multiple entry-points and can be solved using a variety of solution strategies or representations. For example, in Topic 14 Constructed Response 2 students complete a geometry puzzle called an angle network. Students are given information about a picture containing three parallel lines intersected by two transversals, and they have choices as to which information to use first and how to proceed in determining the angles measures for the angles in the puzzle. Another example is in Topic 13 Student Activity Sheet 6 Problem 11. Students create one system of linear equations for each of the following three conditions: a system with one solution, a system with many solutions, and a system with no solutions.
Indicator 3u
Materials suggest support, accommodations, and modifications for English Language Learners and other special populations that will support their regular and active participation in learning mathematics (e.g., modifying vocabulary words within word problems).
The instructional materials reviewed for Agile Mind Grade 8 meet the expectation that the materials suggest accommodations and modifications for English Language Learners and other special populations that will support their regular and active participation in learning mathematics.
The materials provide suggestions for English Language Learners and other special populations in regards to vocabulary and instructional practices. In Prepare Instruction for Topic 1, Teaching Special Populations of Students refers teachers to the Print Essay entitled “Teaching English Language Learners” in Professional Support, which describes general strategies that are used across the series such as a vocabulary notebook, word walls, and concept maps. Teaching Special Populations of Students also describes general strategies that are used across the series for other special populations, including progressing from concrete stage to representational stage to abstract stage and explicitly teaching metacognitive strategies through think alouds, graphic organizers, and other visual representations of concepts and problems.
In addition to the general strategies mentioned in Teaching Special Populations of Students, there are also many specific strategies listed across each course of the series in Deliver Instruction. In Deliver Instruction, Support for ELL/other special populations includes strategies that can be used with both English Language Learners and students from other special populations. Strategies specific to other special populations can also be found in Classroom strategy or Language strategy. An example of Support for ELL/other special populations from Topic 6, Block 3 is “Use a think-write-pair-share strategy to help ELL and those with other learning differences process the given information and the framing questions. Give time for students to individually think about the questions and time to write a response. Then pair a non-native English speaker with a native English speaker and have each student share his or her responses.” An example of a strategy for other special populations from Topic 2, Block 2, Pages 3-4 is “Classroom strategy. Students may not be familiar with bar notation used to represent repeating decimals. Take time now to review this notation. The use of technology in this case is especially important for those students with certain learning differences; it can remove barriers and allow them to access the content they need to learn.”
Indicator 3v
Materials provide opportunities for advanced students to investigate mathematics content at greater depth.
The instructional materials reviewed for Agile Mind Grade 8 partially meet the expectation for providing opportunities for advanced students to investigate mathematics content at greater depth. The problems provided in the materials are on grade level, and the materials are designed to assign most of the problems to all students. However, there are a few problems that are on grade level and not assigned to all students, and these problems could be used for advanced students to investigate mathematics content at greater depth. Examples include:
In Topic 14, Block 2, the materials provide the following assistance, %"The animation shows only one case, so you may prefer to ask the students to conduct a further exploration in the following way: Give each group of students three pieces of spaghetti and a different angle measure to explore. Ask each group to use spaghetti to construct lines cut by a transversal in such a way that one pair of corresponding angles has the measure assigned to the group. Ask the group to measure the distance between the two parallel‐line candidates. Then, ask the group to try to keep the angles congruent but make the parallel lines not be parallel. Then ask the group to shift the position of the transversal and redo the process.%"
Indicator 3w
Materials provide a balanced portrayal of various demographic and personal characteristics.
The instructional materials reviewed for Agile Mind Grade 8 meet the expectation for providing a balanced portrayal of various demographic and personal characteristics. The activities are diverse, meeting the interests of a demographically, diverse student population. The names, contexts, videos, and images presented display a balanced portrayal of various demographic and personal characteristics.
Indicator 3x
Materials provide opportunities for teachers to use a variety of grouping strategies.
Indicator 3y
Materials encourage teachers to draw upon home language and culture to facilitate learning.
Criterion 3.5: Technology
Effective technology use: Materials support effective use of technology to enhance student learning. Digital materials are accessible and available in multiple platforms.
The instructional materials for Agile Mind Grade 8 are web-based and platform neutral but do not include the ability to view the teacher and student editions simultaneously. The materials embed technology enhanced, interactive virtual tools, and dynamic software that engage students with the mathematics. Opportunities to assess students through technology are embedded. The technology provides opportunities to personalize instruction; however, these are limited to the assignment of problems and exercises. The materials cannot be customized for local use. The technology is not used to foster communications between students, with the teacher, or for teachers to collaborate with one another.
Indicator 3aa
Digital materials (either included as supplementary to a textbook or as part of a digital curriculum) are web-based and compatible with multiple internet browsers (e.g., Internet Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome, etc.). In addition, materials are "platform neutral" (i.e., are compatible with multiple operating systems such as Windows and Apple and are not proprietary to any single platform) and allow the use of tablets and mobile devices.
Indicator 3ab
Materials include opportunities to assess student mathematical understandings and knowledge of procedural skills using technology.
Indicator 3ac
Materials can be easily customized for individual learners. i. Digital materials include opportunities for teachers to personalize learning for all students, using adaptive or other technological innovations. ii. Materials can be easily customized for local use. For example, materials may provide a range of lessons to draw from on a topic.
Indicator 3ad
Materials include or reference technology that provides opportunities for teachers and/or students to collaborate with each other (e.g. websites, discussion groups, webinars, etc.).
Indicator 3z
Materials integrate technology such as interactive tools, virtual manipulatives/objects, and/or dynamic mathematics software in ways that engage students in the Mathematical Practices.