7th Grade - Gateway 3

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 7 meet the expectations that materials are well-designed and take into account effective lesson structure and pacing.

There are six units of study that are designed around plays and short stories that provide a magnified view of characters responding to conflict. Each unit is divided into sub-units that contain lessons. Lessons follow a predictable guided instruction design and have a suggested pacing of 45 to 60 minutes per lesson. There is a Lesson Brief document provided for teachers that helps teachers understand the layout of each lesson. Each lesson launches with a “Vocabulary Activities” section that centers on the Vocabulary App, a “self-guided and adaptive means of learning new vocabulary,” that “introduces students to words that are integral to understanding the texts and key concepts in each unit.” Lessons include whole class, partner or small group, and individual practice with the intended outcomes through the “Present," “Introduce," “Connect Text," and “Discuss” cards. The “Wrap Up” and “Exit Ticket” cards close the class with a review of the lesson and a formative assessment. The “Solo” card provides students with independent practice based on the learning outcomes for the day. Opportunities to differentiate instruction for individual students are available through the lesson. Each unit also includes Flex Days: The Flex Days provide an opportunity for students to receive regular instruction on needed grammar.

Examples of unit set-up, structures, suggested timings, and sub-units include, but are not limited to: 

• In Unit 7A, "Red Scarf Girl & Narrative," Sub-unit 1, Lesson 1, teachers are instructed to launch the lesson with the following instructions in mind:
• This first lesson is an introduction to the type of learning, interactions, and underlying principles that around which the Amplify curriculum was designed.
• The lesson activities enable students to get to know each other better, help the class learn to navigate the lesson structure in a low-stakes environment, and engage students with some key classroom principles.
• The lesson also allows the teacher to accommodate a variety of initial classroom configurations.
• After delivering a short introductory talk, this playful take on the typical “first-day-of-school" lesson helps establish classroom principles.
• These principles will appear all jumbled (and you will appear to be surprised). You will then guide your students through a series of word games to reveal the three essential classroom principles and then to experience that principle in action.
• In the 7B Unit, “Character & Conflict,” the lesson structure for each lesson appears in the Lesson at a Glance Compilation for the unit of the section as follows:
• Vocabulary Activities
• Class Activities - Download text
• Classwork - Visuals
• Reading Selection of first text
• Reading - Selection of next text
• Writing
• Class Share
• Exit Ticket
• Solo
• Lessons within the 6B Unit and sub-units include:
• Sub-Unit 1: "Sucker" - Lesson 1: "The room was mine and I used it as I wanted to."
• Sub-Unit 2: A Raisin in the Sun: Lesson 1: Meet the Younger Family
• Sub-Unit 3: Dreams Deffered: Lesson 1: "Harlem"
• Sub-Unit 4: Write an Essay: Lesson 1: Essay First Steps
• Sub-Unit 5: Character and Conflict Unit Reading Assessment: Lesson 1: Character and Conflict Reading Assessment
• In Unit 7C, “Brain Science,” Sub-unit 3, Lesson 3, Activity 2, teachers are asked to launch the lesson in the following manner: 
•  Introduce Activity by playing Visual Neglect video. 
• Give students time after the video is over to write down their responses.
• Replay the video at least one more time to see if students notice anything new.”
• In Unit 7E, “The Frida and Diego Collection,” Sub-unit 4, Lesson 4, teachers are given preparation instructions to help them prepare for the lesson. 
• Plan to put students in small groups and assign each group a text (text options are listed in Materials). 
• Have chart paper ready.

The materials reviewed for Grade 7 meet the criteria that the teacher and student can reasonably complete the content within a regular school year, and the pacing allows for maximum student understanding.

The teacher and students in Grade 7 can reasonably complete the content within a regular school year, and the pacing allows for maximum student understanding. The Amplify ELA materials include core lessons for 180 days of instruction as well as an extensive amount of supplementary materials that teachers can use at their discretion to support and enrich that experience. Additional instructional experiences have also been created for students to use independently. Working with the pacing guide, teachers see how the biggest parts of the program, units, Quests, and major assessments, can be scheduled over the 180 days of instruction. 

