2025
Kiddom IM® v.360

6th to 8th Grade - Gateway 2

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Gateway Ratings Summary

Rigor and Mathematical Practices

Gateway 2 - Meets Expectations
100%
Criterion 2.1: Rigor and Balance
8 / 8
Criterion 2.2: Standards for Mathematical Practices
8 / 8

The materials reviewed for Kiddom IM® v.360 Grade 6 through 8 meet expectations for rigor and balance and mathematical practices. The materials help students develop procedural skills, fluency, and application. The materials also make meaningful connections between the Standards for Mathematical Content and the Standards for Mathematical Practice (MPs).

Criterion 2.1: Rigor and Balance

8 / 8

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 reflect the balances in the Standards and help students meet the Standards’ rigorous expectations by giving appropriate attention to: developing students’ conceptual understanding; procedural skill and fluency; and engaging applications.

The materials reviewed for Kiddom IM® v.360 Grade 6 through 8 meet expectations for rigor. The materials develop conceptual understanding of key mathematical concepts, give attention throughout the year to procedural skill and fluency, and spend sufficient time working with engaging applications of mathematics. There is a balance of the three aspects of rigor within the grade.

Indicator 2a

2 / 2

Materials support the intentional development of students’ conceptual understanding of key mathematical concepts, especially where called for in specific content standards or clusters.

The materials reviewed for Kiddom IM® v.360 Grade 6 through Grade 8 meet expectations for developing conceptual understanding of key mathematical concepts, especially where called for in specific content standards or cluster headings.

Multiple conceptual understanding problems are embedded throughout the grade level within Warm-ups, Activities, or Cool-downs. Students have opportunities to engage with these problems both independently and with teacher support. According to the Course Overview, Key Structures in This Course, Developing Conceptual Understanding And Fluency, “Each unit begins with Check Your Readiness, a diagnostic assessment to gauge what students know about both prerequisite and upcoming concepts and skills. Adjustments are then made accordingly. The initial lesson in a unit activates prior knowledge and provides an easy entry point to new concepts, so that students at different levels of both mathematical and English language proficiency engage productively in the work. As the unit progresses, students are systematically introduced to representations, contexts, concepts, language and notation. As their learning progresses, they make connections between different representations and strategies, consolidating their conceptual understanding, and see and understand more efficient methods of solving problems, supporting the shift toward procedural fluency. The distributed practice problems give students ongoing practice, which also supports developing procedural proficiency.” 

An example in Grade 6 includes:

  • Unit 7, Rational Numbers, Section A, Lesson 4, Activity 4.3, students develop conceptual understanding of greater than and less than to describe order and position on a number line. Students are shown a number line with points M and N to the left of zero and points P and R to the right of zero. Question 1 states, “The number line shows 4 points: M, N, P, and R. Use each of the following phrases in a sentence describing or comparing the values of 2 of the points, 1 greater than, 2 less than, 3 opposite of (or opposites), 4 negative number.” The Activity Synthesis states, “The goal of this discussion is to give students the opportunity to use precise language as they compare the relative positions of rational numbers. Give students 2–3 minutes to discuss their responses with a partner before a whole-class discussion. Ask students to share their partner’s reasoning, especially if it was different than their own. Here are some questions to consider: ‘Did you ever have a different answer than your partner? If so, were you both correct? If not, how did you work to reach an agreement?’ ‘How can we tell if two numbers are opposites?’ (They are the same distance from 0 but on opposite sides of 0.) ‘How can we tell if one number is greater or less than another number?’ (Numbers toward the right are considered greater, and numbers toward the left are considered less.)” (6.NS.6)

An example in Grade 7  includes:

  • Unit 8, Probability and Samples, Section A, Lesson 3, Warm-up, students develop conceptual understanding of probability and possible outcomes. Question 1 states, “Which game are you more likely to win?  A. Game 1: You flip a coin and win if it lands showing heads. B. Game 2: You roll a standard number cube and win if it lands showing a number that is divisible by 3. Explain your reasoning using one of the tools below.” The Activity Synthesis states, “Have partners share their answers and display the results for all to see. Select at least 1 student for each answer provided to give a reason for their choice. If no student mentions it, explain that the number of possible outcomes that count as a win and the number of total possible outcomes are both important to determining the likelihood of an event. That is, although there are 2 ways to win with the standard number cube and only 1 way to win on the coin, the greater number of possible outcomes in the second game makes it less likely to provide a win.” (7.SP.5)

