The instructional materials reviewed for Japan Math Kindergarten do not meet expectations for assessing grade-level content.

The materials include 13 Unit Tests, two Midterm Tests, and two Final Tests provided in the materials. 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 Final Test 1, Skills 4, students “Calculate 1 + 9, 7 + 3, 6 + 1, and 3 + 4”, but there is not space, context, or representation provided. For K.OA.5, students demonstrate fluency within 5, while the assessment addresses fluency within 10 (1.OA.6).
• In Unit Test 5, Skill 2, students draw a circle to extend a pattern. Creating or extending patterns aligns to 4.OA.5.
• In Unit Test 9, Skill 5, students compare three objects which aligns to 1.MD.1.
• In Unit Test 10, Skill 1, and Midterm Test, Skill 2, students count a scattered configuration of 16 and 19, which does not align to K.CC.5, count scattered configurations up to 10.
• In Unit Test 10, Skill 2, students “calculate 16 + 2.” The materials use the term “calculate” for students to demonstrate fluency without representation. This problem utilizes numbers within 20 (2.OA.2).
• In Unit Test 10, Skill 4, Midterm Test, Skill 6, and Final Test, Skill 5, students circle the card with the larger number from the pairs 9 or 11 and 13 or 20, which aligns to 1.NBT.3.

Examples of grade-level assessment items include:

• In Unit Test 2, Question 1, students “write the number of each object with a picture of three ice cream cones.” In the teacher guide the exemplar response is: “students write 3.” In the same assessment, students are provided a “picture of 8 kittens” with the exemplar response to write the number 8 (K.CC.3).
• In Unit Test 4, Question 1, students match real-world objects with three dimensional shapes by drawing a line to match (ex. birthday hat to cone), K.G.1.

The instructional materials reviewed for Japan Math Kindergarten do not meet the expectation for spending the majority of class time on the major clusters of each grade. For Kindergarten, this includes all clusters within K.OA, K.NBT, and K.CC.

• The number of units devoted to major work of the grade (including supporting work connected to the major work) is 8 out of 13, which is approximately 62%.
• The number of lessons devoted to major work of the grade (including supporting work connected to the major work) is 72 out of 150, which is approximately 48%.
• The number of days devoted to major work (including assessments and supporting work connected to the major work) is 91 out of 163, which is approximately 59%. 

The number of days devoted to major work is most representative of the instructional materials because that involves assessments. As a result, approximately 59% of the instructional materials focus on major work of the grade.

The instructional materials for Japan Math Kindergarten 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 7, students calculate fluently within 10, which aligns to 1.OA.6, and solve addition problems with 10, but this is not identified in the Teacher’s Edition.
• In Unit 8, Lessons 14 and 15 do not identify 1.OA.6, but students add and subtract fluently within 10.
• In Unit 10, Lessons 1-8, students count a scattered configuration of 13, which does not align to K.CC.5, count a scattered configuration up to 10. Also, students circle a group of ten and begin unitizing to write numerals as “tens” and “ones”, which aligns to 1.NBT.2, but is not identified. 
• In Unit 10, Lesson 10, students skip count by 2s and 5s to find how many. K.CC.1 includes counting by 1s and 10s. The instructional materials do not address the grade level standard.
• In Unit 10, Lessons 14 and 15, students circle cards with the larger number. The options often are above 10 (11-19), which aligns to 1.NBT.3, but is not identified as such. 
• In Unit 10, Lesson 16, students write the number “4 more than 1” or “2 less than 17”. K.CC.5 is understanding that a number is 1 larger for each successive number name, so Lesson 16 addresses 1.OA.5 and is not identified by the materials. 
• In Unit 10, Lessons 17, 18, and 20, students complete problems that are addition and subtraction within 20, which aligns to 1.OA.1, but are not identified as such.
• In Unit 10, Lesson 19, students use addition to fluently add within 20, which aligns to 2.OA.2, but is not identified as such. 
• In Unit 13, students place numbers above 20 into tens and ones, which aligns to 1.NBT.2, but is not identified in the instructional materials.

Examples of the instructional materials not addressing grade-level standards or giving all students extensive work with grade-level problems include:

• The materials identify K.OA.3,4 in Unit 6. The last 4 lessons of Unit 6 address K.OA.4 by making 10. In the other lessons, the students decompose numbers starting at 5 and going up to 9 for each lesson. Students do not extend their knowledge of K.OA.3 and K.OA.4 to include numbers up to 20.
• K.CC.6 is not addressed. 
• K.G.5 is not addressed. 
• K.CC.1 is addressed one time in Unit 13.