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Report Overview
Summary of Alignment & Usability: Japan Math | Math
Math K-2
The instructional materials for Japan Math Grades K-2 do not meet expectations for alignment to the CCSSM. In Gateway 1, the instructional materials do not meet the expectations for focus as they assess grade-level standards. The Kindergarten instructional materials devote approximately 59% of instructional time to the major work of the grade, while the instructional materials for Grades 1-2 both devote more than 65% of instructional time to the major work of the grade. For coherence, the instructional materials have an amount of content designated for one grade level that is partially viable for one school year, and the instructional materials for are not coherent and consistent with the Standards. Since the materials do not meet expectations for alignment to the CCSSM, they were not reviewed for rigor and the Mathematical Practices in Gateway 2 and for usability in Gateway 3.
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)
Report for 1st Grade
Alignment Summary
The instructional materials for Japan Math Grade 1 do not meet expectations for alignment to the CCSSM. In Gateway 1, the instructional materials do not meet the expectations for focus as they assess above-grade-level standards and devote approximately 84% of instructional time to the major work of the grade. For coherence, the instructional materials are not coherent and consistent with the Standards. The instructional materials have an amount of content designated for one grade level that is partially viable for one school year, and the materials partially engage students in the major work of the grade through supporting content. The materials do not identify content from future grades, do not give students work with extensive grade-level problems, and miss connections between two or more clusters in a domain or two or more domains. Since the materials do not meet the expectations for focus and coherence in Gateway 1, they were not reviewed for rigor and the mathematical practices in Gateway 2 or usability in Gateway 3.
1st Grade
Alignment (Gateway 1 & 2)
Usability (Gateway 3)
Overview of Gateway 1
Focus & Coherence
The instructional materials for Japan Math Grade 1 do not meet expectations for focus and coherence in Gateway 1. For focus, the instructional materials do not meet the expectations for assessing grade-level standards, although the amount of time devoted to the major work of the grade is approximately 84%. For coherence, the instructional materials are not coherent and consistent with the Standards. The instructional materials have an amount of content designated for one grade level that is partially viable for one school year, and the materials partially engage students in the major work of the grade through supporting content. The materials do not identify content from future grades, do not give students work with extensive grade-level problems, and miss connections between two or more clusters in a domain or two or more domains.
Gateway 1
v1.0
Criterion 1.1: Focus
The instructional materials reviewed for Japan Math Grade 1 do not meet expectations for not assessing topics before the grade level in which the topic should be introduced. The instructional materials include assessment items that align to standards above this grade level.
Indicator 1A
The instructional materials reviewed for Japan Math Grade 1 do not meet the expectations for assessing grade-level content.
The materials include a Readiness Test, 14 Unit Tests, two Midterm Tests, and two Final Tests. The assessments include above-grade level content that would require major modifications and, if removed, would change the underlying structure and intent of the materials. Examples include:
- In Unit Test 1, Question 1, and Unit Test 3, Questions 1-2, students “answer the following question and answer which animal is there the most of” after viewing a graph. In 1.MD.4, students interpret data with three categories, but these questions include four or five categories.
- In Unit Test 13, Skill 2, and Final Test, Skill 2, students compute 53-3, 78-5, and 66-6, which aligns to 2.NBT.5.
- In Final Test 1, Skill 5, students solve word problems with four addends, which does not align to 1.OA.2 (solving problems with three addends).
- In Unit Test 7, Skill 11, Question 4, students partition hexagons in various ways. This does not align to 1.G.3, partitioning circles and rectangles into two and four equal shares and describing the shares.
- In Unit Test 9, Skill 2, students find the next shape in the pattern. Creating or extending patterns aligns to 4.OA.5.
Examples of grade-level assessment items include:
- In Unit Test 1, Questions 3 and 4, students show how many fruits there are using a picture of bananas, apples, and oranges on a graph. In this problem, students organize, represent, and interpret data (1.MD.4).
- In Unit Test 2, students match analog clocks with times to the hour and half hour (1.MD.3).
