2025
Kendall Hunt IM v.360

3rd-5th Grade - Gateway 3

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Gateway Ratings Summary

Teacher and Student Supports

Gateway 3 - Meets Expectations
100%
Criterion 3.1: Teacher Supports
10 / 10
Criterion 3.2: Student Supports
6 / 6
Criterion 3.3: Intentional Design
Narrative Only

The materials reviewed for Kendall Hunt IM v.360 Grade 3 through 5 meet expectations for Teacher & Student Supports. The materials meet expectations for Criterion 1, Teacher Supports, Criterion 2, Student Supports and Criterion 3, Intentional Design.

Criterion 3.1: Teacher Supports

10 / 10

Information on Multilingual Learner (MLL) Supports in This Criterion

For some indicators in this criterion, we also display evidence and scores for pair MLL indicators.

While MLL indicators are scored, these scores are reported separately from core content scores. MLL scores do not currently impact core content scores at any level—whether indicator, criterion, gateway, or series.

To view all MLL evidence and scores for this grade band or grade level, select the "Multilingual Learner Supports" view from the left navigation panel.

Materials include opportunities for teachers to effectively plan and utilize with integrity to further develop their own understanding of the content.

The materials reviewed for Kendall Hunt IM v.360 Grade 3 through 5 meet expectations for Teacher Supports. The materials provide clear guidance through useful annotations and suggestions for enacting both student and ancillary materials. They include explanations and examples of grade-level concepts and standards, along with how these connect to prior and future grade levels, supporting teacher content knowledge. A year-long scope and sequence is provided, along with standards correlation information. The materials offer strategies for communicating with stakeholders and suggestions to support student progress. Additionally, they explain the program’s instructional approaches, identify research-based strategies, and clarify the role of the standards. A comprehensive list of required supplies is included, as well as multiple opportunities for assessing student learning, guidance for interpreting performance, and suggestions for follow-up instruction.

Narrative Only
Narrative Only
Narrative Only

Indicator 3a

2 / 2

Materials provide teacher guidance with useful annotations and suggestions for how to enact the student materials and ancillary materials, with specific attention to engaging students in engaging students to guide their mathematical development.

The materials reviewed for Kendall Hunt IM v.360 Grade 3 through Grade 5 meet expectations for providing teacher guidance with useful annotations and suggestions for how to enact the student materials and ancillary materials, with specific attention to engaging students in order to guide their mathematical development. 

The Course Guide contains sections titled What’s in an IM Lesson, Key Structures in This Course, and Scope and Sequence, along with Pacing Guide and Dependency Diagram which provide instructional guidance related to the use of student and ancillary materials. Examples include:

  • Course Guide, Key Structures in This Course, Coherent Progression, “Each unit starts with an invitation to the mathematics. The first few lessons provide an accessible entry point for all students and offer the opportunity to observe students’ prior understandings. Each lesson starts with a Warm-up to activate students’ prior knowledge and to set up the work of the day. This is followed by instructional activities in which students are introduced to new concepts, procedures, contexts, or representations, or make connections between them. The Lesson Synthesis at the end consolidates understanding and makes the learning goals of the lesson explicit. In the Cool-down that follows, students apply what they learned. Each activity starts with a Launch that gives all students access to the task. Independent work time follows, allowing them to grapple with problems individually before working in small groups. In the Activity Synthesis at the end, students consolidate their learning by making connections between their work and the mathematical goals. Each activity includes carefully chosen contexts and numbers that support the coherent sequence of learning goals in the lesson.” 

  • Course Guide, Key Structures in This Course, Principles of IM Curriculum Design, Productive Discussions states, "Promoting productive and meaningful conversations between students and teachers is essential to success in a problem-based classroom. To facilitate these conversations, the IM curriculum incorporates the framework presented in 5 Practices for Orchestrating Productive Mathematical Discussions (Smith & Stein, 2011). The 5 Practices are: anticipating, monitoring, selecting, sequencing, and making connections between students’ responses. All IM lessons support the practices of anticipating, monitoring, and selecting students’ work to share during whole-group discussions. In lessons in which students make connections between representations, strategies, concepts, and procedures, the Lesson Narrative and the Activity Narrative support the practices of sequencing and connecting as well, and the lesson is tagged so that these opportunities are easily identifiable. For additional opportunities to connect students’ work, look for activities tagged with MLR7 Compare and Connect. Similar to the 5 Practices routine, MLR7 supports the practices of monitoring, selecting, and making connections. In curriculum workshops and PLCs, rehearse and reflect on enacting the 5 Practices."

  • Course Guide, What’s in an IM Lesson, Narratives Tell The Story states, “The story of each grade is told in eight or nine units. Each unit has a narrative that describes the mathematical work that will unfold in that unit. Each lesson and each activity in the unit also has a narrative. The Lesson Narrative explains: The mathematical content of the lesson and its place in the learning sequence. The meaning of any new terms introduced in the lesson. How the mathematical practices come into play, as appropriate. The Activity Narrative explains: The mathematical purpose of the activity and its place in the learning sequence. What students are doing during the activity. What to look for, while students are working on an activity, to orchestrate an effective Activity Synthesis. Connections to the mathematical practices, when appropriate.”

  • Course Guide, Scope and Sequence, lists each of the units, explains connections to prior learning, describes the progression of learning throughout the unit, and the integration of new terminology/vocabulary throughout each unit.

  • Course Guide, Pacing Guide and Dependency Diagram, shows the interconnectedness between lessons and units within each grade and across all grades.

  • Glossary, provides a visual glossary for teachers that includes both definitions and illustrations.

Materials include sufficient annotations and suggestions presented within the context of the specific learning objectives. An example includes:

  • In Grade 3, Unit 5, Fractions as Numbers, Lesson 17, Warm-up, provides teachers guidance on how to work with estimation and fractions. Launch states, “Groups of 2. Display the image. ‘What is an estimate that’s too high? Too low? About right?’ 1 minute: quiet think time. Activity, ‘Discuss your thinking with your partner.’ 1 minute: partner discussion. Record responses. Activity Synthesis, Consider asking: ‘Is anyone’s estimate less than ¼ inch? Is anyone’s estimate greater than ½ inch?’ ‘Based on this discussion, does anyone want to revise their estimate?’”

  • In Grade 4, Unit 7, Angles and Angle Measurement, Lesson 13, Lesson Synthesis provides teachers guidance on how to help students find unknown measurements by composing or decomposing known measurements. “‘Today we used different operations to find the measurements of different angles.’ Display: ‘Here are some angles whose measurements we tried to find: Angle P, Angle S and some angles composed of smaller angles. We used different operations to find the unknown measurements.’ ‘Which of these angles can we find by using division?’ (Angle P: If we know that 2 copies of P make a right angle, which is 90°, then dividing 90° by 2 gives us the measure of P.) ‘Which unknown angle can we find by multiplication?’ (The angle made up of four 30° angles has a measurement of 4x30.) ‘Which unknown angle can we find by subtracting one angle from another? (Angle S: We can subtract 30° from 180° and divide by 2 to find the measure of S, which is 75°.) ‘Which unknown angle can we find by adding known angles?’ (Once we know the measure of angle S we can find the last angle: 15+75+15, which is 105°)’”

  • In Grade 5, Unit 1, Finding Volume, Lesson 4, Activity 1, teachers are provided context to help students reason about the volume of prisms. Narrative states, “This activity continues to develop the idea of decomposing rectangular prisms into layers. Students explicitly multiply the number of cubes in a base layer by the number of layers. Students can use any layer in the prism as the base layer as long as the height is the number of those base layers.” Launch states, “Groups of 2. Display the first image from the student book. ‘What do you know about the volume of this prism?’ ‘What would you need to find out to find the exact volume of this prism?’ ‘You are going to work with prisms that are only partially filled in this activity.’ Give students access to connecting cubes.” Activity states, “5 minutes: independent work time. 5 minutes: partner work time. Monitor for students who: Notice that Prisms A and D and Prisms B and C are ‘the same’ but sitting on different faces, so the layers might be counted in different ways. Reason about the partially filled prisms by referring to the cubes in one layer they would see if all of the cubes were shown. Recognize that there are several different layers they can use to determine the volume of a prism, all of which result in the same volume.”

Indicator 3b

2 / 2

Materials contain explanations and examples of grade-level/course-level concepts and/or standards and how the concepts and/or standards align to other grade/course levels so that teachers can improve their own knowledge of the subject.

The materials reviewed for Kendall Hunt IM v.360 Grade 3 through Grade 5 meet expectations for containing adult-level explanations and examples of the more complex grade-level concepts and concepts beyond the current grade, so that teachers can improve their own knowledge of the subject. 

The Further Reading section, located within the Course Guide, connects research to pedagogy. It includes explanations and examples of both grade-level and above-grade-level content to support teacher understanding. Additionally, Unit Overviews, Lesson Narratives, and Activity Synthesis sections throughout the lessons provide similar support, offering explanations and examples of how grade-level concepts connect to content in other grade levels.

 Examples include:

  • Grade 3, Course Guide, Further Reading, “Unit 1, Ratio Tables are not Elementary”, supports teachers with context for work beyond the grade. “In this blog post, McCallum discusses the difference between multiplication tables and tables of equivalent ratios, highlighting how K–5 arithmetic work prepares students to make sense of these tables.”

