1st Grade - Gateway 1
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Focus & Coherence
Gateway 1 - Does Not Meet Expectations | 50% |
|---|---|
Criterion 1.1: Focus | 2 / 2 |
Criterion 1.2: Coherence | 0 / 4 |
Criterion 1.3: Coherence | 5 / 8 |
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 do not meet expectations for focus on major work and coherence. The materials do not devote the large majority of time to grade-level work, but the materials can be utilized to appropriately assess grade-level content. Materials do include lessons that use supporting work to continue learning in major work. There is no explicit connection made to the progressions of learning in the standards.
Criterion 1.1: Focus
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the expectations for assessing material at the grade level. Although there are multiple units and sessions noted that align to and assess standards that are beyond Grade 1, the inclusion of these sessions and units is either Mathematically appropriate or, where not appropriate, their omission would not significantly alter the structure of the materials.
Indicator 1a
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet expectations for assessment because above grade-level assessment items and their accompanying lessons, sessions, or units, could be modified or omitted without significantly impacting the underlying structure of the instructional materials. For this indicator, all of the identified assessments and end-of-unit assessments for the nine units were reviewed. Units and sessions accompanying above grade-level assessment items are noted in the following list.
- In unit 7, session 1.8 assesses how to: construct, describe, and extend a repeating pattern with the structure AB, ABC, AAB, or ABB; identify the unit of a repeating pattern for patterns with the structure AB or ABC; and determine what comes several steps beyond the visible part of an AB, ABC, AAB, or ABB, and repeating pattern. In unit 7, session 2.7 assesses how to: identify what comes several steps beyond the visible part of a repeating pattern; identify the unit of a repeating pattern; and determine the element of a repeating pattern associated with a particular counting number. The scoring rubrics on page 120 clearly demonstrate an expectation of the understanding of patterns. These expectations for students align to 4.OA.C.5. “Generate a number or shape pattern that follows a given rule. Identify apparent features of the pattern that were not explicit in the rule itself.” The materials explain the inclusion of these expectations by saying they “raise student awareness of pattern and regularities that occur in the relationships among mathematical objects – numbers and shapes. They also raise awareness of pattern and regularity and introduce students to some common number sequences” (page 13). These topics are not clearly identified as beyond Grade 1, and due to these topics aligning to a standard three grade levels above the current one, the inclusion of these topics is not Mathematically reasonable within the materials. However, the omission of these lessons and sessions would not significantly alter the underlying structure of the materials.
- In unit 8, session 2.8 assesses how to count by groups in meaningful ways, counts of ones, twos, fives or in combinations is required. The scoring rubrics on page 142 demonstrate that a student who records and counts by ones instead of organizing into groups is not meeting expectations. This expectation for students aligns to 2.NBT.A.2, “Count within 1000; skip-count by 5s, 10s, and 100s”, and 2.OA.C.3, “Determine whether a group of objects (up to 20) has an odd or even number of members, e.g., by pairing objects or counting them by 2s; write an equation to express an even number as a sum of two equal addends.”. In unit 8, session 3.6 assesses how to count by equal groups in meaningful ways. The scoring rubrics on page 150 demonstrate that a student is still meeting expectations if he draws a representation and counts by ones, instead of by groups, and arrives at the correct answer. This expectation for students could align to 2.OA.C.4, “Use addition to find the total number of objects arranged in rectangular arrays with up to 5 rows and up to 5 columns; write an equation to express the total as a sum of equal addends”, but since the scoring rubrics allow meeting expectations when counting by ones, this expectation does not directly align to 2.OA.C.4. These topics are not clearly identified as beyond Grade 1, but their inclusion is Mathematically reasonable since the topics are only one grade level beyond Grade 1 and do not constitute a large number of lessons. Also, the omission of these lessons and sessions would not significantly alter the underlying structure of the materials, especially since this would more than likely be the near the end of the school year.
