4th Grade - Gateway 1
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Focus & Coherence
Gateway 1 - Partially Meets Expectations | 78% |
|---|---|
Criterion 1.1: Focus | 2 / 2 |
Criterion 1.2: Coherence | 4 / 4 |
Criterion 1.3: Coherence | 5 / 8 |
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 4 Everyday Mathematics partially meet the expectations for Gateway One. Future grade-level standards are not assessed, and the materials devote a majority of the time to the major work of the grade. At times, the instructional materials connect supporting work with the major work of the grade, but often, the materials do not. Although the materials provide a full program of study that is viable for a school year, students are not always given extensive work with grade-level problems. Connections between grade levels and domains are missing. Overall, the instructional materials meet the expectations for focusing on the major work of the grade, but the materials are not always consistent and coherent with the standards.
Criterion 1.1: Focus
The Grade 4 Everyday Mathematics materials meet the expectations for not assessing topics before the grade level in which they should be introduced. All items on Unit assessments are focused on Grade 4 standards.
Indicator 1a
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 4 meet the expectations for focus within assessment. Overall, the instructional material does not assess content from future grades within the summative assessment sections of each unit.
The program allows for a Beginning-of-Year, Mid-year, End-of-Year, and Unit Assessments which assess the Grade 4 standards. There are also eight unit assessments/progress checks. The unit assessments/progress checks have portions for Self Assessment, Unit Assessment, Open Response Assessment (odd numbered units), Cumulative Assessment (even numbered units), and a Challenge. These assessments can be found in the Assessment Handbook. The Individual Profile of Progress for tracking and class progress are present in both paper (pages 104-115 in the Assessment Handbook) and digital formats. Most lessons have an Assessment Check-in that can be used as either formative or summative assessment as stated in the implementation guide.
Assessment Check-Ins are part of most lessons and mostly assess grade-level content. For example, in the teacher guide on page 182 of lesson 2-10, the Assessment Check-In focuses on 4.G.2, right angles, and gives additional questions for the students who excel.
All unit assessment items are on Grade 4 level. There are no scoring rubrics provided for the educators; however, all assessments do provide answer keys.
Criterion 1.2: Coherence
Students and teachers using the materials as designed devote the large majority of class time in each grade K-8 to the major work of the grade.
The Grade 4 Everyday Mathematics materials do meet expectations for devoting the large majority of class time to the major work of the grade level. The Grade 4 Everyday Mathematics engages students in the major work of the grade about 88 percent of the time.
Indicator 1b
Instructional material spends the majority of class time on the major cluster of each grade.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 4 meet the expectations for focus by spending the majority of the time on the major clusters of the grade. This includes all the clusters in 4.NBT and 4.NF and cluster 4.OA.A.
The Grade 4 materials do spend the majority of class time on the major clusters of the grade. Work was not calculated by units since the units spiral and are not clustered by groups of standards. There are eight units with approximately 8-13 lessons per unit. Assessment days were not included in these calculations. Additionally, each unit has a 2-day open response lesson; the open response lessons were counted as one lesson. At the lesson level, the lessons are divided into warm up, focus, and practice. Each day consists of approximately 5-10 minutes on warm up, 30-45 minutes of a focus, and 15-25 minutes of practice. To determine the amount of time on major work, the standards covered in the focus lessons were considered since that is where direct instruction takes place, and the majority of the lesson takes place during this time.
- Approximately ninety-two lessons out of the 104 are focused on the major work. This represents approximately 88 percent of the lessons.
- Eleven lessons out of the 104 are focused on the supporting work of the grade. This work was treated separately from the major work of the grade.
- One lesson out of the 104 is focused on off, grade-level work. Lesson 4-3 focuses on 5.OA.A.1, using parentheses in numerical expressions and evaluating the expressions.
- Two lessons out of the 104 focus on other content. In Lesson 1-8, students try to figure out a code for muffin orders. In Lesson 2-6, students measure two dogs with dog treats and then with paper clips.
Criterion 1.3: Coherence
Coherence: Each grade's instructional materials are coherent and consistent with the Standards.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 4 partially meet the expectations for coherence. At times, the instructional materials use supporting content as a way to continue working with the major work of the grade, but often the materials do not. For example, connections between measurement and data and major work of the grade are missed. The materials include a full program of study that is viable content for a school year, including approximately 32 weeks of lessons and assessment. Content from prior grades is not clearly identified or connected to grade-level work, and students are not always given extensive work with grade-level problems. Material related to prior, grade-level content is not clearly identified or related to grade-level work. These instructional materials are shaped by the cluster headings in the standards; however, only surface-level connections are made between domains. Overall, the Grade 4 materials partially support coherence and are not consistent with the progressions in the standards.
Indicator 1c
Supporting content enhances focus and coherence simultaneously by engaging students in the major work of the grade.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 4 partially meet expectations that supporting content enhances focus and coherence by engaging students in the major work of the grade. In some cases, the supporting work enhances and supports the major work of the grade level, and in others, it does not.
The supporting work is treated separately about half the time. There were approximately 42 of the 104 lessons which were focused on supporting work and approximately 21 of the lessons supported major work. At times, supporting content does enhance focus and coherence by engaging students in the major work of the grade. Examples of the connections between supporting work and major work include the following:
- Lesson 1-13 connects supporting standards 4.MD.1 and 4.MD.3 with 4.NBT.4 and 4.NBT.5, major work of the grade.
- Lesson 2-13 connects supporting standard 4.OA.5 with 4.NBT.4 and 4.NBT.5, major work of the grade.