  • Grade 3, Unit 6, Measuring Length, Time, Lesson 16, Activity 1, Narrative states, “The purpose of this activity is for students to use the provided materials to design their own game. Students decide the rules and objectives of the game. After playing the game at least once, students revise their design to include two of the following elements: measuring elapsed time, measuring distance, multiplication or division within 100, addition or subtraction within 1,000. If there is time, a pair of students from each group can swap with another group at different points of this activity so they have an opportunity to play a different game.”

  • Grade 4, Course Guide, Further Reading, “Unit 7, Making Peace with the Basics of Trigonometry” supports teachers with context for work beyond the grade. “In this blog post, Phillips highlights how student exploration in trigonometry allows them to see that trigonometric ratios come from measuring real triangles, fostering conceptual understanding. This blog is included in this unit as an example of how concepts of angle come into play in mathematics beyond elementary school.”

  • Grade 4, Unit 6, Multiplying and Dividing Multi-digit Numbers, Lesson 25, Lesson Narrative states, “In the final lesson of the unit, students apply their knowledge of numbers in base-ten and their estimation and computation skills to solve problems about languages and populations in the United States. The census data used here prompts students to work with large numbers and to interpret them carefully.”

  • Grade 5, Course Guide, Further Reading, Unit 3, “Why is a negative times a negative a positive?”, supports teachers with context for work beyond the grade. “In this blog post, McCallum discusses how the ‘rule' for multiplying negative numbers is grounded in the distributive property.”

  • Grade 5, Unit 6, More Decimals and Fraction Operations, Lesson 21, Lesson Narrative states, “This lesson is optional because it does not address any new mathematical content standards. This lesson does provide students with an opportunity to apply precursor skills of mathematical modeling (MP4). In this lesson, students brainstorm and define categories of how to spend time. Then they collect and represent data on a line plot. They analyze and describe the data to tell a story about the use of time.”

Indicator 3c

1 / 1

Materials include a year-long scope and sequence with standards correlation information.

The materials reviewed for Kendall Hunt IM v.360 Grade 3 through Grade 5 meet expectations for including a year-long scope and sequence with standards correlation information.

The Course Guide includes multiple components that support planning and understanding of the program’s structure and standards alignment. 

Examples in Grade 3 include:

  • The Scope and Sequence section narratively outlines unit content, prior knowledge, future learning, and terminology. The materials state, “The big ideas in IM Grade 3 include: developing understanding of multiplication and division, and strategies for multiplication and division within 100; developing understanding of fractions, especially unit fractions (fractions with numerator 1); developing understanding of the structure of rectangular arrays and of area; and describing and analyzing two-dimensional shapes.”

  • Lessons by Standard, which provides a table that shows each content standard for the grade level and the lessons in which it appears. For example, 3.OA.A.1 is addressed in Unit 1, Lessons 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, and 19; Unit 2, Lesson 1; and Unit 8, Lesson 13.

  • Standards by Lesson provides a table listing the standards covered within each lesson. For example, Unit 8, Lesson 9 addresses 3.MD.C.7; 3.OA.B.5; and 3.OA.C.7.

  • Standards for Mathematical Practice, mapping practice standards (MPs) to lessons. For example, Unit 4, Lesson 4 integrates MP2, and MP6.

Examples in Grade 4 include:

  • The Scope and Sequence section narratively outlines unit content, prior knowledge, future learning, and terminology. The materials state, “The big ideas in IM Grade 4 include: developing understanding and fluency with multi-digit multiplication, and developing understanding of dividing to find quotients involving multi-digit dividends; developing an understanding of fraction equivalence, addition and subtraction of fractions with like denominators, and multiplication of fractions by whole numbers; understanding that geometric figures can be analyzed and classified, based on their properties, such as having parallel sides, perpendicular sides, particular angle measures, and symmetry.”

  • Lessons by Standard, which provides a table that shows each content standard for the grade level and the lessons in which it appears. For example, 4.NBT.B.4 is addressed in Unit 4, Lessons 10, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, and 23; Unit 6, Lessons 24 and 25; and Unit 9, Lessons 4 and 9.

  • Standards by Lesson provides a table listing the standards covered within each lesson. For example, Unit 5, Lesson 2 addresses 4.OA.A.1 and 4.OA.A.2.

  • Standards for Mathematical Practice, mapping practice standards (MPs) to lessons. For example, Unit 3, Lesson 6 integrates MP2, and MP3.

Examples in Grade 5 include:

  • The Scope and Sequence section narratively outlines unit content, prior knowledge, future learning, and terminology. The materials states, “The big ideas in IM Grade 5 include: developing fluency with addition and subtraction of fractions, and developing understanding of multiplication and division of fractions in limited cases (unit fractions divided by whole numbers and whole numbers divided by unit fractions); extending understanding of division to two-digit divisors; developing understanding of operations with decimals to hundredths, and developing fluency with whole- number and decimal operations; and developing understanding of volume.”

  • Lessons by Standard, which provides a table that shows each content standard for the grade level and the lessons in which it appears. For example, 5.NF.B.5 is addressed in Unit 6, Lesson 20.

  • Standards by Lesson provides a table listing the standards covered within each lesson. For example, Unit 3, Lesson 9 addresses 5.NF.B.4.a and 5.NF.B.6.

  • Standards for Mathematical Practice, mapping practice standards (MPs) to lessons. For example, Unit 5, Lesson 14 integrates MP5, and MP8.

In addition, the Pacing Guide and Dependency Diagram within the Course Guide outline the number of lessons and suggested teaching days per unit, supporting year-long planning and implementation. Each lesson includes references to the standards addressed and often notes how the lesson builds on prior learning.

Indicator 3d

Narrative Only

Materials provide strategies for informing all stakeholders, including students, parents, or caregivers about the program and suggestions for how they can help support student progress and achievement.

The materials reviewed for Kendall Hunt IM v.360 Grade 3 through Grade 5 provide strategies for informing all stakeholders, including students, parents, or caregivers about the program and suggestions for how they can help support student progress and achievement.

Course Guide, Information for Families, provides an overview of the problem-based curriculum and describes features such as collaboration, critical thinking, and accessible resources intended to support student learning. “Students frequently collaborate with their classmates—they talk about math, listen to each other’s ideas, justify their thinking, and critique the reasoning of others. This kind of instruction may look different from what you experienced in your own math education. Current research demonstrates that students need to think flexibly in order to use their mathematical skills in real life (and on the types of tests they will encounter throughout their schooling).”

Each unit includes Family Materials, providing a content overview, guiding questions, and practice problems. A narrative outlines student learning goals for each section, and the Try it at home! component offers structured activities and questions for families to reinforce the mathematical concepts. Examples include:

  • In Grade 3, Unit 4, Relating Multiplication to Division, Family Materials, “In this unit, students make sense of division and learn to multiply and divide whole numbers within 100. They also use the four operations to represent and solve two-step word problems. Students work toward these end-of-year goals: Fluently multiply and divide within 100. Know from memory all products of two one-digit numbers. Section A: What is Division?, In this section, students think about division in terms of equal-size groups, just as they have done with multiplication. Sections B: Relating Multiplication and Division, In this section, students make connections between the result of a division and the unknown factor in a multiplication equation. Section C: Multiplying Greater Numbers, In this section, students use different strategies to multiply greater numbers. First, they multiply a single-digit number by a multiple of 10, relying on what they know about place value. Section D: Dividing Greater Numbers, In this section, students divide greater numbers. They continue to use the relationship between multiplication and division and their understanding of place value to find quotients. Try it at home!, Near the end of the unit, ask your third grader to find answers to these problems: 6\times 16, 98\div 7. Questions that may be helpful as they work: How did you break up the expression to make it easier to solve? Can you rewrite the division problem as a multiplication problem?” The guide also includes a Spanish language version.

  • In Grade 4, Unit 2, Fraction Equivalence and Comparison, Family Materials, “In this unit, students deepen their knowledge of fractions. They explore the sizes of fractions, write equivalent fractions, and compare and order fractions with the denominators 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, and 100. Section A: Size and Location of Fractions, In this section, students revisit the meaning of ‘fraction.’ They use fraction strips, tape diagrams, and number lines to represent fractions. Students compare fractions that have the same numerator or the same denominator, and recall that equivalent fractions have the same size. Sections B: Equivalent Fractions, Here, students take a closer look at equivalent fractions and reason using number lines. They show that fractions at the same point on the number line are equivalent. Students then learn to tell if two fractions are equivalent, without using number lines. Section C: Fraction Comparison, In this section, students compare fractions that have different numerators and different denominators, using various strategies. For example, they may think of the fractions in terms of the same denominator, how far each fraction is from 0 on a number line, or how each fraction compares to \frac{1}{2} or 1. Students record the results of comparisons with symbols >, <, or =. They then solve problems that involve comparing fractional measurements, such as lengths in fractions of an inch. Try it at home!, Near the end of the unit, ask your fourth grader to compare \frac{3}{5} and \frac{3}{7} . Questions that may be helpful as they work: How are the two fractions alike? How are they different? What strategy did you use to compare? Is there a different strategy that you could use to compare?” The guide also includes a Spanish language version.