Some examples of this include, but are not limited to:

• Within the “Planning Your Year” section of the “Program Guide," the “Pacing and Flexibility” section provides the following information, “Most of the Amplify ELA lessons are designed as a carefully sequenced series of experiences that build students’ skills in order to master the grade-level CCSS for ELA/Literacy. Teachers should follow the lessons, one by one, in most units, using Amplify’s formative assessment tools to decide when they can speed up or when they need to slow down. These lessons are generally described as taking around 45-60 minutes, but teachers should monitor student progress, looking in the instructional guide to find out what sorts of mastery to look for before moving on from activity to activity. Certain lessons will span more than one 45-minute block. And most lessons contain enough activities to explore with students for an extended double literacy block if the teacher has that option.”
• In Unit 7A, “Red Scarf Girl and Narrative,” Sub-unit 2, Lesson 1, pacing breaks the following way, “Library Navigation (7 min). Students practice using List and Search functions to find books in the library. Introduce: Your Point of View (6 min) Students identify their perspective about one food to begin to understand a writer's point of view. Try It On: Point of View (3 min) Students note details they find disgusting to explore their point of view. Discuss: Analyzing an Image (2 min) Students examine a photo to identify the precise details that show point of view. Observe Details (3 min) Students create and analyze photographs to explain how the details convey feelings. Write (12 min) Students use the precise observations they've identified to convey their "disgusted" point of view. Share (12 min) Students give their classmates feedback about a specific place in their writing that made an impact on them. Present: Eating Something Really Disgusting! (3 min) Students watch people react to a disgusting taste test.”
• In Unit 7C, “Frida and Diego Collection,” teachers are instructed with four lessons to cover sub-unit 1 “Information Literacy”. The first lesson is Evaluating Sources Part 1, the second lesson is Evaluating Sources part 2, the third lesson is Avoiding Plagiarism and the fourth is a flex day. The instructions for flex day explain that teachers will offer “opportunities for students to revise an existing piece of writing, create a new piece of writing, develop reading fluency, practice close reading and discussion, or work visually with complex texts.”

The materials reviewed for Grade 7 meet the criteria that the student resources include ample review and practice resources, clear directions, and explanation, and correct labeling of reference aids (e.g., visuals, maps, etc.)

There are clear, step-by-step directions and explanations for both teachers and students for every phase of the teaching and learning process. Supplemental materials are provided for each lesson and are well-labeled and organized. Each lesson also references the standards addressed and the goal. Throughout most lessons, there are numerous formative assessments built-in to the lesson activities to monitor progress and check for understanding. Each lesson begins with “Vocabulary Activities” that provide differentiated vocabulary support and ends with “Wrap-up” which is a formative assessment that allows students and teachers to monitor learning progressions. “Solo” assignments at the end of lessons provide progress check-ins and practice for standardized testing. Unit assessments gauge the abilities of students to apply what they are learning over the course of the unit by reading, understanding, and expressing their knowledge of a complex grade-level text. Within the lesson plan structure, activities are scaffolded and structured in such a way that students have ample opportunities to practice skills. 

The program has several pieces that provide students with ample review and practice resources, specifically, “Library," “My Work," and “Misunderstanding Notebook”. When students click on the Library tab they are taken to a digital library which contains many digital texts that students can read. The My Work tab shows students copies of all of their previous work done online including those pieces with teacher feedback. Each assignment is organized in the units that have been completed. In the “Misunderstanding Notebook” students can document misunderstandings that have occurred during their learning and then connect it to a particular lesson they have studied.

Examples of resources within the materials include, but are not limited to: 