*Evidence updated 10/27/15
Criterion 1.2: Coherence
Students and teachers using the materials as designed devote the large majority of class time in each grade K-8 to the major work of the grade.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 do not meet expectations for time spent of the major clusters of the grade. The materials are 68% aligned to the major work of Grade 1, which is not devoting the large majority of class time to the major clusters.
Indicator 1b
Instructional material spends the majority of class time on the major cluster of each grade.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 do not meet expectations for class time spent on the major clusters of the grade. According to the unit instructional plans, there are 161 days of lessons and assessments. Within that, there are areas where the work is aligned to supporting and additional clusters or is work outside of the grade level. Examples to support this are:
- Unit 7: All 15 sessions are more appropriately aligned to Grade 4 pattern work.
- Unit 2: All 13 sessions are aligned to additional work at Grade 1 in geometry.
- Unit 4: All 11 sessions are aligned to supporting and additional work at Grade 1 in measurement and data.
- Unit 9: All nine sessions are aligned to additional work in geometry.
- Within unit 5, there are four sessions that focus on the additional work of geometry.
These examples consist of 52 total lessons. Of the 161 sessions provided, there are 109 sessions aligned to the major work of Grade 1, with 68% of time spent on major clusters. This is not enough time spent on major work. There are instances where supporting work enhances focus standards, however that is not enough to warrant the materials meeting expectations for this indicator.
Criterion 1.3: Coherence
Coherence: Each grade's instructional materials are coherent and consistent with the Standards.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet expectations for coherence. The materials are not fully coherent with the progressions, as pattern work goes beyond the scope of the grade and the consistency within the standards is evident in some occasions, not all, particularly with need for more connections and materials for 1.NBT.C.
Indicator 1c
Supporting content enhances focus and coherence simultaneously by engaging students in the major work of the grade.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet expectations that supporting content enhances focus and coherence simultaneously by engaging students in the major work of the grade. Units 2, 4, 5 and 9 are aligned to supporting and additional work of the grade. Within those units, evidence was gathered where the supporting work enhances focus. This is evident in the following examples.
- Unit 2, lesson 1.2 "Same Shape, Different Pieces" asks the students to create a composite shape and to count the number of different shapes used then record the number of each shape. This lesson engages students in the major work of 1.NBT.A.1.
- Unit 2, geometry (1.G.A.1 and 1.G.A.2) lessons and activities support the major work of 1.NBT.A and 1.OA clusters. For example, pattern-block activities in sessions 1.1-1.7 involve composing shape design using the simple shapes and counting/representing the number of each type used and then finding the total number used.
- Unit 4, lessons 2.1-2.5 engage students in the major work of 1.NBT.
- Unit 5, the measurement activities include opportunities to solve story problems (1.OA.1) with the measurements. Some examples of this can be found within the lessons in Sessions 1.4, 1.5A and 2.4 as well as in student activity sheets.
- Time activities found in units 4-9 provide opportunities to write numbers when writing digital times and practice reading numbers, connecting the work in 1.NBT.A.1.
Indicator 1d
The amount of content designated for one grade level is viable for one school year in order to foster coherence between grades.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet expectations for viability of content for the scope of one year. The curriculum consists of 161 total sessions according to the provided pacing in the Investigations and Common Core State Standards Resource. Although this is a manageable number of days for a school year, with the inclusion of unit 7 on patterns, the review team determined that the amount of content was not fully viable for one school year to foster coherence between grades. In addition, one shortcoming is that 1.NBT.C ("Use place value understanding and properties of operations to add and subtract")-one of the major work focus standards-is only evident in five lessons in unit 8. This raises a concern that this will need more attention in order to prepare students for the work in Grade 2.
Indicator 1e
Materials are consistent with the progressions in the Standards i. Materials develop according to the grade-by-grade progressions in the Standards. If there is content from prior or future grades, that content is clearly identified and related to grade-level work ii. Materials give all students extensive work with grade-level problems iii. Materials relate grade level concepts explicitly to prior knowledge from earlier grades.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet expectations for consistency with the progressions. The materials partially develop according to the progressions and partially give students extensive work with grade level problems. In addition, while there are teacher notes in the "looking back" section of each unit, there is not explicit connection to specific standards addressed in prior grades. For example:
- Unit 3 story problems go beyond 20 in session 3.3 student work but are identified as "Challenging Story Problems" and an extension.