An example in Grade 8 includes:

  • Unit 2, Dilations, Similarity, and Introducing Slope, Section C, Lesson 10, Activity 10.2, students develop conceptual understanding of why certain triangles with one side along the same line are similar. Question 1 states, “The grid shows three right triangles, each with its longest side on the same line. Your teacher will assign you two of the triangles. Explain why the two triangles are similar. 2. Complete the table. 3. What do you notice about the last column in the table? Why do you think this is true?” Activity 10.3, students develop conceptual understanding of two lines with similar slopes are parallel. “1. Draw two lines with a slope of 3. 2. Draw two lines with slope \frac{1}{2}.” The Activity Synthesis states, “Ask previously selected students, as described in the Activity Narrative, to share how they drew their lines with a slope of \frac{1}{2}. Demonstrate how it does not matter if you draw a slope triangle with a vertical length of 1 and a horizontal length of 2, or a triangle with vertical and horizontal lengths of 3 and 6, or 5 and 10. Explain that the quotient of side lengths is the important feature, since any triangle drawn to match a given slope will be similar to any other triangle drawn to match the same slope. Here are some questions for discussion: ‘What did you notice about the two lines you drew with a slope of 3? With a slope of \frac{1}{2}?’ (Lines with the same slope are parallel. Slope triangles for the lines with the same slope are similar.) ‘What did you notice about the lines with a slope of 3 compared to the lines with a slope of \frac{1}{2}?’ (The lines with a slope of 3 look ‘steeper’ than the lines with a slope of \frac{1}{2}.)” Students use an applet in presentation mode. (8.EE.6)

According to Kiddom IM® v.360 Course Overview, the materials are designed to provide students with opportunities to independently demonstrate conceptual understanding, when appropriate. Key Structures in This Course, Purposeful Representations states, “Across lessons, units, and courses, students are encouraged to use representations that make sense to them, and to make connections—between representations, as well as between representations and the concepts and procedures they show. Over time, students learn to recognize and use efficient methods of representing and solving problems, which in turn supports fluency.” 

An example  in Grade 6 includes:

  • Unit 3, Unit Rates and Percentages, Section B, Lesson 6, Activity 6.2, students demonstrate conceptual understanding of equivalent ratios that have the same unit rate. “1. Two binders cost $14, and 5 binders cost $35. Part A. Complete the table to show the cost for 4 binders and 10 binders at that rate. Next, find the cost for a single binder in each case, and record those values in the third column. Part B. What do you notice about the values in this table? 2. This table shows the cost of notebooks. Complete the table. Be prepared to explain your reasoning.” A table shows the number of notebooks, total cost (dollars), and unit price (dollars per notebook). Each column has some values filled in, while others are left blank for students to complete. For example, the table provides 20 notebooks and a unit price of $3 per notebook, students must determine the total cost in dollars. (6.RP.2, 6.RP.3)

An example in Grade 7 includes:

  • Unit 5, Rational Number Arithmetic, Section A, Lesson 4, Warm-up, students demonstrate conceptual understanding about positive and negative integers. Student Task Statement states, “Priya wants to buy 3 tickets for a concert. Each ticket costs $50. She has earned $135. 1. What could Priya do in order to be able to buy the tickets? 2. One equation that represents this situation is 135+15=50\bullet 3. What do each of the numbers tell us about this situation? 3. Another equation that represents this situation is 135-3\bullet 50=-15. What do each of the numbers tell us in this situation?” (7.NS.1)

An example in Grade 8 includes:

  • Unit 5, Functions and Volume, Section C, Lesson 8, Cool-down, students demonstrate conceptual understanding that linear functions can be represented by an equation in y = mx + b format. Student Task Statement states, “In a certain city in France, they gain 2 minutes of daylight each day after the spring equinox (usually in March), but after the autumnal equinox (usually in September), they lose 2 minutes of daylight each day. 1. Which of the graphs is most likely to represent the graph of daylight for the month after the spring equinox? A. Graph A. B. Graph B. C. Graph C. D. Graph D. 2. Which of the graphs is most likely to represent the graph of daylight for the month after the autumnal equinox? A. Graph A. B. Graph B. C. Graph C. D. Graph D. 3. Why are the other graphs not likely to represent either month?” Four graphs are pictured. (8.F.3 and 8.F.4)

Indicator 2a.MLL

2 / 2

Materials provide support for MLLs’ full and complete participation in the intentional development of students’ conceptual understanding of key mathematical concepts.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grades 6-8 of Kiddom IM® v.360 meet the criteria of providing support for Multilingual Learners’ (MLLs’) full and complete participation in the intentional development of students’ conceptual understanding of key mathematical concepts. The materials provide embedded, intentional supports that promote conceptual understanding of grade-level mathematics through activating prior knowledge, pairing concrete, visual, and abstract representations, and engaging students in scaffolded tasks that are aligned with the depth and intent of the standards.

