8th Grade - Gateway 1

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 8 meet the expectation for assessment because above grade-level assessment items, and their accompanying lessons could be modified or skipped without impacting the underlying structure of the instructional materials. For this indicator, the four quarterly benchmark tests were reviewed first, then for a more in-depth look at each CCSSM indicator, the chapter tests, extended response tests, and performance tasks were examined.

• The instructional materials offer multiple tiers of assessment on their ConnectEd website. These include pretests, diagnostic tests, chapter quizzes, chapter tests, performance tasks, extended response tests, quarterly benchmark tests, standardized test practice as well as SBAC and PARCC practice test question. Furthermore, a test generator is included so that educators can create their own assessments to suit their needs.

• The first quarterly benchmark test assesses the following Grade 8 standards 8.NS.1, 8.NS.2, 8.EE.1, 8.EE.2, 8.EE.3, 8.EE.4 and 8.EE.7. These standards are primarily covered in chapters 1-2. The listed CCSSM are covered on the assessments with no above grade-level items.

• The second quarterly benchmark test assesses the following Grade 8 standards. 8.EE.5, 8.EE.6, 8.EE.8, 8.F.1, 8.F.2, 8.F.3, 8.F.4 and 8.F.5. These standards are primarily covered in chapters 3-4. The listed CCSSM are covered on the assessments. The second quarterly benchmark test and chapter 4 assessments have some above grade-level topics. Question 10 asks about domain. This is high school standard F.IF.A.1, which states, "Understand that a function from one set (called the domain) to another set (called the range) assigns to each element of the domain exactly one element of the range. If f is a function and x is an element of its domain, then f(x) denotes the output of f corresponding to the input x. The graph of f is the graph of the equation y = f(x)." This vocabulary is included in lesson 2 which primarily has students represent relations using tables and graphs. This topic is only briefly covered in lesson 3. Question 7 requires students to match a graph to a quadratic function. The standard 8.F. 5 states “Describe qualitatively the functional relationship between two quantities by analyzing a graph (e.g., where the function is increasing or decreasing, linear or nonlinear). Sketch a graph that exhibits the qualitative features of a function that has been described verbally.” It is expected that students be able to identify a nonlinear graphs; however, on both the benchmark and chapter test students are expected to graph quadratic functions which is not expected of students until high school. Lesson 7 covers 8.F.5 nicely, but lesson 8, which covers graphing quadratic functions is above grade level. Lesson 8 could be skipped without impacting the materials.

• The third quarterly benchmark test assesses the following Grade 8 standards 8.G.1, 8.G.2, 8.G.3, 8.G.3, 8.G.5, 8.G.6, 8.G.7 and 8.G.8. These standards are primarily covered in chapters 5-6. The listed CCSSM are covered on the assessments with no above grade-level items.

• The end of year benchmark test assesses some of the previously covered standards and 8.G.4, 8.G.9, 8.SP.1, 8.SP.2, 8.SP.3 and 8.SP.4. These standards are primarily covered in chapters 7-9. The listed CCSSM are covered on the assessments.The chapter 9 chapter tests include questions on standard deviation. The concept of standard deviation is covered in the high school standard HSS.ID.A4, "Use the mean and standard deviation of a data set to fit it to a normal distribution and to estimate population percentages. Recognize that there are data sets for which such a procedure is not appropriate. Use calculators, spreadsheets, and tables to estimate areas under the normal curve." In the textbook, standard deviation is covered in lesson 5, "Measures of Variation." An educator could skip this lesson without skipping any of the intended Grade 8 standards and create an assessment using the test generator.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 8 meet the expectation for focus by spending a majority of class time on the major clusters of the grade. To determine this, three perspectives were evaluated: 1) the number of chapters devoted to major work, 2) the number of lessons devoted to major work, and 3) the number of days devoted to major work. The number of days devoted to major work is the most reflective for this indicator because it specifically addresses the amount of class time spent on concepts. Overall, the materials spend 76 percent of instructional time on the major clusters of the grade. The Grade 8 materials have 9 chapters that contain 62 lessons. (The inquiry labs were considered as part of the lesson that they proceeded.) A total 152 days (optional projects not included) of class time was scheduled for the lessons.

• 5 out of 9 chapters (56 percent) focus exclusively on the major clusters of Grade 8, while the other 4 chapters have a mix of major and supporting clusters.