• In Unit 7A, “Red Scarf Girl and Narrative,” Sub-unit 2, Lesson 2, Activity 6, students are asked to “Think about the first time you finally were able to do something you'd never done before. Write five words to describe how it felt.” Then, they had to “describe in detail one brief moment when you were finally able to do something you’d never been able to do before. Use specific details to help your reader understand how you felt. Use this sentence starter to help you get started writing. I had a hard time learning to _______.”
• In Unit 7E, “Frida and Diego Collection,” Sub-unit 4, Llesson 4, Activity 2, students are instructed to practice their reading rate. Specifically, the directions in the activity explain that “Rate is the speed of your reading. It can be normal, fast, or slow. Read at a normal speed. The words sound better, and they are easier to understand. If you read too fast, you can make mistakes. Practicing tricky words helps your reading sound smooth, like you are talking to a friend. Then, the directions explain that students should, “Listen to the audio and follow along in the passage. Highlight words that are new to you. Read aloud the words you highlighted. Listen to the audio if you need to hear them again.”
• In Unit 7F, “The Gold Rush Collection,” Sub-unit 2, Lesson 2, Scavenger Hunt: Exploring the Collection:
• Activity 1: Vocabulary Activities - students are instructed to open the vocabulary app through the provided link. 
• Activity 2: Share with a Partner, students are instructed to collaborate with a peer to create a list.
• Activity 3: Research Scavenger Hunt 1 - students scan the digital text to determine the answers to the questions provided.
• Activity 4: Scavenger Hunt 2: Students are instructed to examine images to answer the questions.
• Activity 5: Students share what they learned digitally on the card 
• Activity 6: Students are directed to discuss their Author's Point of View through writing their responses on the digital cards, then discuss their responses whole group.
• Activity 7: Students are given a digital Exit Ticket, they are instructed to respond to the multiple choice questions.
• Activity 8: Students are prompted to read the assigned text in the Solo section and digitally answer questions using text evidence.
• Activity 9: Students are instructed in two Challenge Writing prompts, to answer digitally an informative or argumentative prompt.

The materials reviewed for Grade 7 meet the criteria that materials include publisher-produced alignment documentation of the standards addressed by specific questions, tasks, and assessment items.

For Grade 7, instructors are presented with a correlations guide that indicates all standard listed within the CCSS for ELA: Reading literature (RL), reading informational (RI), writing (W), speaking and listening (SL), and language (L). Each sub-standard has the correlated lessons identified with focus “cards” and lessons that most strongly support that standard.

When viewing individual lessons standards appear under the “Focus Standards” section of the Prep portion of the Lesson Guide and the “Other Standards Addressed in This Lesson” section. For “cards” providing opportunities to specifically focus on a standard, there is a “Standards” tab and the focus standard for the activities on that card are identified. For the Unit Assessments a Teacher Rationale document aligning “questions to specific grade level standards and standard strands” is provided.

Examples of this include, but are not limited to:

• In each unit, once teachers click on the Unit Overview page, they scroll down below the unit icons to the section labeled “Planning for the Unit”. Then, they click on the standards button and all the standards for each of the lessons are listed. For example in the 7A unit “Red Scarf Girl and Narrative” sub unit 4 lesson 4, the focus standards are:
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.7.1--Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.7.1---Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.7.6---Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate.
• The other standards addressed in the lesson are
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.7.6---Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how the author distinguishes his or her position from that of others.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.7.9.B--Apply grade 7 Reading standards to literary nonfiction (e.g., "Trace and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is sound and the evidence is relevant and sufficient to support the claims").
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.7.10---Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.”
• In Unit 7C, “Brain Science,” Print Edition, students are asked to read the non-fiction text “Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science by John Fleischman”. After reading the text, Sub-unit 1, Lesson 1 is presented called “The Tamping Iron and the Skull”. On the right hand side of the page, the words “Lesson 1” can be seen and underneath that the standard for the lesson is listed “Standard RI.7.2.”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 7 meet the criteria that 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 Teacher Edition provides numerous support materials in multiple formats. The materials can be accessed digitally or in a print version. There are Unit Overviews for each unit and Lesson Guides for each individual lesson.The Unit Overviews provide tips on contracting the unit when necessary, the reading and writing assignments within the unit, applications to be used, differentiation, and assessment information. Additional teacher references are available with standards, vocabulary, and supplemental texts. Within the Lesson Guides, teachers will find an overview of the lesson, the preparation necessary, the objective, key vocabulary, skills and standards addressed, and methods of differentiation.

