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Report Overview
Summary of Alignment & Usability: Common Core Coach | Math
Math 3-5
The instructional materials reviewed for Common Core Coach Suite Grades 3-5 do not meet the expectations for alignment to the CCSSM. In Gateway 1, Grade 5 partially meets the expectations for focus and coherence, but Grades 3 and 4 do not meet the expectations for focus and coherence. In Gateway 2, Grade 5 does not meet the expectations for rigor and mathematical practices, and Grades 3 and 4 were not reviewed for Gateway 2 because they do not meet expectations in Gateway 1. The instructional materials were not reviewed for Gateway 3 because they do not meet expectations for alignment to the CCSSM.
3rd Grade
View Full ReportEdReports reviews determine if a program meets, partially meets, or does not meet expectations for alignment to college and career-ready standards. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Alignment (Gateway 1 & 2)
Materials must meet expectations for standards alignment in order to be reviewed for usability. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Usability (Gateway 3)
4th Grade
View Full ReportEdReports reviews determine if a program meets, partially meets, or does not meet expectations for alignment to college and career-ready standards. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Alignment (Gateway 1 & 2)
Materials must meet expectations for standards alignment in order to be reviewed for usability. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Usability (Gateway 3)
5th Grade
View Full ReportEdReports reviews determine if a program meets, partially meets, or does not meet expectations for alignment to college and career-ready standards. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Alignment (Gateway 1 & 2)
Materials must meet expectations for standards alignment in order to be reviewed for usability. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Usability (Gateway 3)
Math 6-8
The instructional materials reviewed for Common Core Coach Suite Grades 6-8 do not meet the expectations for alignment to the CCSSM. In Gateway 1, Grade 8 partially meets the expectations for focus and coherence, but Grades 6 and 7 do not meet the expectations for focus and coherence. In Gateway 2, Grade 8 does not meet the expectations for rigor and mathematical practices, and Grades 6 and 7 were not reviewed for Gateway 2 because they do not meet expectations in Gateway 1. The instructional materials were not reviewed for Gateway 3 because they do not meet expectations for alignment to the CCSSM.
6th Grade
View Full ReportEdReports reviews determine if a program meets, partially meets, or does not meet expectations for alignment to college and career-ready standards. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Alignment (Gateway 1 & 2)
Materials must meet expectations for standards alignment in order to be reviewed for usability. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Usability (Gateway 3)
7th Grade
View Full ReportEdReports reviews determine if a program meets, partially meets, or does not meet expectations for alignment to college and career-ready standards. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Alignment (Gateway 1 & 2)
Materials must meet expectations for standards alignment in order to be reviewed for usability. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Usability (Gateway 3)
8th Grade
View Full ReportEdReports reviews determine if a program meets, partially meets, or does not meet expectations for alignment to college and career-ready standards. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Alignment (Gateway 1 & 2)
Materials must meet expectations for standards alignment in order to be reviewed for usability. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Usability (Gateway 3)
Report for 6th Grade
Alignment Summary
The instructional materials reviewed for Common Core Coach Suite Grade 6 do not meet the expectations for alignment to the CCSSM. In Gateway 1, the instructional materials do not meet the expectations for focus because they do not spend at least 65% of instructional time on the major work of the grade, and they do not meet the expectations for being coherent and consistent with the Standards. Since the materials do not meet expectations for focus and coherence, they were not reviewed for rigor and the mathematical practices in Gateway 2.
6th Grade
Alignment (Gateway 1 & 2)
Usability (Gateway 3)
Overview of Gateway 1
Focus & Coherence
The instructional materials reviewed for Common Core Coach Suite Grade 6 do not meet the expectations for focus and coherence in Gateway 1. The instructional materials do not assess topics before the grade level in which the topic should be introduced, but the materials do not spend at least 65% of instructional time on the major work of the grade. The instructional materials do not meet the expectations for being coherent and consistent with the Standards as they partially have: supporting content that enhances focus and coherence by engaging students in the major work of the grade; consistency with the progressions in the Standards; and coherence through connections at a single grade.
