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Report Overview
Summary of Alignment & Usability: Go Math | Math
Product Notes
For Go Math, materials reviewed included student editions for each grade and teacher editions for each grade. No digital materials were reviewed.
Please note: The copyright for Go Math K-5 is 2015. The copyright for Go Math 6-8 is 2014.
Math K-2
The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten through Grade 2 partially meet the expectations for alignment to CCSSM. The instructional materials for Grades 1 and 2 meet the expectations for gateway 1 as they appropriately focus on the major work of the grade and demonstrate coherence within the grade and across other grades, but the materials for Kindergarten only partially the expectations from gateway 1. The instructional materials for all grades partially meet the expectations for gateway 2 as they appropriately address rigor within the grade-level standards, but there are missed opportunities in the materials when it comes to attending to the full meaning of the Standards for Mathematical Practice. Overall, the instructional materials address the content standards very well and do a nice job of identifying and partially integrating the practice standards.
Kindergarten
View Full ReportEdReports reviews determine if a program meets, partially meets, or does not meet expectations for alignment to college and career-ready standards. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Alignment (Gateway 1 & 2)
Materials must meet expectations for standards alignment in order to be reviewed for usability. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Usability (Gateway 3)
1st Grade
View Full ReportEdReports reviews determine if a program meets, partially meets, or does not meet expectations for alignment to college and career-ready standards. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Alignment (Gateway 1 & 2)
Materials must meet expectations for standards alignment in order to be reviewed for usability. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Usability (Gateway 3)
2nd Grade
View Full ReportEdReports reviews determine if a program meets, partially meets, or does not meet expectations for alignment to college and career-ready standards. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Alignment (Gateway 1 & 2)
Materials must meet expectations for standards alignment in order to be reviewed for usability. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Usability (Gateway 3)
Math 3-5
The instructional materials reviewed for Grades 3-5 partially meet the expectations for alignment to the CCSSM. The instructional materials for Grades 3, 4, and 5 meet the expectations for gateway 1 as they appropriately focus on the major work of the grade and demonstrate coherence within the grade and across other grades. The instructional materials in Grades 3, 4, and 5 partially meet the expectations for gateway 2 as they appropriately address rigor within the grade-level standards, but there are missed opportunities in the materials when it comes to attending to the full meaning of the Standards for Mathematical Practice. Overall, the instructional materials address the content standards very well and do a nice job of identifying and partially integrating the practice standards.
3rd Grade
View Full ReportEdReports reviews determine if a program meets, partially meets, or does not meet expectations for alignment to college and career-ready standards. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Alignment (Gateway 1 & 2)
Materials must meet expectations for standards alignment in order to be reviewed for usability. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Usability (Gateway 3)
4th Grade
View Full ReportEdReports reviews determine if a program meets, partially meets, or does not meet expectations for alignment to college and career-ready standards. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Alignment (Gateway 1 & 2)
Materials must meet expectations for standards alignment in order to be reviewed for usability. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Usability (Gateway 3)
5th Grade
View Full ReportEdReports reviews determine if a program meets, partially meets, or does not meet expectations for alignment to college and career-ready standards. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Alignment (Gateway 1 & 2)
Materials must meet expectations for standards alignment in order to be reviewed for usability. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Usability (Gateway 3)
Math 6-8
The instructional materials reviewed partially meet expectations for alignment to the Common Core State Standards. For focus, the instructional materials for Grades 6 and 8 meet the criteria for the time devoted to the major work of the grade, but the Grade 7 material does not. 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.
6th Grade
View Full ReportEdReports reviews determine if a program meets, partially meets, or does not meet expectations for alignment to college and career-ready standards. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Alignment (Gateway 1 & 2)
Materials must meet expectations for standards alignment in order to be reviewed for usability. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Usability (Gateway 3)
7th Grade
View Full ReportEdReports reviews determine if a program meets, partially meets, or does not meet expectations for alignment to college and career-ready standards. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Alignment (Gateway 1 & 2)
Materials must meet expectations for standards alignment in order to be reviewed for usability. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Usability (Gateway 3)
8th Grade
View Full ReportEdReports reviews determine if a program meets, partially meets, or does not meet expectations for alignment to college and career-ready standards. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Alignment (Gateway 1 & 2)
Materials must meet expectations for standards alignment in order to be reviewed for usability. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Usability (Gateway 3)
Report for 7th Grade
Alignment Summary
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 7 partially meet the expectations for alignment with the CCSSM. The materials partially meet the criterion for Gateway 1. There was not enough time given to the major work of the grade. The supporting clusters did support the major work, but the materials need more focus on the major clusters. The work could be sufficiently completed in one school year, but it lacked in multiple practice opportunities for a student to gain mastery. There was also not a deliberate connection between previous, current, and future content. The materials partially meet the criterion for Gateway 2. In the area of Rigor and Balance the materials do meet the criterion. The instructional and practice materials provided a good balance of conceptual understanding, procedural skill, and application. In the area of Practice Content-Connection the materials partially meet the criterion. It was evident that the eight MPs were embedded throughout materials. They did not always add meaning to the content as they were not always identified correctly or were missing from designated pages. Many questions had students explain their thinking or defend their answers. Often, the materials did not assist in providing opportunities for students to critique the work of others. The students are given opportunity to use precise language of mathematics.
