The instructional materials reviewed for FuelEd Florida Summit Math Grade 8 partially meet expectations that supporting work enhances focus and coherence simultaneously by engaging students in the major work of the grade.

Supporting content does not consistently enhance focus and coherence simultaneously by engaging students in the major work of the grade. Most lessons address standards from one cluster. Examples of the materials not using supporting work to engage students in the major work of the grade include:

• In Semester B, Unit 3, Lesson 2, Learn, A Closer Look, students use integer exponents to calculate the volume of a cylinder with a radius of 5 and height of 6 (8.G.3.9). However, in the unit, students do not solve for missing dimensions when a volume is given, so the supporting work of 8.G.3.9 is not connected to using square and cube roots to represent solutions to equations (8.EE.1.2).
• In Semester B, Unit 6, Lesson 2, there is not a connection between approximating irrational numbers (8.NS.1.2) and the Pythagorean Theorem (8.G.2.7). In the Learn Section, A Closer Look: Pythagorean Theorem, Question 4, students solve for a missing leg in a right triangle with a hypotenuse of 11 and a leg of 8. Students complete prescribed steps to find the missing length, and the materials state, “Use the subtraction property of equality and square roots to solve the equation. $$\sqrt{57}$$ is not a perfect square. Use a calculator to estimate $$\sqrt{57}$$. The value of x is about 7.55.”

The instructional materials reviewed for FuelEd Florida Summit Math Grade 8 partially meet expectations for the materials being consistent with the progressions in the Standards.

The materials for Grade 8 develop according to the grade-by-grade progressions. All grade-level standards are listed in a chart in the Grade 8 Teacher Guide, but standards are not identified consistently within the materials. Content from prior or future grades is present and identified, but standards from other grades are not always related to Grade 8 standards. The materials address the Standards for Grade 8 and provide all students with extensive work with grade-level problems. Grade-level concepts are related to knowledge addressed previously in Grade 8, but grade-level concepts are not explicitly related to knowledge from prior grades.

Examples of lessons in which content from prior or future grades is present and identified in the Lesson Introductions, but not related to Grade 8 standards include:

• In Semester A, Unit 1, Lesson 5, students work with expressions including exponents that are 0 or positive integers (6.EE.1.1).
• In Semester A, Unit 2, Lesson 2, students solve equations that include integers (7.EE.2.4a; 7.NS.1.1).
• In Semester B, Unit 2, Lesson 7, students classify triangles (4.G.1.2).

Examples of the materials not explicitly relating grade-level concepts to knowledge from prior grades include:

• In Semester A, Unit 2, Lesson 8, students solve linear equations with rational coefficients involving combining like terms and using the distributive property. Content Background in the Teacher Guide does not explicitly connect to knowledge from prior grades by stating, “Lesson 2.08 also builds on students’ earlier work with equations. Before applying the two inverse operations to solve the equation, they may need to simplify the equation by combining like terms and/or applying the distributive property.”
• In Semester A, Unit 3, Lesson 11 states, “This lesson brings together what students have learned about slope, rate, unit rate and proportional relationships in real-world applications.” There is not an explicit relationship to knowledge from Grades 6 or 7.
• In Semester B, Unit 2, Lesson 2 states, “Lessons 2.02 and 2.03 examine angle relationships, including adjacent angles, linear pairs, vertical angles, and supplementary and complementary angles”, but the concepts from Grade 7 are not explicitly related to grade-level concepts.

The instructional materials for FuelEd Florida Summit Math Grade 8 partially meet expectations that materials foster coherence through connections at a single grade, where appropriate and required by the Standards.

The materials include learning objectives that are visibly shaped by CCSSM cluster headings. Examples include: 

• In Semester B, Unit 3, Lesson 3, the Learning Goal is “Solve real-world problems involving the volume of a cylinder”, which is shaped by the cluster heading, “Solve real-world and mathematical problems involving volume of cylinders, cones and spheres” (8.G.3).
• In Semester A, Unit 5, Lesson 4, the Learning Goals are “Determine the number of solutions to a system of linear equations; Classify a system of linear equations by its number of solutions; Solve a system of equations by inspection”, which are shaped by the cluster heading “Analyze and solve linear equations and pairs of simultaneous linear equations" (8.EE.3).

The materials include some problems and activities connecting two or more clusters in a domain, or two or more domains in a grade, in cases where these connections are natural and important, examples include:

• In Semester A, Unit 6, Lesson 6, students define, evaluate, and compare functions (8.F.1) and use functions to model relationships between quantities (8.F.2). “A computer program recorded the altitude of a helicopter. The first recorded altitude was 270 feet. The helicopter’s altitude after 10 seconds was 225 feet, and its altitude after 30 seconds was 135 feet. What are the rate of change and the initial value for the function?”
• In Semester B, Unit 6, Lesson 7, students apply the Pythagorean Theorem (8.G.2) and use radicals and integer exponents (8.EE.1). “Eduardo is flying a kite on a string that is 75 meters long. The kite is 62 meters above the ground. Estimate the distance between Eduardo and the spot on the ground directly below the kite.”

The materials do not make some connections between two or more clusters in a domain, or two or more domains in a grade, examples include:

• In Semester A, Unit 3, students develop an understanding of the connections between proportional relationships, lines, and linear equations (8.EE.2), but this is not connected to understanding similar figures (8.G.1), which is addressed in Semester B, Unit 4.
• In Semester B, Unit 2, Lessons 5, 7, and 8, students solve problems involving parallel lines and transversals and angles of triangles (8.G.1), but there is not a connection to using equations to solve the problems (8.EE.3).