The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 7 do not meet the expectations for focus on major clusters. The Grade 7 instructional materials do not spend the majority of class time on the major clusters of the grade.

The Common Core State Standards to Book Correlation (pages xx-xxiv) and the Book to Common Core State Standards Correlation (page xxv) were used to identify major work, as well as the first page in each chapter which includes Common Core progression information, a chapter summary, and a pacing guide (and related online pages). The pacing guide provides the number of days to spend on each section in the chapter as well as days for review and assessment. This guide was used to determine the number of instructional days allotted by the publisher for each standard found in the major work of the grade. The lessons containing major work were reviewed for alignment to each of the identified standards. Reviewers also examined all lessons with standards identified by the publisher as non-major work to ensure that these lessons did not contain enough material to strengthen major work.

All percentages are below 65 percent and were calculated to reflect the chapters, lessons, and instructional time spent on major work:

• The materials devoted approximately 60 percent of chapters to major work of the grade (Chapters 1 through 6). If over 50 percent of a chapter addressed major work, then the chapter was counted as major work.
• 56 percent of lessons (29 out of 52) were dedicated to major work. Lessons 7.5, 10.2, and 10.3 were not identified as major work by the materials but were found to have enough examples and problems connected to major clusters 7.RP and 7.NS. Some lessons identified as major work were below grade-level and were not counted as major work even if identified by the publisher. These lessons include 1.1, which is identified by the publisher as “Preparing For” grade-level standards, and 2.1, 6.1, and 6.2 for addressing work with rational numbers which align to 6.NS and 6.RP standards.
• 59 percent of instructional days (90 out of 154) were spent on lessons aligned to major work. Days were counted based on the recommendation of the pacing guide in the beginning of each chapter for all lessons reviewers found aligned to major work.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 7 do not meet the expectation for having materials that are consistent with the progressions in the Standards. Materials are not intentionally written to follow the progressions of the grade-level as few lessons are identified as work from prior grade-levels, and there are no lessons identified to connect Grade 7 work to the work of future grades. General explanations for how lessons are related to prior knowledge are present. Materials do not give all students extensive work with grade-level problems.

The materials do not develop according to the grade-by-grade progressions in the standards. Content from prior or future grades is not clearly identified and related to grade-level work.

• Explanations of Common Core Progressions are given at the beginning of each chapter connecting both Grade 5 and 6 level work to the Grade 7 work students will encounter in each of the chapters. These connections to below grade-level work are presented as bulleted lists of skills and are not aligned to specific standards.
• Math Background Notes include vocabulary review as well as a general explanation of the most important skills and understandings from the prior grade-level(s). For example, in Chapter 3 the notes instruct teachers to review key words and order of operations to evaluate expressions, but the prior grade-level standards require a flexible view of simplifying and generating equivalent expressions. Other examples include:
  • Chapter 2: LCM review before performing operations with rational numbers (page T-43)
  • Chapter 4: Specific work with Grade 6 level inequalities and comparing rational numbers is explained before writing, graphing and solving inequalities.

• The first page of each chapter is “What You Learned Before.” The teacher page adjacent to this page identifies the CCSS addressed, which is usually from a previous grade-level, but no explanation of what connects this previous material to the upcoming lessons is included.
• Once into the chapter, teachers can see previous skills being reviewed, but there is only one identification by the textbook.
  • In section 1.1, a review of Grade 6 work with absolute value is presented and identified as preparing for 7.NS.1, 7.NS.2, 7.NS.3
  • A review of Grade 6 work with rational numbers occurs in section 2.1, but it is identified as learning 7.NS.2b, 7.NS.2d.
• Content of future progressions beyond the current grade-level are not identified in the materials nor are these lessons accompanied by an explanation of the progressions.
  • Students find slope of a line in 5.5, but the material does not identify this lesson as Grade 8 content.

The materials do not give all students extensive work with grade-level problems. The majority of the problems in the exercises require students to produce an answer or solution. There are open-ended, reasoning, and critical thinking items which allow students to engage in grade-level work that meets the depth of the standard in most cases. These opportunities to engage in extensive grade-level problems are provided for all students only if they are given the opportunity to access all of them.

• An assignment guide is provided in each lesson that levels students into basic, average, or advanced. These charts exclude the “basic” learner from the reasoning and critical thinking problems. These problems are critical for all students in order for them to reach the depth of the standard in many of the lessons.
  • For example in section 2.3, both average and basic learners are excluded from item 27, an open-ended problem that requires students to fill in two different negative values to make an equation true. Item 28, which requires students to make generalizations about the structure of rational numbers, is also not listed as an opportunity for average or basic learners (7.NS.1).
  • Many lessons contain explanations in “Laurie’s Notes” of a specific homework problem and how “Taking Math Deeper” can apply to that problem. Usually it is a simple task that can get to the depth of a standard; however, it is rarely part of the Basic Assignment. If students are only assigned Basic or Average Level Assignments, they will often not engage with the problems reaching the full depth of the standard.

The materials do not relate grade-level concepts explicitly to prior knowledge from earlier grades.

• Each chapter begins with a What You Learned Before page just before the first lesson. These pages contain problems for students from prior grade levels and/or chapters found earlier in the materials. Connections to specific grade-levels or standards are not identified.
• Laurie’s Notes are found in each lesson. In the margin of these notes for instruction, specific Grade 7 standards that will be addressed are identified. Most of them contain a Previous Learning section that describes prior knowledge students should possess before engaging in the lesson, but again they are not explicit about the particular grade-level or standard tied to the skills or understanding needed. For example, in section 5.2 the Previous Learning states, “Students have written and simplified ratios.” Neither the specific CCSS standards nor the grade-level is stated.

Overall, explicit connections to prior knowledge are made at a very general level through the chapter and lesson features in this series. Connections are not clearly articulated for teachers and are merely lists of skills without indication of standards, clusters, or domains. There is not a clearly defined progression for teachers to demonstrate how prior knowledge is being extended or developed.