  • In Grade 5, Unit 2, Fractions as Quotients and Fraction Multiplication, Family Materials, “In this unit, students solve problems involving division of whole numbers, with answers that are fractions (which could be in the form of mixed numbers). They develop an understanding of fractions as the division of the numerator by the denominator, that is a\div b=\frac{a}{b}. They then solve problems that involve the multiplication of a whole number by a fraction or a mixed number. Section A: Fractions as Quotients, In this section, students learn that fractions are quotients and can be interpreted as division of the numerator by the denominator. Students draw and analyze tape diagrams that represent sharing situations. Through the context of first sharing 1, and then sharing more than 1, then sharing a number of things with increasingly more people, students notice patterns and begin to understand that in general \frac{a}{b}=a\div b. Sections B: Fractions of Whole Numbers, In this section, students make connections between multiplication and division and use visual representations that can show both operations. Section C: Area and Fractional Side Lengths, In this section, students use what they know about the area of a rectangle with whole-number side lengths to find the area of a rectangle that has a pair of whole-number side lengths and a pair of fractional side lengths. Try it at home!, Near the end of the unit, ask your fifth grader the following questions: 1. Write as many expressions as you can that represent this diagram:\frac{3}{5} and 4 is shown in the diagram. 2. What is the area of the following rectangle? Questions that may be helpful as they work: How are the two problems alike? How are they different? How does your expression represent the diagram? How did you break up the rectangle to help you solve for the entire area? What are the side lengths of the rectangle?” The guide also includes a Spanish language version.

Indicator 3e

2 / 2

Materials explain the program’s instructional approaches, identify research-based strategies, and explain the role of the standards.

The materials reviewed for Kendall Hunt IM v.360 Grade 3 meet expectations for explaining the program’s instructional approaches, identifying research-based strategies, and explaining the role of the standards. Examples include:

  • Course Guide, Problem-Based Teaching and Learning, “Illustrative Mathematics is a problem-based curriculum that fosters the development of mathematics learning communities in classrooms, gives students access to the mathematics through a coherent progression, and offers teachers the opportunity to deepen their knowledge of mathematics, students’ thinking, and their own teaching practice. The curriculum and the professional-learning materials support students’ and teachers’ learning, respectively. This document defines the principles that guide IM’s approach to mathematics teaching and learning. It then outlines how each component of the curriculum supports teaching and learning, based on these principles.”

  • Course Guide, Problem-Based Teaching and Learning, Learning Mathematics By Doing Mathematics, “Students learn mathematics as a result of solving problems. Mathematical ideas are the outcomes of the problem-solving experience rather than the elements that must be taught before problem solving” (Hiebert et al., 1996). A problem-based instructional framework supports teachers in structuring lessons so students are the problem solvers learning the mathematics.”

  • Course Guide, Key Structures in This Course, Coherent Progression, “The basic architecture of the materials supports all learners through a coherent progression of the mathematics, based both on the standards and on research-based learning trajectories. Activities and lessons are parts of a mathematical story that spans units and grade levels. This coherence allows students to view mathematics as a connected set of ideas that makes sense.”

  • Course Guide, What’s in an IM Lesson, Instructional Routines, Instructional routines (IRs) in the materials are designed to promote student engagement in mathematical conversations through predictable, discourse-driven structures. Instructional Routines state, “enacted in classrooms to structure the relationship between the teacher and the students around content in ways that consistently maintain high expectations of student learning while adapting to the contingencies of particular instructional interactions” (Kazemi, Franke, & Lampert, 2009). A small, intentionally selected set of IRs is used throughout the curriculum to support consistent implementation and reduce cognitive load for teachers. Each routine is aligned to specific unit, lesson, or activity learning goals and is intended to support student access to mathematics by requiring them to think and communicate mathematically. Routines are identified by name within activities, and professional learning includes classroom videos and opportunities for educators to observe, practice, and reflect on their use.

Indicator 3e.MLL

2 / 2

Materials provide explanations of the instructional approaches of the program for MLLs and the identification of the research-based strategies.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grades 3-5 of Kendall Hunt IM v.360 meet the expectations that materials provide explanations of the instructional approaches of the program for Multilingual Learners (MLLs) and the identification of research-based strategies. The materials frame their MLL approach and support throughout the program for the explicit purpose of ensuring they are able to meet grade-level standards.

Specifically, within the Course Guide, 4. Advancing Mathematical Language and Access for English Learners, the materials state that problem-based math classrooms are rich in language and require students to use multiple forms of communication, such as reading, writing, speaking, and listening, to make sense of mathematical ideas. The materials outline that students are expected to explain their thinking, make arguments, and engage in discussions. To support MLLs, the materials state that they integrate language development with math learning, creating inclusive, language-rich environments that encourage participation from all students. The materials state, “This table reflects the attention and support for language development at different levels of the curriculum:

  • Course: 

    • Foundation of curriculum: theory of action and design principles that drive a continuous focus on language development.

    • Student glossary of terms. 

  • Lesson: 

    • Language goals, embedded in learning goals, describe the language demands of the lesson. 

    • Definitions of new glossary terms. 

  • Activity: 

    • Strategies to support access for English learners, based on the language demands of the activity.

    • Math language routines.” 

Then, this section of the Course Guide continues to explicitly reference research from Stanford University's UL/SCALE initiative, particularly the framework outlined in Principles for the Design of Mathematics Curricula: Promoting Language and Content Development. This citation anchors the materials’ MLL approach in four research-based design principles:

  • Principle 1: Support sense-making- Scaffold tasks and amplify language so students can make their own meaning.

  • Principle 2: Optimize Output - Strengthen opportunities for students to describe their mathematical thinking to others, orally, visually, and in writing.

  • Principle 3: Cultivate Conversation - Strengthen opportunities for constructive mathematical conversations.

  • Principle 4: Maximize Meta-awareness - Strengthen the meta-connections and distinctions between mathematical ideas, reasoning, and language.

The materials state, "These design principles and related mathematical language routines ensure language development is an integral part of planning and delivering instruction. Moreover, they work together to guide teachers to amplify the important language that students are expected to know and use in each unit.” 

As the report for 1d.MLL describes, the materials incorporate Mathematical Language Routines (MLRs) by Stanford University’s UL/SCALE as their primary research-based strategy. For example, in Grade 3, Unit 7, Two-dimensional Shapes and Perimeter, Lesson 3, Activity 2 features a note titled Access for English Language Learners that suggests the use of MLR 8 Discussion Supports, which directs teachers to use think-alouds and gestures to connect geometric language to concepts. Similarly, MLR 1 Stronger and Clearer and MLR 6 Three Reads appear throughout the curriculum, each tied to specific research by scholars like Zwiers and Kelemanik. 

Additionally, the Course Guide, 7. Key Structures in This Course contains a section titled Teaching Moves to Support Math Community. This section outlines some of the research-based student and teacher vital actions as authored by the SERP Institute (see report for 1d.MLL). One of the seven student vital actions listed is “English learners produce language,” which pulls from research from Barwell, Moschovich, and Savignon. The materials list the following corresponding vital teacher actions:

  • “Provide multiple contexts for everyday words that have precise mathematical meaning, and invite students to explain what the word refers to in each context. Ask them to use the word to make connections between the different representations.

  • Encourage students to use language to construct meaning from representations, with prompts such as: 

    • “Explain where you see (length, ten, oranges) in the (figure, equation, table). How do you know it represents the same thing?” 

  • Ensure that every student speaks, listens, reads, and writes.”

In summary, the materials clearly articulate their MLL approach through direct research references and implement consistent, classroom-ready strategies (e.g., MLRs) that are both research-based and practically embedded across units. Therefore, the materials meet the criteria of providing explanations of the instructional approaches for MLLs and the identification of research-based strategies.

Indicator 3f

1 / 1

Materials provide a comprehensive list of supplies needed to support instructional activities.

The materials reviewed for Kendall Hunt IM v.360 Grade 3 through Grade 5 meet expectations for providing a comprehensive list of supplies needed to support instructional activities. 

The Course Guide includes a comprehensive Required Materials list detailing all materials needed for the grade-level content. Each unit also provides a list titled Materials Needed, which outlines the materials required throughout the unit. At the lesson level, the Required Materials section specifies what is needed for that specific lesson; if no materials are required, this section will indicate that by being left blank or stating "none."

Examples include: 

  • Grade 3, Unit 5, Fractions as Numbers, Lesson 4, Required Materials, “Activity 2,Materials for creating a display.” Required Preparation, “Activity 1, Create a set of cards from the blackline master for each group of 2 students.”

  • Grade 4, Unit 2, Fraction Equivalence and Comparison, Lesson 17, Required Materials, “Activity 1, Markers, Paper, Paper clips, Tape (painter's or masking), Activity 2, Markers, Paper, Paper clips, Tape (painter's or masking).” Required Preparation, “Activity 1, Each group of 2 needs 1-inch paper strips and 10–12 paper clips. Activity 2, Each group of 2 needs 1-inch paper strips and 10–12 paper clips.”

  • Grade 5, Unit 6, Shapes on the Coordinate Grid, Lesson 14, Activity 1, Materials To Gather, “Paper clips, Pencils.”

