2nd Grade - Gateway 1
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Focus & Coherence
Gateway 1 - Meets Expectations | 85% |
|---|---|
Criterion 1.1: Focus | 2 / 2 |
Criterion 1.2: Coherence | 4 / 4 |
Criterion 1.3: Coherence | 6 / 8 |
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the expectations for focus on major work and coherence. The instructional materials meet the expectations for focus through their assessments and design concerning class time spent on major work. The instructional materials partially meet the expectations for coherence, and they show strengths in having an amount of content that is viable for one school year and fostering coherence through connections within the grade.
Criterion 1.1: Focus
The instructional materials reviewed meet the expectation for not assessing topics before the grade-level in which the topic should be introduced. Overall, there are no assessment items that align to topics beyond Grade 2.
Indicator 1a
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the expectations for focus within assessment. There are no above grade-level assessment questions, and the assessments include material that is appropriate for Grade 2. Probability, statistical distributions, similarity, transformations and congruence do not appear in the assessments.
In the teacher’s edition, assessments for each unit are listed including portfolio opportunities recommending which student work would be appropriate. Assessments are found in the Assessment Sourcebook.
Examples of quality assessments include:
- On Unit 2 Session 2.5 Assessment Sourcebook page A14, Quiz 1 assesses students on identifying triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons, hexagons, and cubes (2.G.1), and there is an item where students have to match the name of each of these shapes to a picture of each shape.
- On Unit 5 Session 2.6 Assessment Sourcebook page A40, Quiz 1 assesses students on comparing two three-digit numbers (2.NBT.4), and there is an item that represents two three-digit numbers with base-10 blocks. Students are supposed to write the numbers and complete inequality statements once the numbers are written.
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 meet the expectation for students and teachers devoting the large majority of class time to the major work of the grade when the materials are used as designed. Overall, the materials spend at least 65% of class time on the major work of Grade 2.
Indicator 1b
Instructional material spends the majority of class time on the major cluster of each grade.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the expectations for spending the majority of class time on the major clusters of the grade. Overall, approximately 70 percent of class time is spent on major work of the grade.
The instructional materials are separated into eight units. Each unit is composed of one, two, three, or four investigations, and each investigation is divided into sessions. The Implementing Investigations guide states in Part 4 (Classroom Routines) within the Overview that each session includes a Classroom Routine activity that is “introduced as a session activity and are then used outside of math time (e.g., during morning meeting, just before or after lunch or recess, or at the beginning or end of the day) or integrated into the math lesson as the first 10 minutes of a 70-minute math block.” The Classroom Routine activity requires 10-15 minutes which provides daily practice and review of previously learned skills. Each session requires sixty minutes. Three perspectives were used when calculating major work of the grade: number of units, number of investigations, and number of sessions.
- Approximately 5 of the 8 units focus on major work of the grade. This represents approximately 63 percent of the units.
- Approximately 13 of the 21 investigations focus on major work of the grade. This represents approximately 62 percent of the investigations.
- Approximately 100 of 143 sessions focus on or support the major work of the grade. This represents approximately 70 percent of the sessions.
The third perspective, number of sessions, is the most reflective of the instructional materials because it is based on the sessions which includes the instructional activities, review, and practice. As a result, approximately 70 percent of the materials focus on major work of the grade.
Criterion 1.3: Coherence
Coherence: Each grade's instructional materials are coherent and consistent with the Standards.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 partially meet the expectations for being coherent and consistent with the Standards. The instructional materials show strength in having an amount of content that is viable for one school year, but due to not always identifying work that is off grade-level, the materials are not always consistent with the progressions in the Standards. The materials do foster coherence through connections within the grade, but few of those connections are between major work of the grade and supporting work.
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 2 partially meet expectations that supporting content enhances focus and coherence simultaneously by engaging students in the major work of the grade. Throughout the instructional materials, major work of the grade is sometimes supported by non-major work. However, there are some missed natural connections, and the supporting standards occasionally appear in lessons with few connections to the major work of the grade.
Although some attempts to connect supporting work to major work are made, students can often complete problems aligned to supporting work without engaging in the major work of the grade.
- In Unit 4 Session 1.1 uses picture graphs (2.MD.10) to represent data not connected to major work.
- In Unit 4 Session 1.2 introduces bar graphs (2.MD.10) for 15 minutes of a 70 minute math class and then plays “Guess My Rule,” which is a game that identifies common attributes. There are no connections to major work.
- In Unit 4 Sessions 1.5 and 1.6 students do not work with the bar graph (2.MD.10) outside of creating it. Bar graphs could support the major work by having the students add or subtract with the data.
- There are missed opportunities to make connections between 2.MD.7 (time) and Numbers and Operations in Base Ten and Operations and Algebraic Thinking.
Occasionally supporting standards are used to support the major work of the grade.
- In Unit 1 the Session 3.3 Collect $0.50 activity connects supporting work naturally to major work. Money is a supporting standard (2.MD.8), but students are working on adding the value of the coins together which directly supports major work of the grade (2.NBT.6).
- In Unit 3 Session 1.4 major work is supported through the use of bar graph data (2.MD.10) for adding and subtracting during the discussion portion (2.OA.1).