- In Unit Test 3, students add and subtract in math sentences with three numbers (1.OA.2).
- In Unit Test 4, students calculate addition within 20 using a recommended strategy of decomposing to make 10 (1.OA.6).
Criterion 1.2: Coherence
The instructional materials reviewed for Japan Math Grade 1 meet expectations for devoting the large majority of class time to the major work of the grade. The instructional materials spend approximately 84% of instructional time on the major work of the grade.
Indicator 1B
The instructional materials reviewed for Japan Math Grade 1 meet the expectation for spending the majority of class time on the major clusters of each grade. For Grade 1, this includes all clusters within 1.OA and 1.NBT along with 1.MD.A.
- The number of units devoted to major work of the grade (including supporting work connected to the major work) is 9 out of 14, which is approximately 64%.
- The number of lessons devoted to major work of the grade (including supporting work connected to the major work) is 105 out of 140, which is approximately 75%.
- The number of days devoted to major work (including assessments and supporting work connected to the major work) is 129 out of 154, which is approximately 84%.
The number of days devoted to major work is most representative of the instructional materials because that involves assessments. As a result, approximately 84% of the instructional materials focus on major work of the grade.
Criterion 1.3: Coherence
The instructional materials for Japan Math Grade 1 do not meet expectations for being coherent and consistent with the Standards. The instructional materials partially engage students in the major work of the grade through supporting content, do not identify content from future grades, do not give students work with extensive grade-level problems, and miss connections between two or more clusters in a domain or two or more domains.
Indicator 1C
The instructional materials reviewed for Japan Math Grade 1 partially meet expectations for supporting content enhancing focus and coherence simultaneously by engaging students in the major work of the grade. Supporting standards appear in lessons with no connections to the major work of the grade, with a few exceptions.
Examples of supporting work not connected to major work of the grade and/or omitted connections include:
- In Unit 2, students match time with an analog clock, record the time on an analog clock, and draw the hands on the clock (1.MD.3), but there are no connections in the unit to 1.OA or 1.NBT.
- Units 10 and 11 address 1.G, but there are no connections to major work of the grade.
Examples of supporting work connected to major work of the grade include:
- In Unit 1, students create graphs and answer questions of “how many?” (1.MD.4), and the materials make connections to 1.OA.1, using addition and subtraction within 20 to answer word problems. For example, in Lesson 3, the Teacher Edition states, “Show how many toys there are in the graph below.”
- In Unit 9, Lesson 4, the materials connect 1.G.2 connect with 1.OA.1 as students count and add the number of shapes. For example: “What kinds of shapes are there and how many of them are there?” “There are 4 kinds of shapes. There are 12 triangles. There are 24 pieces altogether.”
Indicator 1D
The instructional materials reviewed for Japan Math Grade 1 partially meet the expectation for having an amount of content that is viable for one school year.
According to the publisher, the instructional materials can be completed in 154 days as outlined in the teacher manual: one day per lesson and one day for each assessment. However, the content presented is insufficient to the instructional time allotted for each lesson, and teachers would need to make modifications to ensure content is viable for one year.
The Teacher’s Edition includes a scope and sequence of the instructional materials, noting there are 14 units with 140 lessons in total, each designed for 50 minutes. The 50 minutes for each lesson includes workbook pages for students to complete with scripted teacher directions and question prompts. Each prompt is accompanied by a suggested amount of time. In the materials, time was not identified or described for assessments, so one day was allotted per unit for assessments.
Lessons that include suggested prompt activities that take less than the 50 minutes described in the Scope and Sequence include, but are not limited to:
- In Unit 1, Lesson 2 is 15 minutes.
- In Unit 2, Lessons 1 and 2 are 15 minutes.
- In Unit 4, Lesson 2 is 30 minutes.
- In Unit 5, Lesson 3 is 15 minutes.
- In Unit 6, Lesson 1 is 30 minutes.