7th Grade
Alignment (Gateway 1 & 2)
Usability (Gateway 3)
Overview of Gateway 1
Focus & Coherence
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 7 partially meet the expectations for alignment to the CCSSM. For focus, the Grade 7 materials reviewed meet the expectations for assessing grade-level content but did not meet the criteria for the time devoted to the major work of the 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. This includes problems and activities that serve to connect two or more clusters in a domain and that connect two or more domains in a grade. On the other hand the instructional materials only partially meets the expectations for viability and consistency with the progressions in the standards. Overall the Grade 7 materials partially meet the quality expectations for focus on major work and coherence.
Gateway 1
v1.0
Criterion 1.1: Focus
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 7 meet the expectations for assessing grade-level content. In each of the assessments included in each unit, only Grade 7 content is assessed. Prerequisite skills from previous grades are assessed in the "Are you Ready" assessments. However content from future grades is not assessed. Overall, the instructional materials for Grade 7 meet the criterion for assessing grade level content.
Indicator 1A
The Grade 7 materials reviewed meet the expectations for assessing grade-level content. The materials also have assessment items for previously learned content to determine if students have the needed prerequisite skills.
- Module quizzes, assessment readiness review, end-of-unit review and a performance task are included in each unit. In all of these assessment materials, only Grade 7 material was assessed.
- Each module has an "Are You Ready" assessment. This looks at skills from previous grades that will be needed in order to complete the module successfully.
Criterion 1.2: Coherence
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 7 do not meet the expectations for having the large majority of class time being devoted to the major work of the grade. For example, only 53% of the lessons and only 51% of the teaching days address the major work of the grade. Overall, the instructional materials for Grade 7 do not meet the criterion for designating the large majority of class time to the major work of the grade.
Indicator 1B
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 7 do not meet the expectations for students and teachers using the materials as designed to devote the large majority of class time to the major work of the grade. Based on the pacing guides in the teacher edition, about 75 of the 148 teaching days, or about 51%, are devoted to major work. Of the 49 lessons in Grade 7, 26 are focused on the major clusters (53%).
Criterion 1.3: Coherence
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 7 partially meet the expectations for coherence and consistency with the CCSSM. The supporting content enhances focus and coherence simultaneously by engaging students in the major work of the grade. Coherence is evident both in addressing connections at the Grade 7 level and in the instructional materials. This includes 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 weak aspects of the materials were that it only partially meets the expectations for viability and consistency with the progressions in the standards. Overall the instructional materials at the Grade 7 partially meet the expectations for the coherence.
Indicator 1C
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 7 meet the expectations for the supporting content enhancing focus and coherence simultaneously by engaging students in the major work of the grade.
The following examples demonstrate how supporting and additional clusters in geometry and statistics support the major work of proportional relationships.
- Unit 4 is the geometry unit and supports 7.G.A; unit 5 is the statistics unit and supports 7.SP.B. Both require the students to use proportions to solve problems.
- Unit 4 also teaches 7.G.B and this supports the major cluster 7.NS.A.
- Unit 6 (probability) addresses the supporting cluster 7.SP.C. It supports the major cluster 7.NS by working with rational numbers, specifically by writing probability as fractions, decimals and percents.
- Unit 6 also supports the major cluster 7.RP by using proportions to find information about populations.
Indicator 1D
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 7 do not 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. With only 149 days of lessons accounted for, there need to be additional review days and summative assessment days as well as additional material other than unit tests to ensure sufficient instruction. Overall, the amount of content that is designated for this grade level is short of the amount of material needed to make it truly viable for one school year. According to the pacing guide, there is a suggested 149 days of lessons for 45-minute classes. There is guided practice and independent practice for each lesson. There is also a quiz and a formative assessment check for each module. All of this is included in the pacing guide.
A summative end of the unit test is not included in the pacing guide. Adding one day per unit would bring the total to 154 days.
There are many references in the teacher's guide to online resources that provide more practice opportunities, however it is not accessible in the basic program.
Indicator 1E
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 7 partially meet the expectations for the material to be consistent with the progressions in the standards. The strongest point is that at the beginning of each module there is a section called "Unpacking the Standards." Although there is a page with progressions, there are no references to other grades' standards anywhere within the lessons. Overall, the materials in Go Math-Grade 7 to some extent identify the progressions from prior grades in the standards.