- Unit 3 sessions 4.1-4.3 involve counting using an "area" type of activity, but the author includes a teacher note (page 139) which addresses this and states that the purpose of the activity is counting and recording larger numbers.
- In unit 5, students use partial units when measuring although there is a teacher note on page 89.
- In unit 4, students carry out their own survey in order to collect and organize data.
- In unit 5, during lessons 3.A.2-3.A.4 the teacher represents fractions using notation. However it is not expected that students do so; it is merely done in passing without any explanation of how to write using correct notation. Fraction notation is appropriate for Grade 3.
- In unit 7, all sessions address patterns, which is not a Grade 1 expectation and is a Grade 4 standard.
- In unit 8, counting and working with twos and fives is a focus, which is a Grade 2 standard.
- Only 5 lessons in unit 4 address 1.NBT.C.4, 5 and 6 for the entire year, so the work provided in this area cannot be considered extensive.
While the following notes exist, they are not explicitly tied to the standards:
- The looking back note in unit 1 (page 10) specifically references how the number, counting and story problem work in this unit builds upon the work in the Kindergarten units.
- The looking back note in Unit 5 (page 10) describes this unit's connection to the prior work in Kindergarten measurement.
Indicator 1f
Materials foster coherence through connections at a single grade, where appropriate and required by the Standards i. Materials include learning objectives that are visibly shaped by CCSSM cluster headings. ii. Materials include problems and activities that serve to connect two or more clusters in a domain, or two or more domains in a grade, in cases where these connections are natural and important.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet expectations for fostering coherence through connections at a single grade. The materials include some instances where learning objectives are shaped by cluster headings and include some problems that connect clusters and domains. Examples for both arguments are below.
- A review of the lesson objectives (Math Focus Points) for all of the lessons which reference an alignment to 1.OA.B reveals that even though the lessons themselves are sometimes actually aligned to the standards in this cluster, the outcomes never explicitly mention properties of operations or the relationship between addition and subtraction. This is evident in units 1, 3, 6 and 8.
- In unit 8 in the five new lessons which were added to the curriculum (Sessions 4A.1-4A.5), the outcomes do show evidence of the attention given to the CCSSM cluster heading. For example, "adding a 1-digit number or 10 to a 2-digit number" appears in sessions 4A.2 and 4A.3 and "adding or subtracting a multiple of 10 to a 2-digit number appears in 4A.3-4A.5.
There are multiple pieces of evidence to show that the materials include problems and activities that connect two or more domains or two or more clusters in a domain. Some examples of this include:
- Unit 5 session 3A.1 connects 1.G.A.3 (partitioning shapes, particularly circles, into halves) to telling time to the half-hour (1.MD.B.3) by partitioning the analog clock into halves.
- Unit 5 sessions 1.4, 1.5A and 2.4 connect 1.MD.A (measurement) to 1.OA.A by using measurements as a context for addition and subtraction story problems and solving.
- Unit 2 Sessions 1.1-1.7 activities involve composing/decomposing shapes (1.G.A.2) connect to 1.NBT.A.1 by asking students to count and record the number of each shape used and then find the total number of shapes used by adding them all (1.OA.C).
- Unit 4 sessions in investigation 1 and 2 connect 1.MD.C.4 as an interesting context with which to work on addition and subtraction when comparing two data sets to find how much larger one is than the other, and other addition and subtraction situations (1.OA.A, 1.OA.C).
- In unit 6 sessions 1.8A and 1.8B, solving story problems with missing parts (1.OA.A) connects to applying properties and the relationship between addition and subtraction (1.OA.B) by using addition/counting up strategies to solve the subtraction situations.
- However, with the inclusion of unit 7 on patterns there is evidence to refute cluster to cluster and domain to cluster connection.