Gateway 1
v1.0
Criterion 1.1: Focus
The instructional materials reviewed for Common Core Coach Suite Grade 6 meet the expectations for not assessing topics before the grade level in which the topic should be introduced.
Indicator 1A
The instructional materials reviewed for Common Core Coach Suite Grade 6 meet expectations that they assess grade-level content. The Grade 6 suite includes one summative assessment that contains 50 multiple choice questions and five domain assessments, found in the Digital Assessment blade. Each assessment contains 20 to 25 questions. The suite also contains Performance Tasks for each domain, found in the Print-Only Assessment blade. The Common Core Support Coach component includes two end-of-year summative practice tests, and the Common Core Performance Coach component has summative Domain Reviews. Finally, the suite also includes separate summative assessments that are labeled as PARCC summative assessments.
There is one above grade-level assessment item, but it could be modified or omitted without a significant impact on the underlying structure of the instructional materials:
- Common Core Performance Coach print only assessment in Domain 3 Question 5 part C: Students determine if an equation represents the content of a given table. “A taxicab charges a fixed fee plus an additional rate per mile driven. The table below shows the total cost of the taxicab ride for different distances. The equation C = 5d + 1.25 represents the situation. True/False” The equation given is a two-step equation in the form of px + q = r (7.EE.3). In Grade 6, students solve equations in the of form x + p = q (6.EE.7).
In general, assessments contain grade-level content questions. For example:
- Digital Assessment, Domain Assessment for Ratios and Proportional Relationships, Question 21: Students find the total amount of money raised in a fundraiser by the entire school given a part and a percent of the amount raised by one class (6.RP.3c).
- Digital Assessment, Domain Assessment for Expressions and Equations, Question 3: Students identify the dependent and independent variables given a graph of the time it took a person to run a given distance (6.EE.9).
- Digital Assessment, Domain Assessment for Geometry, Question 2: Students find the area of a given triangle (6.G.4).
Criterion 1.2: Coherence
The instructional materials reviewed for Common Core Coach Suite Grade 6 do not meet the expectations for students and teachers using the materials as designed devoting the large majority of class time to the major work of the grade.
Indicator 1B
The instructional materials reviewed for Common Core Coach Suite Grade 6 do not meet expectations for spending a majority of instructional time on major work of the grade. Overall, approximately 57 percent of instructional time is spent on major work.
Common Core Coach Suite contains three components: Common Core Coach, Common Core Support Coach, and Common Core Performance Coach. “The Coach products are designed to provide a flexible instructional pathway that fits your classroom needs.” As such, the Implementation and Pacing Guide provides suggested activities and minutes for each day but leaves the decision to the teacher as to which students work with Common Core Support Coach and Common Core Performance Coach on any given day.
Calculations were based on the Implementation and Pacing Guide provided for the Common Core Coach Suite. Since all students work with the Common Core Coach but do not necessarily work with Common Core Support Coach and Common Core Performance Coach, the evaluation of major work in Common Core Coach, and supporting work connected to major work, is most representative of the instructional materials.
- Common Core Coach contains 38 lessons, approximately 22 of 38 lessons focus on major work or support the major work of the grade (57 percent).
- Lessons are allocated to last between three and six days and are broken into 20-30 minutes of core instruction using Common Core Coach and 10-20 minutes of differentiation through Common Core Support Coach and Common Core Performance Coach. According to the Implementation and Pacing Guide, students can spend the following minutes on major work of the grade or work that supports the major work of the grade:
- In Common Core Coach, approximately 2770 minutes out of 4244 (roughly 65 percent of the time) is spent on major work or work that supports major work.
- In Common Core Support Coach, approximately 1300 minutes out of 1755 (roughly 74 percent of the time) is spent on major work or work that supports major work.
- In Common Core Performance Coach, approximately 1295 minutes out of 1790 (roughly 72 percent of the time) is spent on major work or work that supports major work.