In addition, examples of lesson prompts that would not provide 50 minutes of instructional time include, but are not limited to:
- In Unit 8, Lesson 1, 10 minutes are suggested for teachers to ask students, “What kind of situation is this?” (displaying a picture), “How many children are there?” “How many girls are there?” and “Are there more girls or boys?”
- In Unit 8, Lesson 2, 20 minutes are suggested for students to answer “What can we understand about this diagram?” “How is this picture different, how is it the same?”
- In Unit 9, Lesson 2, 35 minutes are suggested for students to lay out the shapes to match the picture (seven shapes in all).
- In Unit 11, Lesson 3, 10 minutes is suggested for students to look at a picture of two faces and think about the shapes.
Teachers would need to find additional content for many lessons to meet the time frame of 50 minutes. Optional expansion workbooks can be purchased separately for more questions, however, these were not reviewed as they are not part of the core program.
Indicator 1E
The instructional materials reviewed for Japan Math Grade 1 do not meet expectations for being consistent with the progressions in the Standards. Overall, the materials do not provide all students with extensive work on grade-level problems. The instructional materials do not develop according to the grade-by-grade progressions in the Standards. Content from prior and future grades is not clearly identified nor related to the grade-level work. The instructional materials do not relate grade-level concepts explicitly to prior knowledge from earlier grades. At the beginning of each unit, there is "Explanation of the Unit" which provides a description of connections to concepts that have been taught earlier and is identified as “What Students Have Learned Previously”.
The lessons follow a structure of Try, Understand, Apply, and Master. Most lessons do not provide enough opportunity for students to independently demonstrate mastery. The lessons include teacher-directed problems that the class solves together, but the instructional materials do not include supplemental practice or problems that students complete independently. Whole class instruction is used in the lessons, and all students are expected to do the same work throughout the lesson.
Examples of content from prior and future grades that is not clearly identified include:
- In Unit 1, Lessons 2-4, students make graphs with 4 or 5 categories of data, which aligns to 2.MD.10, but is not identified as such.
- In Unit 3, Lesson 4, students start with a total amount in a word problem and subtract 2 subtrahends (some dogs leave, then some more dogs leave). This is a two-step problem, which is above grade level and not identified in the instructional materials.
- In Unit 13, Lesson 2, 4, 6, and 9, students subtract two-digit numbers by one-digit numbers above 20, which aligns to Grade 2 standards and is not indicated by the publisher.
Examples of the instructional materials not addressing grade-level standards or giving all students extensive work with grade-level problems include:
- In Unit 9, Lesson 6, students choose the next shape in a pattern of shapes by circling the shape from a choice of three, which does not align to 1.G.2 (composing shapes) because students are not composing shapes.
- 1.OA.7, determine the meaning of the equal sign, is not addressed.
- 1.NBT.5, add or subtract 10 to a two-digit number mentally, is not addressed.
- There are no lessons addressing 1.G.1, distinguish between defining and non-defining attributes.
Indicator 1F
The instructional materials for Japan Math Grade 1 partially meet expectations for fostering coherence through connections at a single grade, where appropriate and required by the Standards.
The materials include learning objectives that are visibly shaped by CCSSM cluster headings, and examples include:
- In Unit 4, Lesson 3, the objective, “Understand how to calculate and addition problem with an augend of 9 by decomposing the addend in 9 + 5,” is shaped by 1.OA.C, Add and subtract within 20.
- In Unit 6, Lesson 3, the objective, "Understand how to count two-digit numbers (groups of ten and some more)," is shaped by 1.NBT.B, Understand place value.
- In Unit 7, Lessons 2 and 3, the objective, “Understand how to compare lengths using arbitrary units,” is shaped by 1.MD.A, Measure lengths indirectly and by iterating length units.
The materials do not 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 examples include, but are not limited to:
- In Unit 4, students adding and subtracting within 20 (1.OA.C) is not connected to representing and solving problems involving addition and subtraction (1.OA.A).
- In Unit 7, students measuring lengths indirectly and by iterating length units (1.MD.A) is not connected to grade-level work with addition and subtraction (1.OA).