In every unit, the materials consistently provide multiple opportunities for students to explore and make sense of mathematical ideas before engaging with multiple representations to formalize procedures, supporting conceptual understanding. To do this, the materials embed various representations, structured discourse, and Mathematical Language Routines (MLRs) to promote deep conceptual understanding. For example:

  • Concrete and virtual manipulatives and visual representations and virtual manipulatives such as ratio tables, graphs, and algebra tiles are used alongside MLRs to solidify understanding of grade-level mathematics.

  • Sentence frames and structured partner work encourage students to explain their reasoning, compare strategies, and make sense of concrete and visual representations.

  • Activities and tasks require students to move between representations (concrete, visual, and abstract), aligning with the standards’ call for conceptual understanding.

Throughout Grade 8, Unit 3, Linear Relationships, Lesson 1, students work in partners to engage with different representations of proportional relationships to build conceptual understanding (8.EE.B). Connecting to prior knowledge around ratios from Grade 6 and proportional relationships from Grade 7, partners interpret number lines and graphs of proportional relationships in context. In Activity 1.3 Moving Twice as Fast, students are pairing the visual representations with the corresponding abstract equations. The Activity Synthesis provides language support by using MLR7: Compare and Connect, in which teachers facilitate a whole-class discussion to compare and connect the visual and abstract representations using prompts such as, “How do these different representations show the same information?” 

This piece of evidence demonstrates that the materials support MLLs’ full and complete participation in the intentional development of students’ conceptual understanding of key mathematical concepts. The materials are structured to build conceptual understanding through tasks that connect concrete, visual, and abstract representations with academic language and mathematical reasoning.

Indicator 2b

2 / 2

Materials provide intentional opportunities for students to develop procedural skills and fluencies, especially where called for in specific content standards or clusters.

The materials reviewed for Kiddom IM® v.360 Grade 6 through Grade 8 meet expectations for providing intentional opportunities for students to develop procedural skills and fluencies, especially where called for in specific content standards or clusters.

According to the Course Overview, Key Structures of This Course, Principles of IM Curriculum Design, Developing Conceptual Understanding and Procedural Fluency, “Warm-up routines, practice problems, centers, and other built-in activities help students develop procedural fluency, which develops over time.” 

An example in Grade 6 includes: 

  • Unit 5, Arithmetic in Base Ten, Section C, Lesson 11, Activity 11.2, students develop procedural skill and fluency as they complete long division problems using the standard algorithm. Question 2 states, “Lin’s method is called long division. Use this method to find the following quotients. Check your answer by multiplying it by the divisor. Part A 846\div 3 Part B 1816\div 4 Part C 768\div 12.” (6.NS.2)

An example in Grade 7 includes: 

  • Unit 7, Angles, Triangles, and Prisms, Section A, Lesson 2 Practice Problems, students develop procedural skill and fluency as they use facts about supplementary, complementary angles to find angle pairs. Question 1 states, “Angles A and C are supplementary. Find the measure of angle C.” Two angles are shown, with ∠BAE measuring 74°. Question 2 states, “Part A. List two pairs of angles in square CDFG that are complementary. Part B. Name three angles whose measures add up to 180°.” (7.G.5)

An example in Grade 8 includes: 

  • Unit 7, Exponents and Scientific Notation, Section A, Lesson 2, Activity 2.3, students develop procedural skill and fluency in multiplying exponents with the same base. Question 1 states, “Part A. Complete the table to explore patterns in the exponents when multiplying powers of 10. You may skip a single box in the table, but if you do, be prepared to explain why you skipped it. Part B. If you chose to skip one entry in the table, which entry did you skip? Why?” Students fill in a table with columns labeled expression, expanded, and single power of 10. For example, 10^{2}\bullet 10^{3}=(10\bullet 10)(10\bullet 10\bullet 10)=10^{5}. (8.EE.1)

According to the Course Overview, Key Structures of This Course, Principles of IM Curriculum Design, Coherent Progression, materials were designed to include opportunities for students to independently demonstrate procedural skill and fluency, when appropriate. “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.” 