Examples of materials available to teachers include, but are not limited to:

• In Unit 7A, “Red Scarf Girl and Narrative,” there are instructions for teachers to explain to students how to log in to the curriculum. For each of the web browsers that students/teachers could have, there is a list of steps provided that explain to students how to log into Amplify. Once students have logged in the directions in the teacher edition explain to “select the Student Status icon to view your class and select Start Class. Use the activity numbers and names to direct students in this Welcome lesson.”
• In Unit 7B, “Character & Conflict,” Sub-unit 3, Lesson 2, the Lesson Brief provides the teacher an overview of the lesson, the objective, skills and standards, differentiation strategies, and required preparation. In the Preparation section, additional opportunities to “enhance students’ connections to the lesson” are provided for the teacher to review prior to the lesson. Supplements include additional reading-- an article and a poem, a photograph, and possible discussion points. The teacher may choose to use any of the activities.
• In Unit 7D, “Poetry & Poe,” Sub-unit 3, guidance for implementing the Quest: Who Killed Edgar Allan Poe? Is provided. Teachers are instructed to become familiar with the Quest and the accompanying teacher guide and student materials. The Teacher Guides provides teachers with an overview, necessary preparation, and the steps in completing the Quest with students. The Teacher Guide also houses a Student View so the teacher can troubleshoot issues the students may have. 
• In Unit 7E, “The Frida & Diego Collection,” Sub-unit 1, Lesson 3, there is a teacher-only activity provided in the teacher edition to help educators prepare for talking to students about plagiarism. Specifically the instructions state that “Before class, research online for real-life examples of plagiarism or reuse. One example that students may find relatable is the case between musicians Sam Smith and Tom Petty. Sam Smith’s song “Stay With Me” was found to have a number of similarities to Tom Petty’s song “I Won’t Back Down.” There are multiple articles online that discuss the issue and exactly how the music in the two songs compares. Students can listen to both songs and consider if they sound alike and can also compare the notes of both songs against each other. The similarity in chords is also a powerful way of introducing students to patchwork plagiarism (discussed in Activity 5), in that it demonstrates how much similarity between two works is considered too much.”

The materials reviewed for Grade 7 meet the criteria that materials contain a teacher’s edition that contains full, adult-level explanations and examples of the more advanced literacy concepts so that teachers can improve their own knowledge of the subject, as necessary.

The Program Guide provides a pedagogical approach to assist teachers in establishing a classroom where students thrive in every area, academically, socially, emotionally, as well as developing age-appropriate skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking. 

The Program Guide Pedagogical Approach gives teachers steps in order to design a well-balanced classroom, supporting the needs of all learners. For example, in the Critical Collaboration and Engagement section, it states that it gives students lessons that immerse them in close reading activities and cognitively challenging work that engages them with collaborative, digital and project based learning opportunities. 

In the Program Guide Integrated Approach Targeted Objectives section, it states that it guides students with working through the text using key standards. While reading analytical texts, using evidence based writing, and academic discussion to support their ideas. Text at the center supports teachers in using complex and diverse texts that develop students skills in middle school and beyond.

Examples of materials provided to teachers for their advancement in the subject area include, but are not limited to:

• In Unit 7D, “Poetry and Poe,” Sub-unit 1, Lesson 2, students read and analyze the poem “A narrow fellow in the grass” by Emily Dickinson. This lesson asks students to identify moments of imagery in the poem. A resource is provided for teachers that goes through the entire poem and shows teachers examples of imagery along with the possible response of the students. 
• In Unit 7F, “The Gold Rush Collection,” Sub-unit 4, Lesson 2, students prepare for a Socratic Seminar over texts centering on the California Gold Rush. Students are asked to prepare a list of guidelines for participating in the discussion. To assist teachers with this task, in the teacher’s guide there are suggested rules for both speaking and listening.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 7 meet the criteria that materials contain a teacher’s edition that explains the role of the specific ELA/literacy standards in the context of the overall curriculum.

The Teacher Edition explains the role of specific ELA/literacy standards within every individual lesson, sub-unit and unit as a whole. In addition, there is a Common Core State Standards correlations guide for each grade level and a Common Core State Standards Unit Level Standards Alignment document where educators can see the standards at a glance for each unit. 