- Lesson 5-9 connects supporting standard 4.MD.4 with 4.NF.3 and 4.NF.3.C, major work of the grade.
- Lesson 7-8 connects supporting standards 4.MD.1 and 4.MD.2 with 4.NBT.5 and 4.NBT.6, major work of the grade.
At times, standards listed at the beginning of each unit are logically connected to each other; however, when the specific work of the unit and lessons is examined, some connections are missed or not specifically noted for teacher or students. Also, many lessons address supporting work in isolation from major work of the grade. Examples of lessons without connections between supporting and major work include the following:
- Lesson 2-10 is focused on Classifying Triangles. The focus portion of this lesson is aligned to 4.G.2 with no explicit connection to major work of the grade.
- Of the five lessons that include Focus portions citing 4.MD.5, only one lesson, Lesson 6-11, includes a connection to major work of the grade. For example, Lesson 6-9 is focused on Measuring Angles. The lesson focuses on supporting standards 4.MD.5, 4.MD.5.A, 4.MD.5.B, and 4.MD.6.
- Lesson 7-9 includes an "Identifying Figurate Number Patterns" Math Journal worksheet that is aligned to major work 4.NBT.6, but the worksheet does not focus on finding whole-number quotients and remainders with up to four-digit dividends and one-digit divisors. The focus of this lesson is on supporting standards 4.OA.5 and 4.MD.3.
Indicator 1d
The amount of content designated for one grade level is viable for one school year in order to foster coherence between grades.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 4 meet the expectations for the amount of content designated for one grade level being viable for one school year in order to foster coherence between grades. The suggested pacing includes 112 days of lessons (104 lessons total) and another 16 days allowed for assessment, making 128 days of materials. According to the Teacher Guide on page xxxvi, each lesson is expected to last between 60-75 minutes. The online curriculum states to use Friday's as a Flex Day for games and intervention work. With Fridays being included as Flex Days, this curriculum allows for approximately 32 weeks of instruction.
Indicator 1e
Materials are consistent with the progressions in the Standards i. Materials develop according to the grade-by-grade progressions in the Standards. If there is content from prior or future grades, that content is clearly identified and related to grade-level work ii. Materials give all students extensive work with grade-level problems iii. Materials relate grade level concepts explicitly to prior knowledge from earlier grades.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 4 partially meet the expectations for being consistent with the progressions in the standards. Content from prior grades is not clearly identified or connected to grade-level work, and students are not given extensive work with grade-level problems.
Material related to prior, grade-level content is not clearly identified or related to grade-level work. The Grade 4 materials have one instance where prior, grade-level content is present and not identified as such. Lesson 4-3 focuses on 5.OA.1, using parentheses in numerical expressions and evaluating expressions. Often the sample answers include off, grade-level answers, and this is not identified for the teachers. For example, on page 128, the math masters answer key for page 54 shows students using parentheses in their answers, 5.OA.1. While the problems could be solved without using the parentheses, this could lead teachers to believe they must be included in the answer.
The content does not always meet the full depth of standards. This mainly occurs because of a lack of lessons addressing the full depth. For example, in Grade 4, there are 11 standards devoted to fractions (not including decimals), all of which are major work; there are 33 lessons for fractions.
Everyday Mathematics Grade 4 materials do not provide extensive work with some grade-level standards. In particular, there are only two lessons fully aligned to 4.NF.4a. Although lesson 8-13 is identified to address 4.NF.B.4a, the lesson would only accomplish this if a student gave a particular answer to the problem posed in the Math Journal on page 311. Thus, the lesson was not counted as fully aligned to the standard.
In lessons where prior knowledge is needed, the instructional materials do not state that prior knowledge is being used. When future grade-level concepts are introduced, there is no mention that the concept will be used in future grades. If the teacher uses the spiral trace at the beginning of the lesson or unit, the teacher will know where prior knowledge is used and when the student will use the skill/concept again in the future. The spiral tracker is listed by lessons and not connecting standards. At the beginning of each unit, the spiral trace provides an explanation of what will occur by the end of the unit, but the spiral trace does not explain any further and does not connect to the next standard.
Indicator 1f
Materials foster coherence through connections at a single grade, where appropriate and required by the Standards i. Materials include learning objectives that are visibly shaped by CCSSM cluster headings. ii. Materials include problems and activities that serve to connect two or more clusters in a domain, or two or more domains in a grade, in cases where these connections are natural and important.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 4 partially meet the expectations for fostering coherence through connections at a single grade, where appropriate and when the standards require. Overall, materials include learning objectives that are visibly shaped by CCSSM cluster headings, but there are missed opportunities to provide problems and activities that connect two or more clusters in a domain or two or more domains when these connections are natural and important.
Instructional materials shaped by cluster headings include the following examples:
- Lesson 1-1, "Place Value in Whole Numbers," is shaped by 4.NBT.A.
- Lesson 3-3, "Number Lines and Equivalence," is shaped by 4.NF.A.
- Lesson 6-6, "Measuring Angles," is shaped by 4.MD.C.
- Lesson 7-10, "Solving Multistep Fraction Number Stories," is shaped by 4.NF.B.
While the materials have many instances where two or more domains are connected, often the connections are only surface-level connections. For example, in lesson 4-13, it shows connections between 4.NBT.2,4.NBT.3 4.NBT.5, 4.NF.6, and 4.NF.7. However, the lesson is divided into parts, and the parts only truly address one standard at a time.