- In Unit 7 Sessions 2.1 and 2.2 students are working with the supporting cluster 2.OA.C. Students are skip counting and adding within 100, which supports the major work of the grade. (2.NBT.A).
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 2 meet the expectations for the amount of content being viable for one school year.
- The instructional materials are divided into 8 units that have a total of 143 sessions.
- Assessments are done during sessions and are not counted as extra days.
- Each session is designed to be completed in 60-70 minutes with the majority of the sessions being 70 minutes. Each session is accompanied by a Ten-Minute Math activity that is designed to be completed in 10 minutes outside of math time.
- Each unit takes between 2 to 5.5 weeks to complete according to the “Grade 2 Curriculum Units and Pacing Chart” on page 9 of the Implementing Investigations in Grade 2 guide. Each unit includes an additional day beyond the days required to finish the sessions. This day could be used to complete the Intervention, Practice, and/or Extension activities that are included at the end of each investigation.
- The pacing chart on page 9 of the Implementing Investigations In Grade 2 guide suggests a total of approximately 28.5-32.5 weeks or 140-165 days.
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 materials reviewed for Grade 2 partially meet the expectations for being consistent with the progressions in the Standards. In general, the materials develop according to the grade-by-grade progressions in the Standards, but content from future grades is not clearly identified. The materials provide extensive work with grade-level problems for most standards, but the materials do not relate grade-level concepts explicitly to prior knowledge from earlier grades.
The materials develop according to the grade-by-grade progressions in the Standards, but content from future grades is not clearly identified. Examples of unclear identification include:
- Unit 2 Sessions 3.5 and 3.6 have students notating fractions (3.NF.1).
- In Unit 2 Session 2.4 students build and count arrays of more than 5 x 5, which is above the grade-level standard.
- In Unit 4 Session 2.5 students analyze numerical data in line plots. In grade 2, line plot data is limited to measurement data (2.MD.9).
Some of the above grade-level content is identified as above grade-level.
- Unit 8 describes the unit as laying a piece of the foundation for the work students do in Grade 3 and beyond as they build their understanding of the operations of multiplication and division.
The materials often give all students extensive work with grade-level problems.
- Recommendations for differentiation allow students to primarily work with grade-level tasks.
- The standards are addressed throughout the entire series, and no standards were completely omitted. Overall, the materials were on grade-level, and students had a variety of opportunities to engage in grade-level problems.
- The materials give students extensive work with most domains. However, 2.MD.2 is addressed in three sessions within Unit 6. These sessions may not allow all students to master measuring the length of an object twice, using length units of different lengths for the two measurements, and describing how the two measurements relate to the size of the unit chosen.
- Standard 2.MD.3- estimate lengths using units of inches, feet, centimeters, and meters- is addressed in five lessons within Unit 6. This may not provide enough explicit instruction with measurement for all students.
The materials do not consistently relate grade-level concepts explicitly to prior knowledge from earlier grades. The scope and sequence found in the Implementing Investigations book gives some limited information relating to knowledge from earlier and future grades by listing major topics and which units in prior and future grades address those topics. Each unit has a “Connections: Looking Back” section at the beginning of the unit. Several units specifically refer to work from prior grades without providing explicit connections to specific standards.
- Unit 1 says that the unit builds on all of the Kindergarten and Grade 1 number units, which focused in large part on counting, composing and decomposing numbers, fluency with single-digit computation within 10, and representing and solving a variety of types of addition and subtraction problems.
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 2 meet the expectations for fostering coherence through connections at a single grade, where appropriate and required by the Standards.
The materials begin each investigation with a planner that lists objectives for each session, and in the session materials, Math Focus points are listed at the beginning of each session. The instructional materials include objectives and Math Focus points that are visibly shaped by the CCSSM cluster headings for Grade 2.
- In Unit 3 Session 3.3 the Math Focus Point is “Developing fluency with addition and subtraction within 20.” This is visibly shaped by cluster 2.OA.B, Add and subtract within 20.
- In Unit 6 Session 2.1 the Math Focus Points are “Becoming familiar with the terms inches, feet, and yards as standard units of measure," "Using a ruler as a standard measuring tool," and "Measuring and comparing lengths.” These are visibly shaped by cluster 2.MD.A, Measure and estimate lengths in standard units.
- In Unit 7 Session 2.4 the Math Focus Points are “Describing the relationship between a number of equal groups and their total," "Representing multiplicative relationships with tables," and "Using an equation to model adding equal groups.” These are visibly shaped by cluster 2.OA.C, Work with equal groups of objects to gain foundations for multiplication.
The instructional materials include problems and activities that connect two or more clusters in a domain or two or more domains.
- In Unit 3, Sessions 3.3 and 3.4 connect 2.OA.A, 2.OA.B, 2.NBT.A, 2.NBT.B, and 2.MD.B as students solve problems by using their understanding of place value to add and subtract within 20 along with relating addition and subtraction to length.
- In Unit 8, Sessions 2.1 through 2.4 connect 2.NBT.A and 2.NBT.B as students use their understandings of place value and properties of operations to add and subtract within 20.