6th Grade Report Overview

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 6 partially meet the expectation for alignment to the Common Core State Standards. For focus, the instructional materials meet the criteria for the time devoted to the major work of the grade. Also, the majority of the chapters and the respective days allocated in the timeline align to the major work of this 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 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.

The instructional material for the Grade 6 partially meets the quality expectation for alignment to the Common Core State Standards in the areas of rigor and mathematical practices. The instructional material meets the expectations for the criterion of rigor and balance by reflecting the balances of all three aspects of rigor throughout the lessons and helping students meet the standards rigorous expectations. Within the concept development sections of each lesson, the mathematical topic is developed through understanding as indicated by the standards and cluster headings. Procedural skill and fluency is a focus throughout the material. It is most evident in modules 2 and 5, which cover 6.NS. Application of the mathematical concepts is evident in real-world problems in the beginnings of lessons and in guided and independent practice. MPs are identified and often used to enrich mathematical content. Materials sometimes attend to the full meaning of each practice standard. There are many places where students are prompted to construct viable arguments and analyze the work of others. However, there are many places where the label does not match the problem or the problem covers more than one MP, but only one is listed. Materials are very limited in assisting teachers in engaging students in constructing viable arguments and analyzing the arguments of others. Also, only some materials actually attend to the specialized language of mathematics.