7th Grade Report Overview

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 7 meet the expectation for alignment to the Common Core State Standards. For focus, the instructional materials meet the criteria for the time devoted to the major work of the grade. Also, the majority of the chapters and the respective days allocated in the timeline align to the major work of this grade. For coherence, supporting work is clearly connected to the focus of the grade and is done so in a meaningful way. Coherence is also evident in the instructional materials including problems and activities that serve to connect two or more clusters in a domain and that connect two or more domains in a grade. The Grade 7 materials are coherent and consistent with the standards. The instructional material meets the expectations for the criterion of rigor and balance with a perfect rating. Within the concept-development sections of each lesson, the mathematical topic is developed through understanding as indicated by the standards and cluster headings. Procedural skill and fluency are evident, with an abundance of examples and computation activities which stress fluency in conjunction with the skill. Application of the mathematical concepts is abundant throughout each module. In the instructional materials, the three aspects are balanced within the lessons and modules. The instructional materials also meet the expectations for the criterion of practice-content connections. They meaningfully connect Standards for Mathematical Content and Standards for Mathematical Practice. However, weaknesses were noted in identifying the latter and in attending to the full meaning of each practice standard. Overall, the instructional materials meet the quality expectations for alignment to the Common Core State Standards.