- In the beginning of each module there is a section called "Unpacking the Standards." This puts the standards into student-friendly language and provides examples of what students will be learning.
- This section aligns with the standards and then demonstrates that students will be working only within grade-level expectations.
- There were no references to other grades within the lessons.
- There is a page with progressions that shows Grade 6, 7 and 8 progressions.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 7 partially meet the expectation of giving all students extensive work with grade-level problems. Overall, the materials give students of varying abilities some, but not extensive work with grade-level problems.
- The lessons are broken down into five sections: Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate and Evaluate. There are also tips and ideas for differentiating and extending the material.
- The teacher edition includes references to online additional resources, including Math on the Spot, a video available by scanning the QR code in the student edition. Although the teacher edition does not contain all of these resources, access to some of them are available without any separate purchase.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 7 partially meet the expectation of relating grade-level concepts explicitly to prior knowledge from earlier grades. Overall, materials only generally relate grade level concepts to prior knowledge from earlier grades.
- There is a chart at the beginning of each unit and module that relates new content to previously taught content, either earlier in the grade or from previous grades.
- The charts have column headings labeled "Before this Unit," "In this Unit" and "After this Unit" and "Before this Module," "In this Module" and "After this Module" but do not specify standards.
- Students are assessed on prior knowledge at the beginning of each module.
- Unit 3, pages 167E-167F, gives the background resources for mathematics. On page 168, it restates what students should know before in this unit and after this unit.
Indicator 1F
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 7 meet the expectations for fostering coherence through connections at a single grade, where appropriate and required by the standards. Overall, materials include learning objectives that are visibly shaped by CCSSM cluster headings.
- The standards are referenced all throughout the book.
- Each lesson has an essential question aligned with the cluster headings.
- Mathematical practices are clearly explained along with the domains and strands of the focus work.
- There are also specific "cluster connection" identifiers in the teacher edition.
The instructional materials include problems and activities that serve to connect two or more clusters in a domain. They include problems and activities that connect two or more domains in a grade, in cases where these connections are natural and important. Overall the materials foster coherence through connections at the Grade 7.
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Unit 3 connects 7.EE.1 to 7.NS. Operations with rational numbers are used to solve real world application problems.
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The major work of proportional relationships is used throughout Units 4, 5, and 6 and connected to the work of those units especially within the EE domain.
Indicator evidence updated 11/02/16
Overview of Gateway 2
Rigor & Mathematical Practices
The Go Math 7 materials reviewed meet expectations for Rigor and Balance. The instructional materials provide students opportunity to practice in all three areas. The materials partially meet the criterion of Practice-Content Connections. There are several places in the materials that clearly identify the standards and the meanings of each. Standards were sometimes not located on identified pages or were misidentified. Students had opportunity throughout the book to explain their mathematical reasoning. There were not as many opportunities for students to discuss the work of classmates or activities that helped teachers in how to engage students in these conversations within the confines of the materials we reviewed. The materials do attend to precise language of mathematics and provide learning opportunities of vocabulary and opportunities to use the vocabulary in the context of the problems.
Overall the reviewed materials of Go Math 7 Partially Meet the Criteria for Gateway 2.
*Evidence updated 10/27/15
Gateway 2
v1.0
Criterion 2.1: Rigor
The materials reviewed meet the criterion of rigor and balance. In the Grade 7 lessons, there is a focus on conceptual understanding, procedural skill and fluency, and real world application. The layout of the lessons provides teachers with a framework to address each component of rigor.
Indicator 2A
The materials reviewed for Go Math Grade 7 meet the expectations for developing conceptual understanding of key mathematical concepts.
- The design of each lesson is set up for conceptual understanding. Each lesson has an Engage, Explore, and Explain process for teachers to follow. This provides essential question, vocabulary, questioning strategies, engagement with whiteboards or manipulatives, how to avoid common errors, focus on critical thinking, and a teaching tip.
- The standards 7.NS.1 and 7.NS.2 are addressed in Unit 1. The lessons use a variety of models and ask many questions that require students to justify their thinking. The standard 7.EE.1.B is developed in Unit 2 and Unit 5.
- Each unit has a performance task for students to solve. Most tasks require students to demonstrate conceptual understanding.
Each lesson has a page that breaks down the depth of knowledge of each question being asked. An example of this is on page 65.
Indicator 2B
The materials reviewed meet the expectations for giving attention to procedural skill and fluency.
- Procedural skill and fluency with standards found in 7.NS is expected by the end of Grade 7. Modules one through three give explicit attention to these standards.
- Each lesson has a guided practice page (e.g. page 156), and most of these pages provide fluency practice.