The amount of lessons focused on major work of the grade or work that supports the major work of the grade is the most appropriate calculation for these materials. The flexibility of the Common Core Support Coach and Common Core Performance Coach cannot be used to determine how much time or how many lessons any student would spend in these materials.
Criterion 1.3: Coherence
The instructional materials reviewed for Common Core Coach Suite Grade 6 do not meet the expectations for being coherent and consistent with the Standards. The instructional materials partially have: supporting content that enhances focus and coherence by engaging students in the major work of the grade; consistency with the progressions in the Standards; and coherence through connections at a single grade.
Indicator 1C
The instructional materials for Common Core Coach Suite Grade 6 partially meet expectations that supporting work enhances focus and coherence simultaneously by engaging students in the major work of the grade. Throughout the Common Core Coach Suite of books, standards are taught in isolation from other standards. Connections between supporting work and major work standards of the grade are absent from the materials.
Lessons are organized sequentially by domain and follow the organization of the standards. For example, all lessons aligned to the Ratios and Proportional Relationships domain are grouped and taught in the sequence reflected in the Common Core Standards. The Teacher’s Manual does not provide explicit connections to major work; however, some natural connections are made.
Examples of natural connections that are made within the materials:
- Common Core Coach Lesson 9 focuses on dividing whole numbers using the standard algorithm (6.NS.2). This lesson supports the major work standard of 6.RP.3b by requiring students to solve word problems involving unit rates. Question 21: “Kristy bought a car for $26,424. She is paying for the car with 36 equal monthly payments. How much is each payment?”.
- Common Core Coach Lesson 11 focuses on multiplying and dividing decimals (6.NS.3). This lesson supports the major work standard 6.RP.3b by requiring students to solve word problems involving unit rates. Question 26: “Ming bought 9.8 gallons of gas for $37.73. How much did she pay per gallon?”
Examples of missed opportunities for connections within the materials:
- Common Core Coach Lesson 12 focuses on the greatest common factor and least common multiple of two whole numbers (6.NS.4). This lesson does not connect to 6.EE.3 as it does not allow students to create equivalent expressions. In the teacher materials, Example B states, “To prove that 6 is indeed the greatest common factor, tell students to attempt to rewrite the expression 54 + 12 by using 9 or 12 as the distributive factor. Each time, students should see that only one of the resulting addends is a whole number, signifying that 9 and 12 are not common factors to both 12 and 54.”
- Common Core Coach Lesson 28 focuses on finding the volume of Rectangular Prisms (6.G.2). Question 18: “A display case is shaped like a cube. Each side of the display case is 8 1/2 inches long. What is the volume of the display case?” This question does not connect to 6.EE.7 which includes writing and solving equations for real-world problems. Students are only required to find the volume or missing dimension of a rectangular prism within the lesson.
Indicator 1D
The instructional materials for Common Core Coach Grade 6 do not meet expectations that the amount of content designated for one grade level is viable for one year.
The Pacing and Implementation Guide for the Common Core Coach Suite states that the instructional materials can be completed in 164 days.
- There are 40 minutes of instruction each day as follows:
- 20-30 minutes using Common Core Coach, and
- 10-20 minutes using Common Core Support Coach or Common Core Performance Coach (differentiated for students as needed).
- There are 38 Lessons listed in the Pacing and Implementation Guide, the Teacher’s Manual, and the Student Book. Lessons range from 3-6 instructional days including time to complete the fluency pages in the Appendix.
- There are two review days and two assessment days for each of the five domains and an additional two review days and two assessment days at the end of the year, for an additional 24 instructional days.
Common Core Coach Suite provides an insufficient number of problems to complete in the time allotted for lessons. Teachers would need to make significant supplementation and modifications for the program materials to be viable for one school year. For example:
- Standard 6.RP.3 is addressed in Common Core Coach Domain 1: Ratios and Proportional Relationships. The lessons are designed to be delivered over five instructional days. However, there is an insufficient amount of work for the time allocated.