Examples of explanations of the role of specific standards includes, but are not limited to:

• In Unit 7C, “Brain Science,” the Unit Overview identifies key reading and writing skills as well as the type of texts to be studied. An explanation of how the unit supports the overall goals of the curriculum and how the unit builds on the other units is also provided. For example, “In the Brain Science unit, students explore a series of informational texts that expose the intricate workings of the brain, challenge their concept of what it means to be human, and help them consider how their own growing brains are impacted by their daily experiences.” The Overview continues to explain the types of texts they will be reading, the skills they will be learning, and the overall goals for the unit. An additional Skills and Content section lists the types of reading and skills to be addressed in the unit.
•  In Unit 7F, “The Gold Rush Collection,” the Grade 7 Curriculum Map explains that “students explore primary documents and conduct independent research to better understand the complex story of the California gold rush.” The Unit Summary goes on to discuss how students will “construct their own research questions and explore the Internet for answers” and that students will participate in a Socratic seminar to discuss the gold rush and “the complicated issues” that surround it. The writing requirements and culminating research assignment for the unit are also outlined.

The materials reviewed for Grade 7 meet the criteria that materials contain explanations of the instructional approaches of the program and identification of the research based strategies.

The Program Guide provides explanations of the instructional approaches of the curriculum as well as the research based strategies included. The Amplify materials have been created based on research around the developmental needs of middle-grade students including their learning, cognition, and how they develop literacy skills.

The guide lists five research-based pillars: 

1. A focus on middle grade engagement recognizes that middle grade students thrive when they are given collaborative, social and experiential learning opportunities that provide exploratory curricula using varied and diverse teaching approaches.
2. Text at the center focuses on providing text that is high quality. The curriculum includes text that promotes a range of cultures and experiences that include a variety of texts that appeal to culturally diverse students. Reading, Writing and Vocabulary are emphasized in the Amplify curriculum. Students are engaged in close reading - the intensive analysis of high quality texts, “in order to come to terms with what it says, how it says it and what it means.” This emphasis is a key component of college and career readiness. Amplify also believes that strong writing instruction improves reading comprehension and fluency. Students write routinely for an authentic audience and are given frequent writing prompts to interpret and paraphrase the texts they are reading. Vocabulary knowledge plays a critical role in reading comprehension and overall success and should include frequent, varied, direct, and contextualized exposures to words and extended in-depth instruction in definitonal and contextual information and word learning strategies. They also include encounters with Tier Two vocabulary. 
3. High expectations and strong supports meet students where they are, while ensuring grade-level rigor. Differentiated instruction is the core instructional model that Amplify uses to provide six levels of activities, designed to support a range of students from ELL, special needs and advanced students. Amplify uses scaffolds such as text previews, word banks, guiding questions and graphic organizers to support reading comprehension.
4. Active, multimodal, and collaborative learning is the focus of Amplify’s curriculum, since research suggests that active engagement is key and that students thrive when classroom activities are social and varied. Amplify ELA employs a variety of pedagogical styles, multimodal instruction, and ample opportunity for student collaboration. Varied teaching styles are used across Amplify ELA’s curriculum - Explicit instruction, Active learning, Multimodal instruction Collaboration as well as Effective constructivist learning environments all these teaching styles are incorporated into Amplify’s curriculum in order to support middle grade learners.
5. Feedback and assessment Amplify ELA curriculum incorporates many opportunities for students to receive feedback on their work. Utilizing formative assessment students are provided with feedback about their work. Regular feedback is critical for teachers and students to monitor their performance.”

The materials reviewed for Grade 7 meet the expectation that materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that genuinely measure student progress.

There are varied opportunities for teachers to use both formative and summative assessments that genuinely measure student progress. All of the information can be found in the Assessment document in the Resources section of the curriculum.

For formative assessments in writing, students’ writing skills are automatically scored by Amplify’s Automatic Writing Evaluator, using a 0–4 rubric score, although this can be changed by the teacher. For reading, teachers can view individualized reports. “This daily measure provides teachers with an understanding of their students’ ability to independently read a grade-level text with accuracy." Finally, teachers can assign exit tickets for each lesson as a quick assessment of student learning on that day. There are also several summative assessments throughout each unit and grade level. These include unit reading assessments, writing assessments and end-of-unit assessments. 