An example in Grade 6 includes:

  • Unit 1, Area and Surface Area, Section E, Lesson 17, Cool-down, students demonstrate procedural skill and fluency as they work with exponential expressions. “1. Which is larger, 5^{2} or 3^{3}? 2. A cube has an edge length of 21 cm. Use an exponent to express its volume.” (6.EE.1)

An example in Grade 7 includes:

  • Unit 8, Probability and Sampling, Section D, Lesson 16, Activity 16.2, students demonstrate procedural skill and fluency as they convert rational numbers to decimals. Student Task Statement states, “The track coach at a high school needs a student whose reaction time is less than 0.4 seconds to help out at track meets. All the twelfth graders in the school measured their reaction times. Your teacher will give you a bag of papers that list their results. 1. Work with your partner to select a random sample of 20 reaction times, and record them in the table. 2. What proportion of your sample is less than 0.4 seconds? 3. Estimate the proportion of all twelfth graders at this school who have a reaction time of less than 0.4 seconds. 4. There are 120 twelfth graders at this school. Estimate how many of them have a reaction time of less than 0.4 seconds.” (7.NS.2d)

An example in Grade 8 includes:

Unit 4, Linear Equation and Linear Systems, Section C, Lesson 12, Activity 12.3, students demonstrate procedural skill and fluency as they solve systems of two linear equations in two variables algebraically, and estimate solutions by graphing the equations. Launch states, “A stack of n small cups has a height, h, in centimeters, of h = 1.5n + 6. A stack of n large cups has a height, h, in centimeters, of h = 1.5n + 9.” Question 1 & 2 states, “1. Graph the equations for each cup on the same set of axes. Make sure to label the axes and decide on an appropriate scale. 2 For what number of cups will the two stacks have the same height?” (8.EE.8b)

Indicator 2b.MLL

1 / 2

Materials provide support for MLLs’ full and complete participation in opportunities for students to develop procedural skills and fluencies.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 6-8 of Kiddom® v.360 partially meet the criteria of providing support for Multilingual Learners’ (MLLs’) full and complete participation in intentional opportunities for students to develop procedural skills and fluencies. The materials partially provide embedded opportunities for MLLs to engage in developing procedural fluency through well-structured tasks and routines. They lack consistent and explicit language supports necessary for MLLs to fully and completely participate in all phases of procedural learning, particularly in explanation, justification, and synthesis.

In Grade 6, Unit 5, Arithmetic in Base Ten, Lesson 11, Activity 11.2, students make sense of the process of long division by studying an annotated example before applying their new learning to independently find quotients of long division problems (6.NS.2). First, students work in partners to analyze how a fictional student named Lin solved a long division problem. A written description of how Lin found the quotient is provided: "Lin arranged the numbers for vertical calculations. Her plan was to divide each digit of 657 into 3 groups, starting with the 6 hundreds. .... ” The materials support MLLs with the language demands of analyzing Lin’s work with a suggestion in a note titled Supporting Multilingual Learners: the use of Mathematical Language Routine (MLR) 8 Discussion Supports, which states, “Invite students to repeat their explanations for Lin’s steps using mathematical language: ‘Can you say that again, using the terms ‘place value,’ ‘ones place,’ and ‘tenths place’?’.” Then, students move independently to the next question in which they apply their understanding of the process of long division in three new problems. The Activity Synthesis directs teachers to display the three new problems and to select a student to explain the steps for at least one of the long division problems. There is no connection drawn for teachers between the suggested use of MLR8 to explain Lin’s steps and the independently completed problems and the Activity Synthesis. Therefore, the activity lacks consistent language supports for the productive language demands of explaining the process of long division. The materials do not provide consistent language supports during explanation and justification tasks, which are necessary for MLLs to express procedural understanding using academic language.

In Grade 8, Unit 7, Exponents and Scientific Notation, Lesson 4, Activity 4.3, students answer a series of questions designed to extend exponent rules to discover why it makes sense to define 10^0 as 1 (8.EE.1). The activity begins with students working independently to respond in writing to Student Task Statements such as, “Write 10^12⋅10^0 as a single power of 10. Explain or show your reasoning.” After students work independently, they engage in partner and then whole-group discourse to review the answers and explanations. Through this work, there are no language supports present for the productive language demands of explaining mathematical reasoning. Then, language supports appear in the facilitation of the Activity Synthesis, which suggests the use of MLR3 Critique, Correct, Clarify, where teachers are directed to give students the opportunity to improve a sample written mathematical statement. Specifically, students are discussing how to fix common conceptual errors and how to add details to improve ambiguous language. This practice supports students with the language needed to make sense of the procedural skill of exponent rules, as called for in the standards. However, because the language supports appear only during the Activity Synthesis, this activity lacks consistent language supports to provide for the full and complete participation by MLL students. 