- Common Core Coach Student Edition Lesson 3 Tables of Equivalent Ratios includes 10 problems.
- Common Core Support Coach Lesson 4 contains four problems.
- Common Core Performance Coach Lesson 2 contains eight problems.
- Standards 6.NS.5, 6.NS.6a, and 6.NS.6c are addressed in Domain 2: The Number System over four days of instruction:
- Common Core Coach Student Edition Lesson 13 Locating Positive and Negative Integers on a Number Line contains 24 problems.
- Common Core Support Coach Lesson 7 Locating Rational Numbers on the Number Line contains 11 problems.
- Common Core Performance Coach Lesson 11 Understanding Positive and Negative Integers consists of 11 problems.
Indicator 1E
The instructional materials for Common Core Coach Suite Grade 6 partially meet expectations for the materials being consistent with the progressions in the standards. In general, the materials develop according to the grade-by-grade progression of the standards, and the majority of the content from prior or future grades is identified in all three components of the material and is used to support the progressions of the grade-level standards. However, the materials do not provide students with extensive work with grade-level problems, and the materials do not meet the full intent of the standards.
Common Core Coach Suite materials typically identify content from prior and future grades, although specific standards are not always indicated. Examples of ways that the materials identify these materials include:
- Common Core Coach Mathematics 6 Teacher’s Manual contains a “Lesson Progression Map” at the start of each of the domains which “offers a visual progression of lesson content across grades” showing the connections between prior and future lessons to the current grade-level standard being developed in each lesson.
- Every lesson in the Common Core Coach Mathematics 6 Teacher Edition has a section called, “Before the Lesson.” This section often directs the teacher in a review of prerequisite skills needed for the lesson. However, it does not state from which standards the skills are taken.
- The Common Core Coach Progressions Booklet found in the “Tools and Glossaries” section of the online Student Edition states, “Domain Progressions are displayed for each domain, providing a clear visual roadmap of how new content builds upon content from previous grade levels and domains, and connects to future domains.”
- Common Core Support Coach Teacher Edition includes a “Foundational Understanding” section for each lesson which aligns both previous and current grade-level standards.
- Common Core Performance Coach Teacher Edition references prior work in different places, although specific standards are not referenced.
Common Core Coach Suite does not attend to the full intent of the grade-level standards and does not provide students extensive work with grade-level problems. For the most part, standards are addressed in one lesson. Examples that show how the materials do not attend to the full intent of the grade-level standards include:
- Standard 6.RP.3b Solve unit rate problems including those involving unit pricing and constant speed. This is addressed in one lesson in each component of the Common Core Coach Suite:
- In Common Core Coach Lesson 4 Problem Solving Using Unit Rates, students are guided to solve unit rate problems by creating and solving one-step equations using inverse operations. Students check their answers by substituting the calculated value back into the original equation, using tape diagrams and a double number line. Students do not have opportunities to demonstrate meeting the intent of this standard independently.
- In Common Core Performance Coach Lesson 3 Solving Unit Rate Problems, example problems 1 and 3 include ratio reasoning using tape diagrams. Six of 12 practice problems include ratio reasoning. Ratio reasoning is a critical component in Grade 6 mathematics and is the foundation for both algebra and functions. The materials do not provide students with opportunities to demonstrate ratio reasoning sufficiently and independently. In addition, students are not given opportunities to use other strategies or explain the strategies they chose.
- In Common Core Support Coach Lesson 5 Solving Problems with Unit Rates, Example A uses a representation to show a unit rate. Examples B and C use equations. The “Power Up” examples A and B and two practice problems use tables to show how equivalent ratios can be used to find the unit rate. The “Ready to Go” example uses equations to solve unit rate problems. There are not a sufficient number of problems for students to develop independent mastery of unit rate.
- Standard 6.G.1 Find the area of right triangles, other triangles, special quadrilaterals, and polygons by composing into rectangles or decomposing into triangles and other shapes; apply these techniques in the context of solving real-world and mathematical problems.