Examples include, but are not limited to: 

• Within each lesson, students engage in writing assignments related to the text they just read. According to the assessment documentation, “The work students submit is scored and measures their ability to produce sustained writing, focus on one claim or idea, use textual evidence to support and develop that idea or use conventions to communicate in a clear way.”
• The Assessment document also indicates, “at the end of every lesson, students complete an independent reading activity (“solo”) that measures the accuracy of their answers to auto-scorable reading questions. . .in addition, the reports show where students struggled in the reading, giving teachers and students an opportunity to revisit those portions of the text.”
• Several summative assessments are located in the program that teachers can assign to their students, including unit reading assessments connected to grade level standards. There are also writing assessments, including one extended response question focused on two nonfiction passages, and end-of-unit essays which cover a range of topics and take multiple days to complete.

The materials reviewed for Grade 7 meet the criteria that assessments clearly denote which standards are being emphasized.

Within each unit, several sub-units divide a unit’s texts and skills into manageable learning goals. Each unit overview contains a list of the focus standards as well as the other standards that are covered during instruction. 

Examples of how standards being taught are emphasized include, but are not limited to:

In Unit 7A, “Red Scarf Girl and Narrative,” Sub-unit 4, students have to write an essay as a part of their final assessment. The standards that are covered by this assessment are listed in the unit overview under the subheading “Lesson Standards”. Specifically, these are the standards addressed in Lesson 1--Focus on the body paragraph:

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.7.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.7.5 With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of Language standards 1–3 up to and including grade 7 here.)
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.7.4Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1–3 above.)
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.7.9 Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.7.10 Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.7.4 Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 7 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.7.5 Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.7.6 Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases; gather vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.

The materials reviewed for Grade 7 meet the criteria that assessments provide sufficient guidance to teachers for interpreting student performance and suggestions for follow up.

The assessment brochure provided by the publisher list the variety of ways for teachers to interpret student performance and provide suggestions for follow up. 

Some examples of this are, but are not limited to:

• Students submit their work at multiple places in each lesson including reading responses and selected response items that check for reading comprehension. Data from students responses is populated into reports that indicate if students are comprehending what they are reading. Writing skills are automatically scored by Amplify’s Automatic Writing Evaluator using a 0–4 rubric score, but can also be updated by the teacher.
• On page 7 of the assessment brochure it explains how “at the end of every lesson, students complete an independent reading activity (“solo”) that measures the accuracy of their answers to auto-scorable reading questions. This daily measure provides teachers with an understanding of their students’ ability to independently read a grade-level text with accuracy. It also gives teachers a picture of progress and challenge with reading comprehension, particularly when a student is working with the same text over multiple lessons. In addition, the reports show where students struggled in the reading, giving teachers and students an opportunity to revisit those portions of the text.”
• On page 8 of the assessment brochure it discusses the feedback that can be received from the unit reading assessments. In addition, it explains how “the assessment report generates data tied to the most common domains found in standards: Key Ideas and Details, Craft and Structure, and Integration of Knowledge and Ideas”

The materials reviewed for Grade 7 meet the criteria that materials should include routines and guidance that point out opportunities to monitor student progress.

In the lessons, teachers are able to monitor student progress through the use of formative assessments in the form of Lesson Exit Tickets, Solo Reading Comprehension, Formative Writing also Embedded Assessment Measures that includes auto-scored reading activities. Additional progress monitoring takes place through the use of summative assessments in the form of essays, constructed and selected response questions.

Examples of routines and guidance include, but are not limited to:

• In Unit 7A, Red Scarf Girl, Narrative Lesson 2: Ji-li’s Troubles Begin, Exit Ticket. In Activity 9, students demonstrate understanding of how Ji-li's point of view is different from, yet related to, her family's perspective.
• In Sub-unit 4, the students demonstrate their comprehension of the text through writing. "Students draft a second body paragraph about the moment when they noticed a change in Ji-li and describe the text details that illustrated this change." Then they revise. "Students revise their writing to further explain their strongest or most relevant pieces of evidence."
• In Unit 7D, “Poetry & Poe,” Lesson 7: Flex Day 2, Write, Connect Two Texts, students create a new piece of writing connecting two texts. "Invite students to create a new piece of writing where they make connections between two texts. You might ask students to connect the core text to a related article, story, or poem."
• In Sub-unit 2: Lesson 4, Solo Comprehension Questions: "1. Describe one moment in 'The Tell-Tale Heart' where you think the narrator DOES NOT 'know he was doing what was wrong.' 2. Describe one moment in 'The Tell-Tale Heart' where you think the narrator DOES 'know he was doing what was wrong.'"

