The instructional materials for Fishtank Free 6-8 do not meet the expectations of alignment or building knowledge. While the materials include anchor and supporting texts that vary in complexity and support students’ literacy growth over the course of the school year, the teacher resources and supports are general and do not change as texts and tasks become more complex. Explicit instruction throughout the materials is lacking, specifically in vocabulary, writing, and grammar and usage standards. Because a similar topic or theme connects all units, students have opportunities to engage with texts and tasks that promote knowledge-building. While the majority of the tasks and assessment questions are aligned with the grade-level standards,  the materials provided are high-level lesson skeletons that can not be used for instruction to fully meet the grade-level standards.