Indicator 3g

2 / 2

The assessment system provides consistent opportunities to determine student learning throughout the school year. The assessment system provides sufficient teacher guidance for evaluating student performance and determining instructional next steps.

The materials reviewed for Kendall Hunt IM v.360 Grade 3 through Grade 5 meet expectations for providing consistent opportunities to determine student learning throughout the school year. The assessment system provides sufficient teacher guidance for evaluating student performance and determining instructional next steps. 

Each End-of-Unit Assessment and the End-of-Course Assessment include answer keys and standards alignment to support teachers in interpreting student understanding. According to the Course Guide and Assessment Guidance, “All summative-assessment problems include a complete solution and standards alignment. Multiple-choice and multiple-response problems often include a reason for each potential error that a student might make. Unlike formative assessments, problems on summative assessments generally do not prescribe a method of solution.” Examples include:

  • Grade 3, Unit 5, Fractions as Numbers, End-of-Unit Assessment, Problem 4 states, “Which fraction is equivalent to \frac{9}{3}? A: \frac{1}{3}, B: \frac{10}{4}, C: \frac{6}{2}, D: \frac{8}{2}.” The Narrative for Problem 4 states, “Students identify a fraction that is equivalent to a whole number expressed as a fraction. While they are not directly asked to write \frac{9}{3} as a whole number, the most likely reasoning is to identify that this is 3 wholes and so is \frac{6}{2}. Students may select A if they confuse the meanings of the numerator and the denominator, and think of the fraction \frac{1}{3}. They may select B if they add 1 to both the numerator and the denominator. They may select D if they subtract 1 from both the numerator and the denominator.” The answer key aligns the item to standards 3.NF.3a and 3.NF.3c, and includes sample representations to support teacher interpretation of student strategies.

  • Grade 4, Unit 3, Extending Operations to Fractions, End-of-Unit Assessment, Problem 5 states, “The line plot shows the lengths of some colored pencils. (There is an image of a line graph showing colored pencil lengths in inches.) 1. What is the difference in length between the longest pencil and the shortest pencil shown in this line plot? Show your reasoning. 2. How many pencils measure 4\frac{1}{2}inches or more? 3. Two more colored pencils measure 2\frac{1}{4} inches and 5\frac{1}{8} inches. Plot these measurements on the line plot.” The Narrative for Problem 5 states, “Students interpret the measurement data on the line plot to answer questions and use the data to subtract fractions. For the first question, students may use the numbers on the line plot to help find the difference, or they may reason more abstractly as in the provided solution.” The answer key aligns the item to standard 4.MD.4, and includes sample representations to support teacher interpretation of student strategies.

  • Grade 5, Unit 2, Fractions as Quotients and Fraction Multiplication, End-of-Unit Assessment, Problem 5 states, “A hiking trail is 7 miles long. Han hikes \frac{1}{3} of the trail and then stops for water. Jada hikes \frac{2}{3} of the trail and then stops for water. 1. How many miles did Han hike before stopping for water? Explain or show your reasoning. 2. How many miles did Jada hike before stopping for water? Explain or show your reasoning.” The Narrative for Problem 5 states, “Students multiply a whole number by a fraction to solve a story problem. No representation for the problem is requested so students may draw a tape diagram (or discrete diagram), or an area diagram, or they may reason about the quantities without a picture. Students may use the strategy of doubling the distance they found for Han because they know \frac{2}{3} is twice as long as \frac{1}{3}. If students calculate Han's distance incorrectly before doubling it to find Jada's distance, their answer for Jada's distance should still count as correct.” The answer key aligns the item to standards 5.NF.4a and 5.NF.6, and includes sample representations to support teacher interpretation of student strategies.

The materials also include guidance for determining next instructional steps, integrated into both formative and summative assessment opportunities. Most lessons conclude with a Cool-down task designed to assess student thinking in relation to the lesson’s learning goal. The Course Guide section titled Key Structures in This Course and Authentic Use of Contexts and Suggested Launch Adaptations, Response to Student Thinking includes the following description:

  • “The materials offer guidance to support students in meeting the learning goals. This guidance falls into one of two categories, Next-Day Support or Prior-Unit Support, based on anticipated student responses. This guidance offers ways to continue teaching grade-level content, with appropriate and aligned practice and support for students. These suggestions range from providing students with more concrete representations in the next day’s lesson to recommending a section from a prior unit, with activities that directly connect to the concepts in the lesson.”

In addition to this formative support, the materials provide teachers with structured guidance following summative assessments. The End-of-Unit Assessment Guidance describes how teachers might observe patterns of student understanding and offers suggestions for addressing unfinished learning alongside upcoming grade-level instruction: “The End-of-Unit Assessment Guidance includes example observations of students’ unfinished learning and strategies for support in the Next-Unit Support. The guidance is organized around evidence for understanding and mastery of the grade-level content standards. Rather than provide item-by-item analysis, the observations encourage analyzing multiple items (when appropriate) to look for evidence of what students understand about the standards. The Next-Unit Support offers ideas for how to address any unfinished learning alongside upcoming grade-level work or before the concept is needed for upcoming grade-level work. These supports include suggestions for questions to ask during activities, representations to use, centers to encourage, and ways to incorporate the End-of-Unit Assessment as an additional learning opportunity. When needed, supports also include ways to revisit activities (for example, a Card Sort) in new ways to build on what students already know and focus on both unfinished and new learning.” For example: 

  • Grade 3, Unit 2, Area and Multiplication, End-of-Unit Assessment, Problem 5, Responding To Student Thinking states, “Next Unit Support Observation: Students show they understand that area can be found by decomposing the figure, but only find parts of the area or use values that do not match the lengths of the sides. Response: As they play Stage 2 of Rectangle Rumble in the next unit, invite students to compose rectilinear figures from the rectangles that share sides on the gameboards. Ask them to identify the areas of the rectilinear figures they create. Before they multiply with greater numbers in Unit 4 Section C, consider inviting selected students to use inch squares to recreate the problems in the assessment (or related practice problems). Encourage students to physically decompose the area into non-overlapping rectangles and use what they notice to identify the area of the rectilinear figure. Next Unit Support Observation: Students find the area of a rectangle in which the unit squares are visible, but do not yet show they can find the area of a rectangle by multiplying the side lengths. Students show they understand area can be found by performing an operation with the values of the side lengths, but do not consistently use multiplication. Response: As students play Stage 2 of Rectangle Rumble in the next unit, invite them to connect the factors to the side lengths of the rectangles they draw. Prompt students to draw a rectangle with the same dimensions, using inches as the unit for each side. Ask them how they could find the area in square inches.”

  • Grade 4, Unit 1, Factors and Multiplies, End-of-Unit Assessment, Problem 1, Responding To Student Thinking states, “Next Unit Support Observation: Student responses show they may be confusing the meaning of factor and multiple or prime and composite. Response: Throughout the course, students will apply the idea of factors and multiples. In the next unit as students play Mystery Number, Stages 3  and 4, ask them to reflect on how they used the given vocabulary (which includes prime, composite, factor, and multiple) to create clues and to guess their partner’s number. Next Unit Support Observation: Students list only some of the factor pairs for a given number. Response: Before students use the language of multiples and factors to find equivalent fractions in Section B of the next unit, provide opportunities for students to continue to associate side lengths of rectangles (factors 1–5) for a given area as they play Can You Build It, Stage 2. Ask how they know that they have found all the possible rectangles. Next Unit Support Observation: Students show they may understand factor, multiple, prime, and composite, but may not yet be fluent with their multiplication facts. For example, they say 27 is prime because they do not determine that 3\times 9=27. Response: Before students work with multiplying numerators and denominators ( 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 ) to generate equivalent fractions in Section B of the next unit, invite them to play Capture Squares, Stage 7. Ask students to reflect on which facts they know and which they need some support.”

  • Grade 5, Unit 7, Shapes on a Coordinate Grid, End-of-Unit Assessment, Problem 4, Responding To Student Thinking states, “Next Unit Support Observation: Students show they may understand the attributes of different categories of shapes, but may not yet understand which categories are subcategories of others or which attributes distinguish subcategories of larger categories. Response: During the next unit, consider inviting selected students to revisit the Quadrilaterals Grade 5 Card Sort. Ask students to find shapes that fit certain attributes and explain how they know to help them make sense of the problems on the assessment. For example, find a rhombus that is not a square, explain how you know it is a rhombus but not a square. Alternatively, ask students to find all the shapes that are parallelograms and ask them if all of the parallelograms they found are rhombuses.  Encourage students to use the class chart that shows the hierarchy of quadrilaterals to help them find the shapes.”

Indicator 3h

Narrative Only

This is not an assessed indicator in Mathematics.

Indicator 3i

Narrative Only

This is not an assessed indicator in Mathematics.

Criterion 3.2: Student Supports

6 / 6

Information on Multilingual Learner (MLL) Supports in This Criterion

For some indicators in this criterion, we also display evidence and scores for pair MLL indicators.

While MLL indicators are scored, these scores are reported separately from core content scores. MLL scores do not currently impact core content scores at any level—whether indicator, criterion, gateway, or series.

To view all MLL evidence and scores for this grade band or grade level, select the "Multilingual Learner Supports" view from the left navigation panel.

Materials are designed for each child’s regular and active participation in grade-level/grade-band/series content.