The materials reviewed for Grade 7 meet the criteria that materials provide teachers with strategies for meeting the needs of a range of learners so the content is accessible to all learners and supports them in meeting or exceeding the grade-level standards.

The strategies for the program are well-documented in the Amplify ELA Research base. In addition, there are specific strategies to help teachers reach all learners including: differentiated instruction, formative assessments, scaffolded tasks, and a variety of active, multimodal and collaborative learning.

Examples include, but are not limited to: 

• According to page 5 of the Amplify ELA Research base document that can be found in the Resources section of the Amplify ELA curriculum, “Amplify ELA meets students where they are while maintaining grade-level rigor for all. Through its differentiated instruction model, the curriculum is designed to 'provide equity of access to excellence for the broadest possible range of learners' (Tomlinson, 2015, p. 203)." The document goes on to explain that “this approach follows Vygotsky’s model of support by ensuring that each student is working within their ‘zone of proximal development,’.... In this way, all students are able to work with texts at their grade-band level of complexity and fully participate in classroom culture….Amplify provides six levels of differentiated activities, indicated by a (+) icon in the lessons. For each level of differentiated instructional support, teachers are provided with instructional materials and students are provided with the scaffolds they need in order to complete each classroom activity.”
• According to pages 7 and 8 of the Amplify ELA Research base document found in the Resources section, there are several different considerations addressed in the curriculum to support all learners, including explicit instruction, active learning, effective learning environment, multimodal instruction, and collaboration.
• On page 9 of the Research base document, there are descriptions of various routines wherein students work together to tackle complex tasks including breaking off into pairs or small groups to analyze texts, compare interpretations, and refine their understanding of the texts. During writing activities, students frequently share their work with peers and provide one another with constructive feedback. Additionally, student-led activities such as Quests, Reader’s Theatre, fishbowl discussions, Socratic seminars, and debates all involve groups of varying sizes and tap into students’ innate need for social interaction. These collaborative activities are situated as part of the classroom culture as determined by the materials.
• Every lesson has a “Differentiation” tab within the “Lesson Brief” to guide the teacher through the differentiation strategies and techniques available for that particular lesson. Differentiation tips are provided for “Core” students who are on-level and other specific materials for students who are below-level. Tips range from ensuring ensure that the appropriate technology-based accommodations are available to alternate activities within a lesson. For example, if there is an alternate “Solo” available, the “Differentiation” tab will identify and explain the modification and support provided on the alternate version of the “Solo” in contrast to the regular one.

The materials reviewed for Grade 7 meet the criteria that materials regularly provide all students, including those who read, write, speak, or listen below grade level, or in a language other than English, with extensive opportunities to work with grade level text and meet or exceed grade-level standards.

The materials provide six levels of differentiated activities, indicated by a (+) icon in the lessons. For each level of differentiated instructional support, teachers are provided with instructional materials and students are provided with the scaffolds they need in order to complete each classroom activity. These supports and modifications are designed to support a range of English Learners and students with special needs. In addition to these differentiated lessons, they also have reading comprehension support, text previews written with simplified language, and other strategies to support students in their comprehension. Embedded in each unit are Flex Days, these are days that allow students to catch up or move ahead with a variety of activities, including Quests, vocabulary, and language work. Students can work on revisions during these days as well, although there is limited specific support for teachers to assure implementation of this differentiation.

The Program Guide entails how the Amplify curriculum provides ELL supports that allows teachers to provide ELL students access to grade level content that their peers are able to access. The supports are designed to “maintain academic rigor and high cognitive demand while scaffolding to support learners at different language levels.” The supports for ELL are available throughout the curriculum and include Vocabulary App, word banks, chunked directions and prompts, reduced amount of text, sentence frames to provide language conventions and support reading comprehension, and graphic organizers. 