- Common Core Coach Lesson 27 Finding the Area of Triangles and Quadrilaterals: three examples show how to compose and decompose polygons into triangles and rectangles to find area of polygons. The majority of the practice problems provide diagrams that are already decomposed with dotted lines, and there are few opportunities for students to decompose polygons independently.
- Example from the Problem Solving section: “Erik drew the diagram to the right of his irregularly-shaped garden to find its total area. What is the area of Erik’s garden?” The diagram includes dotted lines that decompose the figure for the students. Students fill in blanks to find the final answer: “Use the formula for the area of a ______ to find the area of the bottom part. Area = ____ x ____ (Substitute values for b and h.)”
- Common Core Coach Lesson 27 Finding the Area of Triangles and Quadrilaterals: three examples show how to compose and decompose polygons into triangles and rectangles to find area of polygons. The majority of the practice problems provide diagrams that are already decomposed with dotted lines, and there are few opportunities for students to decompose polygons independently.
Indicator 1F
The instructional materials for Common Core Coach Suite Grade 6 partially meet expectations that materials foster coherence through connections at a single grade, where appropriate and required by the standards. Materials are clearly shaped by domain headings, but some important connections between two or more domains or clusters are missed.
Common Core Coach Suite contains three components: Common Core Coach, Common Core Support Coach, and Common Core Performance Coach. Lessons in Common Core Coach and Common Core Performance Coach are grouped by domain. CCSSM standards alignment can be found in the Table of Contents of the Teacher Edition for each component of the suite and also in a CCSS Correlation Chart that identifies which lessons address specific standards. Most lessons in the suite address one standard.
Examples of lessons in Common Core Coach shaped by domain headings include:
- Domain 1: Ratios and Proportional Relationships: Lesson 2 Understanding Unit Rate (6.RP.2).
- Domain 2: The Number System: Lesson 9 Dividing Whole numbers (6.NS.2).
- Domain 4: Geometry: Lesson 27 Finding the Area of Triangles and Quadrilaterals (6.G.1).
In the teacher manual the Lesson Progression Maps describe how the domains from previous and future grades connect to domains within the current grade. The majority of the lessons address standards in isolation. Some lessons contain natural mathematical connections between standards. Review sections for each domain contain problems related to the respective domain and are not cumulative across domains.
Examples of how materials make natural connections:
- Common Core Coach Lesson 25 Dependent and Independent Variables: 6.EE.6 and 6.EE.9 are connected as students write and solve one-variable equations in order to represent and analyze quantitative relationships between dependent and independent variables.
- Common Core Support Coach Lesson 17 Volume: 6.NS.1 and 6.G.2 are connected as students multiply fractional side lengths to find the volume of right rectangular prisms as well as solve real-world volume problems involving fractional sides.
However, the materials miss important natural connections. For example:
- Common Core Coach Lesson 18 Problem Solving: Using the Coordinate Plane: plotting rational numbers in the coordinate plane is practiced to find distances between points (6.NS.8). The student materials include the following question, “Each unit on the coordinate plane below represents one mile. The ordered pair for Luke’s house is (4,-3). Leah’s house is west of Luke’s house. Luke and Leah live 9 miles apart. What ordered pair represents Leah’s house?” Guidance in the teacher materials states, “Plot the point for Leah’s house 9 units west of Luke’s house. Plot a point at (4, -3) for Luke’s house.” There is no connection made to (6.RP.3a) in which students analyze proportional relationships.
- Common Core Coach Lesson 25 Dependent and Independent Variables: The relationship between dependent and independent variables is taught using equations (6.EE.9). Problem 2 reads, “The table shows the relationship between the number of quarts, q, and the number of cups, c. Write the equation to model the relationship. Which is the independent variable? Which is the dependent variable?” There is not a connection made between these variables and 6.RP.1, which is prerequisite to the Grade 7 concept of the constant of proportionality.