The materials reviewed for Kendall Hunt IM v.360 Grade 3 through 5 meet expectations for Student Supports. The materials provide strategies to ensure that students in special populations can access grade-level content and meet or exceed grade-level standards. They offer regular extensions and opportunities for advanced students to engage with mathematics at greater depth. Across the series, the materials include varied approaches to learning tasks and offer multiple ways for students to demonstrate their understanding, along with opportunities for self-monitoring. Teachers are supported with strategies for using varied grouping methods, and assessments include accommodations that allow students to demonstrate their knowledge without altering the content. Supports are included for varying reading levels to ensure accessibility, and manipulatives—both virtual and physical, accurately represent mathematical concepts and, when appropriate, are connected to written methods. The materials partially provide a range of representation of people and include detailed instructions and support for educators to effectively incorporate and draw upon students’ different cultural, social, and community backgrounds to enrich learning experiences.

Narrative Only
Narrative Only
Narrative Only
Narrative Only
Narrative Only

Indicator 3j

2 / 2

Materials provide strategies and support for students in special populations to work with grade-level content and meet or exceed grade-level standards, which support their regular and active participation in learning.

The materials reviewed for Kendall Hunt IM v.360 Grade 3 through Grade 5 meet expectations for providing strategies and support for students in special populations to work with grade-level content and meet or exceed grade-level standards, which support their regular and active participation in learning. 

Examples include:

  • Course Guide, Advancing Mathematical Language and Access For English Learners, states, “To support students who are learning English in their development of language, this curriculum includes instruction devoted to advancing language development alongside mathematics learning, and fostering language-rich environments in which there is space for all students to participate.” Mathematical Language Routines states, “Mathematical Language Routines (MLRs) are instructional routines that provide structured but adaptable formats for amplifying, assessing, and developing students' language. The MLRs included in this curriculum were selected because they simultaneously support students’ learning of mathematical practices, content, and language. They are particularly well-suited to meet the needs of linguistically and culturally diverse students who are learning mathematics while concurrently acquiring English.” MLRs are included in select activities of each unit, and are described in the Teacher Guide for the lessons in which they appear within the Activity Narrative, Supporting English Learners.

  • Course Guide, Universal Design for Learning and Access for Students with Disabilities, Access For Students With Disabilities states, “Supplemental instructional strategies, included in Access for Students with Disabilities of each lesson, increase access, reduce barriers and maximize learning. Each support is aligned to the Universal Design for Learning Guidelines (udlguidelines.cast.org), and based on one of the three principles of UDL, providing alternative means of engagement, representation, or action and expression. These supports offer additional ways to adjust the learning environment so that students can access activities, engage in content, and communicate their understanding. Supports are tagged, with the areas of cognitive functioning they are designed to address, to help identify and select appropriate supports for students. Designed to facilitate access to Tier 1 instruction by capitalizing on students’ strengths to address obstacles related to cognitive functions or challenges, these strategies and supports are appropriate for any student who needs additional support to access rigorous, grade-level content. Use these lesson-specific supports, as needed, to help students succeed with a specific activity, without reducing the mathematical demands of the task. Phase them out as students gain understanding and fluency. Use a UDL approach and students’ IEPs, their strengths, and their challenges to ensure access. When students may benefit from alternative means of access or support, draw on ideas from the tables below or visit udlguidelines.cast.org for more information.”

  • Course Guide, Universal Design for Learning and Access for Students with Disabilities, Accessibility For Students With Visual Impairments states, “For students with visual impairments, accessibility features are built into the materials: 1. A palette of colors distinguishable to people with the most common types of color blindness. 2. Tasks and problems are designed so that success does not depend on the ability to distinguish between colors. 3. Mathematical diagrams, presented in scalable vector graphic (SVG) format, can be magnified, without loss of resolution, and rendered in Braille. 4. Where possible, text associated with images is not part of the image file, but rather included as an image caption accessible to screen readers. 5. Alt text on all images makes interpretation easier for users accessing the materials, with a screen reader. All images in the curriculum have alt text: a very short indication of the image’s contents, so that the screen reader doesn’t skip over as if nothing is there. Some images have a longer description to help students’ with visual impairments recreate the image in their mind. Understand that students with visual impairments likely will need help accessing images in lesson activities and assessments. Prepare appropriate accommodations. Accessibility experts, who reviewed this curriculum, recommended that eligible students have access to a Braille version of the curriculum materials, because a verbal description of many of the complex mathematical diagrams is inadequate to support their learning.”

  • Grade 3, Unit 8, Putting It All Together, Lesson 3, Activity 1, Access for Students with Disabilities, “Engagement: Develop Effort and Persistence: Chunk this task into more manageable parts. Check in with students to provide feedback and encouragement after each round. Supports accessibility for: Organization, Focus.”

  • Grade 4, Unit 7, Angles and Angle Measurement, Lesson 9, Activity 2, Access for Students with Disabilities, “Action and Expression: Internalize Executive Functions. Invite students to estimate the size of the angle before finding each precise measurement. Offer the sentence frame: “This angle will be greater than ___ and less than ____. It will be closer to ____.” Supports accessibility for: Conceptual Processing, Visual-Spatial Processing, Attention. Advances: reading, writing.

  • Grade 5, Unit 5, Place Value Patterns and Decimal Operations, Lesson 8, Activity 2, Access for Students with Disabilities, “Action and Expression: Internalize Executive Functions. Invite students to verbalize their strategy for determining proximity before they begin. Students can speak quietly to themselves, or share with a partner. Supports accessibility for: Organization, Conceptual Processing, Language.

Indicator 3k

2 / 2

Materials regularly provide extensions and/or opportunities for advanced students to engage with grade-level/course-level mathematics at greater depth.

The materials reviewed for Kendall Hunt IM v.360 Grade 3 through Grade 5 meet expectations for regularly providing extensions and/or opportunities for advanced students to engage with grade-level mathematics at greater depth. Examples include:

  • Course Guide, What's in an IM Lesson?, Practice Problems, Exploration Problems states, “Each section has two or more exploration practice problems that offer differentiation for students ready for a greater challenge. There are two types of exploration problems. One type is a hands-on activity directly related to the material of the unit that students complete either in class if they have free time, or at home. The second type of exploration problem is more open ended and challenging. These problems go deeper into grade-level mathematics. They are not routine or procedural, and they are not ‘the same thing again but with harder numbers.” While there are no instances where advanced students do more assignments than their classmates, materials do provide multiple opportunities for students to investigate grade-level content at greater depth.

  • Course Guide, Key Structures in This Course, Authentic Use of Contexts and Suggested Launch Adaptations, Advancing Student Thinking states, “This section offers look-fors and questions to support students as they engage in an activity. Effective teaching requires supporting students as they work on challenging tasks, without taking over the process of thinking for them (Stein, Smith, Henningsen, & Silver, 2000). As teachers monitor during the course of an activity, they gain insight into what students know and are able to do. Based on these insights, the Advancing Student Thinking section provides questions that advance students’ understanding of mathematical concepts, strategies, or connections between representations.” Respond to Student Thinking states, “Most lessons end with a Cool-down to formatively assess students’ thinking in relation to the learning goal of the day. The materials offer guidance to support students in meeting the learning goals. This guidance falls into one of two categories, Next-Day Support or Prior-Unit Support, based on anticipated student responses. This guidance offers ways to continue teaching grade-level content, with appropriate and aligned practice and support for students. These suggestions range from providing students with more concrete representations in the next day’s lesson to recommending a section from a prior unit, with activities that directly connect to the concepts in the lesson.”

  • Grade 3, Unit 7, Two-dimensional Shapes and Perimeter, Section B: What is Perimeter?, Section B Practice Problems, Problem 6 Exploration, “1. Draw some different shapes that you can find the perimeter of. Then find their perimeters. 2. Can you draw a rectangle whose perimeter is an odd number of units? Explain or show your reasoning. 3. Can you draw a pentagon or hexagon (or a figure with even more sides) whose perimeter is an odd number of units?”

  • Grade 4, Unit 2, Fraction Equivalence and Comparison, Section C: Fraction Comparison, Section C Practice Problems, Problem 7 Exploration, “Jada lists these fractions that are all equivalent to 1⁄2 : 2⁄4, 3⁄6, 4⁄8, 5⁄10 She notices that each time the numerator increases by 1, the denominator increases by 2. Will this pattern continue? Explain your reasoning.”

  • Grade 5, Unit 4, Wrapping Up Multiplication and Division with Multi-Digit Numbers, Section C: Let’s Put It to Work, Section C Practice Problems, Problem 5 Exploration, “The Pentagon has 5 floors. The Empire State Building has 102 floors. Noah says that the Empire State Building is larger. Do you agree? Explain how you know.”

Indicator 3l

Narrative Only

Materials provide varied approaches to learning tasks over time and variety in how students are expected to demonstrate their learning with opportunities for students to monitor their learning.

The materials reviewed for Kendall Hunt IM v.360 Grade 3 through Grade 5 provide varied approaches to learning tasks over time and variety in how students are expected to demonstrate their learning, with opportunities for students to monitor their learning.