Example include, but are not limited to:

• Students have Flex Days as they move through the units. The rationale for the day (which repeat no matter what grade level or unit a teacher is in) explain that “The Flex Days are an opportunity for you to provide students with needed grammar instruction and also support additional practice in a targeted area of reading, writing, or language. Depending on students’ performance during the previous sequence of lessons, you might assign a particular group to work on reading fluency, revise an existing piece of writing, create a new piece of writing, practice close reading and discussion, or work on one of the key reading strands.”
• Each lesson has a “Solo” activity requiring students to independently read a grade level text, usually one of the core texts, and answer numerous questions. The “Solo” activities are differentiated based on discretion and the Embedded Assessment Measure (EAM) report. Students complete “Solo” activities at the level appropriate for their unique needs. There are five levels ranging from "ELL/Substantial" to "Challenge." The writing prompts within the “Solo” activities are also structured with the assigned level. The “Instructional Guide” and “Lesson Briefs” provide teacher guidance as to the differentiation within each level of each activity.
• On page 6 of the Amplify ELA Research Base document which can be found in the Resources section of the Amplify curriculum, the authors explain how the curriculum has “text previews as well as varying degrees of simplified language and visual supports for each of its differentiation levels. Text previews are not summaries of texts but rather introductions written at a lower level of complexity that prime students with what to focus on while they are reading.”
• On page 7 of the Amplify ELA Research Base document which can be found in the Resources section of the Amplify curriculum, there are several supports that are specific to EL learners. For example, the “EL-specific supports include think-alouds, simple Wh- questions, and additional partner work. For EL students, the provision of a think-aloud allows them to model their own thinking within a new language and to build the skills of code switching appropriately while reading complex, grade-level tasks…... Additionally, there is ample research supporting the inclusion of verbal instructional practices for ELs. Amplify ELA therefore includes many verbal experiences for EL students to increase their language acquisition skills to provide a rich educational experience. Last, ELs receive alternative vocabulary instruction during typical instruction time, to include important high frequency words that will appear in texts and may be familiar to native speakers but unfamiliar to ELs.”

The materials reviewed for Grade 7 meet the criteria that materials regularly include extensions and/or more advanced opportunities for students who read, write, speak, or listen above grade level.

The Flex Days, included in every unit, provide time for advanced students to read from the Amplify library and expand vocabulary and language knowledge through the vocabulary app. In addition to these days, there are supplemental texts available in the Amplify library that provide additional reading and engagement for advanced learners. The instructional materials include extensions and advanced opportunities throughout, as well as a Challenge level designed for advanced students.

Examples include, but are not limited to:

• According to page 5 of the Amplify ELA Research Base document, the approach to vocabulary instruction supports above grade-level instruction by allowing the teacher to adjust portions of the program to reflect more challenging tasks.

The Challenge level extensions provide opportunities for advanced students to engage in more sophisticated comparisons of text, create counterarguments, find evidence to support both sides of an argument, or to extend their thinking about a text or topic. Additionally, advanced students are given challenging writing prompts, asking them to read a new text and explain how it compares to what they have been reading and learning.”

• On page 59 of the Program Overview guide, there is a comprehensive overview of the Challenge Level. In addition to differentiated prompts in the challenge level that push students past the core prompt, there are extra activities at the end of many lessons that challenge students to read a new text and form a written analysis. The novel guides for each of the texts read in the curriculum provide reading questions and writing prompts that are an additional layer of challenge. There are two other activities that students can pursue on the challenge level. Finally, there are 17 curated archives that focus on a challenge for independent study. These include topics that are close to the texts being studied. 

The materials reviewed for Grade 7 meet the criteria that materials provide opportunities for teachers to use a variety of grouping strategies.

Within the lessons, students have many opportunities to work in groups, and teachers are provided with guidance on how to organize students. Teachers are encouraged to group students by many different categories including ability, proximity etc. with times for both teacher-selected groupings as well as student-selected groupings.

For example, in Unit 7E, “The Frida and Diego Collection,” Sub-unit 2, Lesson 2, students review what they have learned about Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. The directions ask students to “Work with a partner to create a list of a few new facts you discovered about Frida Kahlo or Diego Rivera in the last lesson or in your reading last night.” Pairings are student-selected.