• Each chapter is made up of lessons, when examining the individual lesson 73 percent of class time is spent on the major clusters of the grade. The lesson breakdown is as follows:
  • Chapter 1 has 10 lesson; Lessons 2 – 8 focus on the major clusters (8.EE.1, 8.EE.2, 8.EE.3, and 8.EE.4), while lessons 1, 9 and 10 are focused on supporting clusters (8.NS.1, and 8.NS.2). Seven out of 10 lessons in chapter 1 are on major work.
  • Chapter 2: Five out of five of the lessons are on the major cluster (8.EE.7).
  • Chapter 3: Eight out of eight of the lessons are on the major clusters (8.EE.5, 8.EE.6, 8.EE.8, 8.F.2, 8.F.3, and 8.F.4).
  • Chapter 4 has 9 lessons: Lessons 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 9 focus on the major clusters (8.F.1, 8.F.2, 8.F.3, 8.F.4, and 8.F.5), while lessons 3 and 8 are above grade level. Lesson 2 has an above grade-level component, but it was still deemed to focus on a majority of the major clusters. Seven out of nine lessons are on the major clusters.
  • Chapter 5: Seven out of seven lessons are on the major clusters (8.G.5, 8.G.6, 8.G.7 and 8.G.8).
  • Chapter 6: Four out of four lessons are on the major clusters (8.G.1 and 8.G.3).
  • Chapter 7: Seven out of seven lessons are on the major clusters (8.G.1, 8.G.2, 8.G.4, 8.G.5 and 8.EE.6).
  • Chapter 8: Six out of six lessons are on the supporting clusters (8.G.9).
  • Chapter 9: Lessons 1, 2 and 3 are on the supporting clusters (8.SP.1, 8.SP.2, 8.SP.3 and 8.SP.4). Lessons 4-6 are on off grade-level topics.
• A pacing guide is provided with the materials and gives the number of days each chapter should take. When calculating the number of days, 76 percent of the class time is spent on the major clusters, 16 percent of the class time is spent on supporting clusters. The remainder of the class time is spent on off grade-level work. The breakdown of the number of days spent on the major cluster of the grade are as follows:
  • Chapter 1: Ten lessons should take 18 days, seven of the lessons are major clusters, which should take approximately 15 days.
  • Chapter 2: Five lessons should take 13 days.
  • Chapter 3: Eight lessons should take 20 days.
  • Chapter 4: Nine lessons should take 19 days, seven of the lesson are major clusters, which should take approximately 16 days.
  • Chapter 5: Seven lessons should take 19 days.
  • Chapter 6: Four lessons should take 13 days.
  • Chapter 7: Seven lessons should take 17 days.
  • Chapter 8: Six lessons should take 15 days. However, lesson 6 incorporates similarity (8.G.4) into the concept of volume (8.G.9), so one day of this lesson would be spent on a major cluster.
  • Chapter 9: Six lessons should take 18 days. However, in addition to interpreting graphs, lesson 2 requires students to write an equations of a line of best fit (8.EE.3), so one and a half days are spent on a major cluster.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 8 meet the expectation that supporting content enhance focus and coherence simultaneously by engaging students in the major work of the grade. Overall, the lessons that focus on supporting content also engage students in major work where natural and appropriate.

• Chapter 1, lesson 9, focuses on estimating roots. In doing this students are both using rational number approximations 8.NS.2 and using square root and cube roots 8.EE.2.

• Chapter 9, lesson 2, focuses on 8.SP.A - Investigate patterns of bivariate data. In completing this lesson, students will analyze scatter plot and write the lines of best fit, this supports major work 8.F.3.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 8 meet the expectation for the amount of content designated for one grade level being viable for one school year in order to foster coherence between grades. The instructional material are designed to take 152 – 162 days. Many additional resources can be found on the accompanying website. Overall, the amount of content that is designated for this grade level is viable for one school year.

• Included in the materials is a yearlong pacing guide. According to that pacing guide, completing the work in the student edition would take 152 days. That includes time for a chapter opener, a mid-chapter quiz, a chapter review, and a chapter test. Ten extra days could be spent on the five unit projects.

• · All of the CCSSM were developed to give students the practice they need to be prepared for Grade 9.

• There is guided practice, independent practice and common core spiral review for each lesson. Also included in the lessons are Real-World Link, H.O.T. Higher Order Thinking, and Power-up Common Core Test Practice which are more rigorous than the independent practices.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 8 meet the expectation for fostering coherence through connections at a single grade. The materials include learning objectives that are clearly shaped by the CCSSM clusters, and the materials incorporate natural connections between clusters and domains, where those connections are natural and important.

• At the beginning of the teachers edition, there is an index of the CCSSM and the corresponding chapters and lesson where those standards can be found.
• Each unit in the materials correlates to a Grade 8 CCSSM domain. The units are broken into chapters that focus on standards in that domain. The chapters are broken into lessons that incorporate aspects of each standard. As a result, each lesson's title, objective, and essential question is clearly shaped by the CCSSM cluster headings.
• The student edition gives a table of the Grade 8 CCSSM and students are given the chance to track their knowledge of the CCSSM throughout the year.
• One example of connecting two or more clusters in a domain is chapter 4, lesson 4. This lesson connects 8.F.A and 8.F.B, where students construct functions to model linear relationships while they are comparing properties of functions that are represented in different ways.
• In addition to the connections noted in criteria 1c, there are several examples of connecting two or more domains in Grade 8. These examples include:
  • Chapter 3, lesson 4 connects 8.EE and 8.F where students connect functions and their graph to equations in the form y = mx + b.
  • Chapter 5, lesson 5 connects 8.G and 8.EE when students connect the use of square roots to the understanding of the Pythagorean Theorem.