Students engage with problem-solving in a variety of ways within each lesson, which consists of four phases: Warm-up, Instructional Activities, Lesson Synthesis, and Cool-down. According to the Course Guide, What’s in an IM Lesson, Instructional Activities, “After the Warm-up, lessons consist of a sequence of 1–3 instructional activities. The activities are the heart of the mathematical experience and make up the majority of the time spent in class. An activity serves one or more purposes: Provide experience with a new context. Introduce a new concept and associated language. Introduce a new representation. Formalize a definition of a term for an idea previously encountered informally. Identify and resolve common mistakes and misconceptions that people make. Practice using mathematical language. Work toward mastery of a concept or a procedure. Offer the opportunity to apply mathematics to an open-ended problem such as modeling. The purpose of each activity is described in its Activity Narrative. Each instructional activity has three phases. Launch: During the Launch, make sure that students understand the context (if there is a context) and what the problem is asking them to do. This is not the same as making sure students know how to do the problem—part of the work that students should do for themselves is to figure out how to solve the problem. The Launch invites students into the lesson and helps them connect to contexts with which they are unfamiliar. Student Work Time: The Launch of an activity frequently includes suggestions for grouping students. At different times, students are given opportunities to work individually, with a partner, and in small groups. Activity Synthesis: During the Activity Synthesis, allow time for students to incorporate and make connections to what they have learned. This time ensures that all students have an opportunity to understand the mathematical punch line of the activity and to situate the new learning within their previous understanding.”

Centers can be used for ongoing review, practice, and self-reflection. Students can work on skills beyond the lesson as well as reinforce current and previous skills. Course Guide, Key Structures in This Course, Center Overview, “Centers are intended to give students time to practice skills and concepts that are developed across the year. There are two types of centers. Addressing centers address the work of a lesson or a section of a unit. Supporting centers review prior unit or prior grade-level understandings and fluencies. Each center builds across multiple stages that may span several grades.” Structure of Center Time, “In IM Grades 3–5, center time is in addition to regular class time, as desired by the teacher. Occasionally, optional center-day lessons are included in a unit to introduce a center to students, but in general, centers are provided as an extra resource for teachers.” Examples include:

  • Grade 3, Centers, Number Line Scoot (2,3,4), Stage 2: Halves, Thirds, and Fourths, students generate numbers and move that interval on a number line. Narrative states, “Students take turns rolling a number cube and using the number as the numerator in a fraction with a denominator of 2, 3, or 4. Students move their centimeter cube to the corresponding interval on one of the shared number lines. A player whose cube lands exactly on the last tick mark of a number line keeps that cube. They then put a new cube at 0 on the same number line. The first player to collect five cubes wins.”

  • Grade 4, Centers, Compare (1,3,4,5), Stage 4: Divide within 100 with One Divisors, Narrative states, “Both students flip over a card that shows a division expression within 100, with one-digit divisors. The student whose card has the greater value takes both cards. If the cards have the same value, students flip over two new cards. The game is over when one student runs out of cards to flip. The partner with the most cards wins.”

  • Grade 5, Centers, Would You Rather? (2,4,5), Stage 3: Compare Units in a Given System, Narrative states, “One student spins a spinner to get a measurement and a unit. They ask their partner a "would you rather?" question, comparing the given measurement to a quantity that they choose, using a different unit in the same measurement system. The partner answers the question and explains their reasoning.”

Indicator 3m

Narrative Only

Materials provide opportunities for teachers to use a variety of grouping strategies.

The materials reviewed for Kendall Hunt IM v.360 Grade 3 through Grade 5 provide opportunities for teachers to use a variety of grouping strategies. Suggested grouping strategies are consistently provided in the Activity Launch guidance and include whole groups, small groups, pairs, and individual configurations. Examples include:

  • Grade 3, Unit 7, Two-dimensional Shapes and Perimeter, Lesson 3, Activity 2, Launch, “Groups of 2. ‘Now you’re going to play Mystery Quadrilateral with your partner. Re-read the directions for the game, then think about some words that may be helpful as you play.’ (side, angle, right angle, equal, skinny, tall, slanted). 1 minute: quiet think time. Share and record responses. Give each group a folder containing a set of the quadrilateral cards from the previous lesson. ‘How could you use the images of all the quadrilaterals on your paper as you play?’ (They can help me think about questions I could ask. I could mark off quadrilaterals as I figure out that they’re not the mystery quadrilateral.) Give students access to counters and let them know they can be used to cover shapes during the game.” Activity, “‘Play Mystery Quadrilateral with your partner. Be sure to take turns hiding the shape and guessing the shape.’ 10-15 minutes: partner work time.”

  • Grade 4, Unit 4, From Hundredths to Hundred-Thousands, Lesson 3, Activity 1, Launch, “Groups of 3–4.” Activity, “If creating a giant number line, lead the activity as outlined in the Activity Narrative. Otherwise, ask students to work with their group on the first two problems. Pause and discuss: How students knew where to put each decimal. How the number line could help us see the least and greatest. ‘Take a few quiet minutes to complete the rest of the activity.’ 5–6 minutes: independent work time.”

  • Grade 5, Unit 4, Wrapping Up Multiplication and Division With Multi-Digit Numbers, Lesson 5, Activity 2, Launch, “Groups of 2. Activity: 8-10 minutes: independent work time. 2-3 minutes: partner discussion.”

Indicator 3m.MLL

0 / 2

Materials include guidance for intentional and flexible grouping structures for MLLs to ensure equitable participation.

The instructional materials for Grades 3-5 of Kendall Hunt IM v.360 do not meet the criteria for including guidance for intentional and flexible grouping structures for Multilingual Learners (MLLs) to ensure equitable participation. 

The materials do not provide explicit teacher-facing guidance on grouping structures that are tailored to the needs of MLLs. While structured partner discourse routines are observed, such as one-two minutes of silent think-time followed by two-three minutes of partner talk, these practices are presented as general discussion protocols. They are not linked to specific strategies for supporting multilingual learners’ engagement or language development. Additionally, the materials do not elaborate on grouping considerations such as language proficiency levels, home language support, or pairing strategies to foster academic language growth among MLLs.

Indicator 3n

Narrative Only

Assessments offer accommodations that allow students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills without changing the content of the assessment.

The materials reviewed for Kendall Hunt IM v.360 Grade 3 through Grade 5 offer accommodations that allow students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills without changing the content of the assessment. These suggestions are provided within the Teacher Guide in a section called Universal Design for Learning and Access for Students with Disabilities, and Assessment Guidance. As such, they are included at the program level and not specific to each assessment. Examples include:

  • Course Guide, Universal Design for Learning and Access for Students with Disabilities, Access for Students with Disabilities states, “Supplemental instructional strategies, included in Access for Students with Disabilities of each lesson, increase access, reduce barriers and maximize learning. Each support is aligned to the Universal Design for Learning Guidelines (udlguidelines.cast.org), and based on one of the three principles of UDL, providing alternative means of engagement, representation, or action and expression. These supports offer additional ways to adjust the learning environment so that students can access activities, engage in content, and communicate their understanding. Supports are tagged, with the areas of cognitive functioning they are designed to address, to help identify and select appropriate supports for students. Designed to facilitate access to Tier 1 instruction by capitalizing on students’ strengths to address obstacles related to cognitive functions or challenges, these strategies and supports are appropriate for any student who needs additional support to access rigorous, grade-level content. Use these lesson-specific supports, as needed, to help students succeed with a specific activity, without reducing the mathematical demands of the task. Phase them out as students gain understanding and fluency. Use a UDL approach and students’ IEPs, their strengths, and their challenges to ensure access. When students may benefit from alternative means of access or support, draw on ideas from the tables below or visit udlguidelines.cast.org for more information.”

  • Course Guide, Universal Design for Learning and Access for Students with Disabilities, Access for Students with Visual Impairments states, “For students with visual impairments, accessibility features are built into the materials: 1. A palette of colors distinguishable to people with the most common types of color blindness. 2. Tasks and problems are designed so that success does not depend on the ability to distinguish between colors. 3. Mathematical diagrams, presented in scalable vector graphic (SVG) format, can be magnified, without loss of resolution, and rendered in Braille. 4. Where possible, text associated with images is not part of the image file, but rather included as an image caption accessible to screen readers. 5. Alt text on all images makes interpretation easier for users accessing the materials, with a screen reader. All images in the curriculum have alt text: a very short indication of the image’s contents, so that the screen reader doesn’t skip over as if nothing is there. Some images have a longer description to help students’ with visual impairments recreate the image in their mind. Understand that students with visual impairments likely will need help accessing images in lesson activities and assessments. Prepare appropriate accommodations. Accessibility experts, who reviewed this curriculum, recommended that eligible students have access to a Braille version of the curriculum materials, because a verbal description of many of the complex mathematical diagrams is inadequate to support their learning.”

  • Course Guide, under Assessment Guidance in the Diagnostic Assessments section, provides additional teacher guidance on accommodating students during assessments. It suggests that students who may not perform well on diagnostic assessments can continue to engage with grade-level tasks using appropriate supports: “Address prerequisite skills while continuing to work through the on-grade tasks and concepts of each unit, instead of abandoning the current work in favor of material that addresses only prerequisite skills.”