Independent Practice, Module Quizzes, Assessment Readiness, and Study Guide Review sections are also opportunities for demonstration of procedural skill. These components are at the end of each module (e.g., 223–226).
Indicator 2C
The materials reviewed meet the expectations for giving attention to application without losing focus on the major work of the grade.
- All lessons contain problems that require real world application. This is demonstrated mostly in the Independent Practice pages (e.g., page 121– 22). This section also designates H.O.T. questions, which stand for higher order thinking.
- Many problems require students to solve multi-step problems.
Students are expected to apply and use concepts in real world situations in 7.NS.A.3, 7.EE.B.3 and cluster 7.RP.A. Modules one through seven provide opportunities for real world applications of these standards.
Indicator 2D
The materials reviewed partially meet the expectations for showing a balance of conceptual understanding, procedural skill, and application.
- The layout of each lesson provides an opportunity for a balance of rigor. The five E’s—engage, explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate—are the guidelines for instruction, and this structure allows for the opportunity to target conceptual understanding, procedural skill and fluency, and application.
Criterion 2.2: Math Practices
The Go Math 7 materials reviewed partially meet expectations for Practice-Content Connections. There are many places that the MPs are referenced. As indicated, the identification is not always accurate. Questions could lead students to have discussions about mathematics, but there is not much guidance for how the teacher should conduct the conversations. The book does use precise vocabulary and has many places for students to use the language of mathematics.
Indicator 2E
The materials reviewed partially meet the expectations for identifying the MPs and using them to enrich the content.
- The eight MPs are defined on pages CC8–CC11 of the teacher’s edition. Along with the explanation, there are also pages referenced where the standards are implemented in the student edition. This is not a complete listing but a sample of where they can be found.
- Pages CC14–CC16 in the teacher’s edition provide more explanation of the standards and provide examples of each standard directly taken from the textbook.
- Each lesson highlights one MP. There is a box titled “Professional Development” that describes how the practice is addressed within the lesson. An example of this is on pages 117 and 118.
- The Explore and Explain sections of the teacher’s edition have the words “Mathematical Practices” in bold, but there is not a specific practice identified with the heading. An example of this is on page 117.
Although the MPs are found throughout the materials, they are often not central to the lessons/activities where they are identified. As a result, often the MPs do not enrich the mathematics content of Grade 7.
Indicator 2F
Materials reviewed partially meet the expectations for carefully attending to the full meaning of each practice.
- Some instructional materials were not accurately aligned to MPs. For example, MP4 is listed as being addressed on page 122; however, there is not any identification of MP4 on page 122. MPs 2, 5, and 7 are cited on this page.
- MPs are listed in the index; however, they do not use precise language or numbers.
MPs are identified by the publisher. There are inconsistencies with the practice being on the page or it being accurately interpreted. For example, on page 61, MP8 is identified but MP1 and MP3 are cited on the page. Another example is on page 152, where a Critique Reasoning question is aligned to MP 8.
Indicator 2G
Indicator 2G.i
Materials reviewed meet the expectations for prompting students to construct viable arguments and analyze the work of others.
- There are many questions in the teacher’s edition found in the Engage, Explain, and Elaborate headings that, when asked, can lead to discussion of the concepts. An example of this is on page 217 under the Explain section: “Why is adding three + 1 tiles to both sides a better strategy than adding nine -1 tiles to both sides?”
- The student independent practice sections have questions with the following headings: Critique Reasoning, Error Analysis, Justify Reasoning, and Communicate Mathematical Ideas. See examples are on page 18, problem number 33 and page 54, problem number 28.
All six of the Unit Performance Tasks include at least one question that requires students to explain or justify their answer.
Indicator 2G.ii
Materials reviewed partially meet the expectations for assisting teachers in engaging the students in constructing viable arguments.
- Teachers are provided with variety of questions designed to engage students in constructing viable arguments throughout the lesson.
The book does not assist teachers in engaging the students in analyzing the work of other students. There are a few questions that ask students for an error analysis of a worked problem but never engage them in conversation about each other’s work.
Indicator 2G.iii
Materials reviewed meet the expectations for attending to the language of mathematics.
- Vocabulary is in every module. Each module has two activities to assist with this practice: “Reading Start Up” and an “Unpacking the Standards.” All vocabulary words are high-lighted in yellow throughout the book.
- The “Essential Question of each lesson asks for an explanation of the current skill. Students will need to use mathematics vocabulary in their response.
- “Math Talk” is another tool for teachers in each lesson. The publisher considers this a formative assessment.
- The “Study Guide Review” includes a re-cap of the vocabulary that is in each unit.
- The “H.O.T." questions provide students an opportunity to respond and explain using precise language.
MP6 was listed and was evident in four of the six Performance Tasks, units 1, 4, 5 and 6.