Indicator 3n.MLL

0 / 1

Assessments offer accommodations that allow MLLs to demonstrate their knowledge and skills without changing the content of the assessment.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grades 3-5 of Kendall Hunt IM v.360 do not meet the criteria of providing accommodations that allow Multilingual Learners (MLLs) to demonstrate their knowledge and skills without changing the content of the assessment. The materials do not provide guidance for teachers to account for varied levels of English language proficiency without changing the content of the assessment, yet still allowing MLLs to show grade level mastery regardless of language ability.

Indicator 3o

Narrative Only

Materials provide a range of representation of people and include detailed instructions and support for educators to effectively incorporate and draw upon students’ different cultural, social, and community backgrounds to enrich learning experiences.

The materials reviewed for Kendall Hunt IM v.360 Grade 3 through Grade 5 partially provide a range of representations of people and incorporate guidance and structures that reference students’ cultural, social, and community backgrounds. Student-facing materials include multicultural names such as Kiran, Mai, Elena, and Han. Characters are illustrated when relevant to the mathematical task and are shown engaging with the content in varied contexts, including rural, urban, and international settings. These materials include no demographic bias for who achieves success in the mathematical scenarios.

Lesson contexts include examples that reference cultural and community practices. For example:

  • Grade 3, in Unit 7, Two-Dimensional Shapes and Perimeter, Lesson 14, Activity 1, students are introduced to wax shapes and use a variety of shapes to create their own. The Launch states, “Groups of 2. Display the image. ‘Today’s lesson is going to focus on African wax prints. African wax prints are colorful cotton fabrics commonly used for clothing in West Africa. Take a minute to think about the pattern. What do you notice? What do you wonder?’ (The pattern is colorful. There are rhombuses in the pattern. There are triangles in the pattern. There are quadrilaterals that aren’t rhombuses, rectangles, or squares in the pattern. How do they make these patterns? What other shapes could be used to make these patterns? What types of clothing are made with this cloth? Where can you buy this type of fabric?) 1 minute: partner discussion. Share responses. ‘You’re going to create your own wax print pattern. Independently read over the directions and think about how you’ll create your pattern.’ 2–3 minutes: quiet think time. ‘Are there any questions about how you’ll create your wax print pattern?’ Answer any questions students have. Give each student a sheet of dot paper and colored pencils, crayons, or markers.”

  • Grade 4, Unit 6, Multiplying and Dividing Multi-Digit Numbers, Lesson 26, Activity 2, students describe and use patterns to make paper flowers. In the activity, students are working on a problem related to preparing for a Quinceanera. Student Task Statement states, “Create a plan for creating paper flower garlands for a quinceañera. In your plan include: A pattern for the paper flower garlands you will create. How many paper flower garlands you can make in 3 hours. How much tissue paper and string you will need to complete the paper flower garlands. Explain or show your reasoning.”

  • Grade 5, Unit 2, Fractions as Quotients and Fraction Multiplication, Lesson 17, students engage in an activity where they create mosaics using rectangles with fractional side lengths. The Lesson Narrative states, “In this lesson, they apply what they learned about multiplying whole numbers and fractions to make mosaic art pieces out of rectangles and they use the area of the pieces to estimate how much it costs to recreate the mosaic with hard material like stone, tile, and glass.” Students use paper rectangles to represent fractional dimensions and then collaborate to create mosaics, calculate areas, and compare the total areas represented.

Lesson structures introduce students to the curriculum and classroom routines while supporting the development of a math community. The Course Guide, Problem-Based Teaching and Learning, Community Building states, “Each lesson offers opportunities for the teacher and students to learn more about one another, develop mathematical language, and become increasingly familiar with the curriculum routines.” These lessons include routines that facilitate discussion, shared norms, and opportunities to learn about classmates and mathematics simultaneously.

The Course Guide contains references to research and guidance that emphasize student identity and lived experience. For example, in the section titled Community Building, the overview states, “In a math community, all students have the opportunity to express their mathematical ideas and discuss them with others, which encourages collective learning. ‘In culturally responsive pedagogy, the classroom is a critical container for empowering marginalized students. It serves as a space that reflects the values of trust, partnership, and academic mindset that are at its core’ (Hammond, 2015).” All Students Are Capable Learners of Mathematics states, “It is through these classroom structures that teachers have daily opportunities to learn about and leverage students’ understandings and experiences, and to position each student as a capable learner of mathematics.”

The Course Guide, Advancing Mathematical Language and Access for English Learners, MLR8 Discussion Supports, suggests using a variety of strategies to help engage students, “Instructional moves and strategies support inclusive discussions about mathematical ideas, representations, contexts, and strategies (Chapin, O’Connor, & Anderson, 2009). Combine and use these instructional moves and strategies to support discussion during almost any activity. These include multimodal strategies for helping students make sense of complex language, ideas, and classroom communication. Over time, students may begin using these strategies themselves to prompt each other to engage more deeply in discussions. Examples of Possible Strategies: Show central concepts multi-modally by using different types of sensory inputs: act out scenarios or invite students to do so, show videos or images, use gestures, and talk about the context of what is happening.” Spanish-language materials are available, including student resources, teacher prompts, and family support content.

The Course Guide, Key Structures in This Course, and Student Journal Prompts describe ways to connect students’ lived experiences to mathematics. The overview states, “John Dewey (1933) asserted that students make sense of the world through metacognition, making connections between their lived experiences and their knowledge base, and argued that education should offer students opportunities to make connections between school and their lived experiences in the world. Ladson-Billings encourages the idea that teachers must help students effectively connect their culturally- and community-based knowledge to the learning experiences taking place in the classroom.”

Indicator 3p

Narrative Only

Materials provide supports for different reading levels to ensure accessibility for students.

The materials reviewed for Kendall Hunt IM v.360 Grade 3 through Grade 5 provide supports for different reading levels to ensure accessibility for students.

Course Guide, Universal Design for Learning and Access for Students with Disabilities, Representation states, “Reduce barriers and leverage students’ individual strengths by inviting students to engage with the same content in different ways. Supports that provide multiple means of representation include suggestions for offering alternatives to the ways information is presented or displayed, developing students’ understanding and use of mathematical language and symbols, and describing organizational methods and approaches designed to help students internalize learning.”

Course Guide, Advancing Mathematical Language and Access for English Learners, Mathematical Language Routines, “MLRs, included in select activities of each unit, offer all students explicit opportunities to develop mathematical and academic language proficiency. These ‘embedded’ MLRs are described in the Teacher Guide for the lessons in which they appear. MLR6 Three Reads states, “Use this routine to ensure that students know what they are asked to do, create opportunities for students to reflect on the ways mathematical questions are presented, and equip students with tools used to actively make sense of mathematical situations and information (Kelemanik, Lucenta, & Creighton, 2016). This routine supports reading comprehension, sense-making, and meta-awareness of mathematical language. How It Happens: In this routine, students are supported in reading and interpreting, three times, a mathematical text, a situation, a diagram, or a graph, each time with a particular focus. At times, withhold the intended question or main prompt until the third read so that students can concentrate on making sense of what is happening before rushing to find a solution or method. First Read: ‘What is this situation about?’ After a shared reading, students describe the situation or context. This is the time to identify and resolve any challenges with non-mathematical vocabulary. (1 minute) Second Read: ‘What can be counted or measured?’ After the second read, students list all quantities in the situation that are countable or measurable. Examples: ‘number of people in a room’ rather than ‘people,’ ‘number of blocks remaining’ instead of ‘blocks.’ Record the quantities as a reference to use when solving the problem after the third read. (3–5 minutes) Third Read: ‘What are different ways or strategies we can use to solve this problem?’ Students discuss possible strategies. They may find it helpful to create diagrams to represent the relationships among quantities identified in the second read, or to represent the situation with a picture (Asturias, 2012). (1–2 minutes)” 

  • Grade 4, Unit 3, Extending Operations to Fractions, Lesson 19, Activity 2, Launch states, “MLR6 Three Reads. Display only the problem stem, without revealing the question(s). ‘We are going to read this problem 3 times.’ 1st Read: ‘Jada and Noah are hiking at a park. Here is a map of the trails. The length of each trail is shown.’ ‘What is this situation about?’ 1 minute: partner discussion. Listen for and clarify any questions about the context. 2nd Read: ‘Jada and Noah are hiking at a park. Here is a map of the trails. The length of each trail is shown.’ (Display the trail map). ‘Name the quantities. What can we count or measure in this situation?’ 30 seconds: quiet think time. 2 minutes: partner discussion. Share and record all quantities. Reveal the question(s). 3rd Read: Read the entire problem, including question(s) aloud. ‘What are some strategies we can use to solve this problem?’ 30 seconds: quiet think time. 1–2 minutes: partner discussion.”

Indicator 3q

2 / 2

Manipulatives, both virtual and physical, are accurate representations of the mathematical objects they represent and, when appropriate, are connected to written methods.

The materials reviewed for Kendall Hunt IM v.360 Grade 3 through Grade 5 meet expectations for providing manipulatives, both virtual and physical, that are accurate representations of the mathematical objects they support and, when appropriate, are connected to written methods.

Course Guide, Key Structures in This Course, Purposeful Representations states, “Curriculum representations, and the grade levels at which they are used, are determined by their usefulness for particular mathematical learning goals. More concrete representations are introduced before those that are more abstract. For example, in IM Kindergarten, students begin by counting and moving objects before they represent these objects in 5- and 10-frames—to lay the foundation for understanding the base-ten system. In later grades, these familiar representations are extended so that as students encounter greater numbers, they use place-value diagrams and more symbolic methods, such as equations, to represent their understanding. When appropriate, the reasoning behind the selection of certain representations in the materials is made explicit.” Manipulatives are referenced within lessons as appropriate to support concept development. Examples include:

  • Grade 3, Unit 2, Area and Multiplication, Lesson 2, Activity 1, students make figures out of square tiles and order the figures from smallest to largest. Launch states, “Groups of 4. Give each group inch tiles. ‘Take some tiles and build a shape.’ 2 minutes: independent work time.” Activity states, “‘Now work with your group to order the figures. Be prepared to explain how you ordered the figures’ 5 minutes: group work time, Monitor for groups who order by: The amount of space the figure takes up on the table. The length of the figure. The number of tiles used to create the figure.” 

  • Grade 4, Unit 3, Extending Operations to Fractions, Lesson 2, Activity 1, students interpret multiplication expressions and diagrams as the number of groups and the amount in each group, and match representations of the same quantity. Launch states, “Groups of 2. Give each group a set of cards. Activity states, “‘This set of cards include expressions and diagrams. Match the expressions to the diagrams. Work with your partner to explain your reasoning.’ ‘Some expressions will not have a matching diagram.’ 5 minutes: partner work time. Monitor for students who reason about the number of groups and the amount in each group as they match. Pause for a discussion. Invite students to share their matches and their reasoning. Highlight reasoning that clearly connects one factor in the expression to the number of groups and the other factor to the size of each group. ‘Now you will complete an unfinished diagram for 7\times \frac{1}{8}, and then draw a new diagram for an expression without a match.’ 5 minutes: independent work time.”

  • Grade 5, Unit 5, Place Value Patterns and Decimal Operations, Lesson 17, Activity 2, students find products of a whole number and some tenths or hundredths using a hundredths grid or a strategy that made sense to them. Launch states, “Groups of 2. Make hundredths grids available for students. Activity states, ‘Take a few minutes to find the value of the expressions in the first problem.’ 1-2 minutes: quiet think time. 5 minutes: partner work time. Problem 1, Find the value of each expression. Explain or show your reasoning. a: 3\times 0.5.”

Criterion 3.3: Intentional Design

Narrative Only

Materials include a visual design that is engaging and references or integrates digital technology, when applicable, with guidance for teachers.

The materials reviewed for Kendall Hunt IM v.360 Grade 3 through 5 do not integrate technology such as interactive tools, virtual manipulatives/objects, and/or dynamic mathematics software in ways that engage students in the grade-level standards; include or reference digital technology that provides opportunities for teachers and/or students to collaborate with each other; and provide teacher guidance for the use of embedded technology to support and enhance student learning. The materials do have a visual design that supports students in engaging thoughtfully with the subject that is neither distracting nor chaotic.

Narrative Only
Narrative Only
Narrative Only
Narrative Only

Indicator 3r

Narrative Only

Materials integrate technology such as interactive tools, virtual manipulatives/objects, and/or dynamic software in ways that engage students in the grade-level/series standards, when applicable.

The materials reviewed for Kendall Hunt IM v.360 Grade 3 through Grade 5 do not integrate technology such as interactive tools, virtual manipulatives/objects, and/or dynamic mathematics software in ways that engage students in the grade-level/series standards, when applicable. 

Although the materials reference the use of physical manipulatives (e.g., base-ten blocks, cubes, and counters), there is no evidence of digital or virtual versions of these tools within the student-facing or teacher-facing materials. Additionally, there are no embedded digital activities, simulations, or dynamic software tools that allow students to explore mathematical concepts interactively. Customization options for local use or connections to student or community interests through technology are also not present in the materials.

Indicator 3s

Narrative Only

Materials include or reference digital technology that provides opportunities for teachers and/or students to collaborate with each other, when applicable.

The materials reviewed for Kendall Hunt IM v.360 Grade 3 through Grade 5 do not include or reference digital technology that provides opportunities for teacher or student collaboration, when applicable.

According to the Course Guide, Key Structures in This Course, “Classroom environments that foster a sense of community that allows students to express their mathematical ideas—together with norms for students to communicate their mathematical thinking, both orally and in writing, to their peers and their teacher, using the language of mathematics—positively affect participation and engagement among all students (NCTM, 2014).” While the materials embed opportunities for building a mathematical community, these opportunities do not reference digital technology.

Indicator 3t

Narrative Only

The visual design (whether in print or digital) supports students in engaging thoughtfully with the subject, and is neither distracting nor chaotic.

The materials reviewed for Kendall Hunt IM v.360 Grade 3 through Grade 5 have a visual design that supports students in engaging thoughtfully with the subject, and is neither distracting nor chaotic.

The images, graphics, and models support student learning and engagement and communicate information or support student understanding. Examples include: 

  • Grade 3, Unit 4, Relating Multiplication to Division, Lesson 2, Warm-Up, Narrative, “The purpose of this Warm-up is to elicit the idea that many different questions could be asked about a situation, which will be useful when students solve problems in a later activity.” Problem 1 states, “What do you notice? What do you wonder? Students may notice: Some apples are in boxes. Some apples are still on the tree. There are 9 boxes of apples. Some may wonder: How did the apples get into the boxes? How many apples are in boxes? Does each box have the same number of apples?” The image that is used is clear and supports student learning and engagement.

  • Grade 4, Unit 7, Angles and Angle Measurement, Lesson 1, Warm-Up, Narrative, “This Warm-up prompts students to generate formal and informal geometric language (Lines, points, straight, curved), which will be used in an upcoming task, by familiarizing themselves with a context and the mathematics that might be involved in the task.” Problem 1 states, “What do you notice? What do you wonder? Students may notice: There are different colored lines. All the points form a circle. The lines start at one point and end at another point. The lines are straight but go in different directions. The lines make a circle in the middle. Students may wonder: How are the straight lines making a circle? Are any of the lines curved?” The image that is used is clear and supports student learning and engagement.

  • Grade 5, Unit 7, Shapes on the Coordinate Grid, Lesson 7, Activity 1, Activity Synthesis, “Invite previously selected students to share. ‘Clare says ‘Some rhombuses are squares and some rectangles are squares.’ Do you agree with her?’ (Yes, we saw with the toothpicks that a rhombus can be a square but it doesn’t have to be. Rectangles are squares when the 4 sides are equal, but the 4 sides don’t need to be equal, so not all rectangles are squares.) Display or draw a diagram like the one below or use the diagram from a previous lesson and ask, ‘How does the diagram show the relationship between rhombuses and rectangles?’ (It shows that squares are both rhombuses and rectangles.)” The image that is used is clear and supports student learning and engagement.

The teacher and student materials follow a consistent layout and structure across lessons and units, including repeated phases such as Warm-ups, Instructional Activities, Lesson Synthesis, and Cool-down. Instructional elements are labeled and sequenced in the same order throughout the materials.

  • Course Guide, Key Structures in This Course, Coherent Progression, “Every unit, lesson, and activity has the same overarching design structure: The learning begins with an invitation to the mathematics, is followed by a deep study of concepts and procedures, and concludes with an opportunity to consolidate understanding of mathematical ideas.”

  • Course Guide, How To Use This Course Guide, About These Materials, “Each grade level contains eight or nine units. Units contain 8–28 lesson plans. Each unit, depending on the grade level, has pre-unit Practice Problems in the first section, a Checkpoint after each section, and an End-of-Unit Assessment. In addition to lessons and assessments, units have aligned center activities to support the unit content and ongoing procedural fluency.”

Narratives throughout the materials help guide the teacher’s understanding and maintain coherence. 

  • Course Guide, What’s in an IM Lesson, Narratives Tell The Story, “The story of each grade is told in eight or nine units. Each unit has a narrative that describes the mathematical work that will unfold in that unit. Each lesson and each activity in the unit also has a narrative. The Lesson Narrative explains: The mathematical content of the lesson and its place in the learning sequence. The meaning of any new terms introduced in the lesson. How the mathematical practices come into play, as appropriate. The Activity Narrative explains: The mathematical purpose of the activity and its place in the learning sequence. What students are doing during the activity. What to look for, while students are working on an activity, to orchestrate an effective Activity Synthesis. Connections to the mathematical practices, when appropriate.”

Student materials in printed, consumable format are designed with appropriate font size, clear instructions, and a suitable amount and placement of content. They also provide ample space for students to show their mathematical thinking on the page. There is ample space in the printable Student Task Statements, Assessment PDFs, and workbooks for students to capture calculations and write answers. Organizational features such as the table of contents and internal references are present and clearly labeled, supporting navigation across units and lessons.

Indicator 3u

Narrative Only

Materials provide teacher guidance for the use of embedded technology to support and enhance student learning, when applicable.

The materials reviewed for Kendall Hunt IM v.360 Grade 3 through Grade 5 do not provide teacher guidance for the use of embedded technology to support and enhance student learning, when applicable. 

The teacher materials do not reference embedded digital tools or include instructions or recommendations for integrating technology into instruction.