The materials partially meet the criteria for this Indicator because the lessons’ instructional design includes Warm-ups, one to three instructional Activities, Lesson Syntheses, and Cool Downs which are designed to give students repeated access to procedural skills and fluency. However, these aspects of the instructional design often do not consistently include built-in supports for MLLs who may need productive language supports for speaking or writing their thinking in English, specifically where procedural skills and fluency is called for in the standards. Without consistent language supports, MLLs may have limited opportunities to fully demonstrate procedural understanding or engage in discussions requiring explanation and justification.

Indicator 2c

2 / 2

Materials support the intentional development of students’ ability to utilize mathematical concepts and skills in engaging applications, especially where called for in specific content standards or clusters.

The materials reviewed for Kiddom IM® v.360 Grade 6 through Grade 8 meet expectations for supporting the intentional development of students’ ability to utilize mathematical concepts and skills in engaging applications, especially where called for in specific content standards or clusters.

Multiple routine and non-routine applications of mathematics are included throughout the grade level, with single- and multi-step application problems embedded within Activities or Cool-downs. Students have opportunities to engage with these applications both with teacher support and independently. According to the Course Overview, materials are designed to provide students with opportunities to independently demonstrate their understanding of grade-level mathematics when appropriate. Key Structures in This Course, Principles of IM Curriculum Design, Coherent Progression states, “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.” 

An example of a routine application of the math in Grade 6 includes:

  • Unit 6, Expressions and Equations, Section D, Lesson 17, Activity 17.2, students engage in a routine application problem as they calculate unit rates. Student Task Statement states, “Diego, Elena, and Andre joined different teams for a robotics competition. Each team programmed a robot to travel at a constant rate. 1. Complete each table to show how far each team’s robot traveled during the competition.” Students are given three tables with missing values. Tables are labeled Diego’s Team, Elena’s Team, and Andre’s Team. Columns are titled: time in (minutes), distance traveled (meters). Question 2 states, “Graph points to show the progress of each robot. Use a different color or symbol for each robot.” Question 3 states, “Part A. Explain why d=3t relates the distance and time that Diego’s robot traveled. Part B. In this equation, which variable is independent and which one is dependent? Record your answer in the table. Be prepared to explain how you know.” (6.RP.3)

An example of a routine application of the math in Grade 7 includes:

  • Unit 7, Angles, Triangles, and Prisms, Section C, Lesson 16, Activity 16.3, students engage in a routine application problem using knowledge of proportional relationships, volume, and surface area. Student Task Statement states, “The daycare has two sandboxes that are both prisms with regular hexagons as their bases. The smaller sandbox has a base area of 1,146 in² and is filled 10 inches deep with sand. 1. It took 14 bags of sand to fill the small sandbox to this depth. What volume of sand comes in one bag? (Round to the nearest whole cubic inch.) 2. The daycare manager wants to add 3 more inches to the depth of the sand in the small sandbox. How many bags of sand will they need to buy? 3. The daycare manager also wants to add 3 more inches to the depth of the sand in the large sandbox. The base of the large sandbox is a scaled copy of the base of the small sandbox, with a scale factor of 1.5. How many bags of sand will they need to buy for the large sandbox? 4. A lawn and garden store is selling 6 bags of sand for $19.50. How much will they spend to buy all the new sand for both sandboxes?” (7.RP.A)

An example of a routine application of the math in Grade 8 includes:

  • Unit 5, Functions and Volume, Section C, Lesson 9, Cool-down, students independently engage in a routine application problem, determining if a single linear model can be used. Question 1 states, “A small company is selling a new board game, and they need to know how many to produce in the future. After 12 months, they sold 4 thousand games. After 18 months, they sold 7 thousand games. And after 36 months, they sold 15 thousand games. Could this information be reasonably estimated using a single linear model? If so, use the model to estimate the number of games sold after 48 months. If not, explain your reasoning.” (8.F.B)

An example of a non-routine application of the math in Grade 6 includes:

  • Unit 2, Introducing Ratios, Section E, Lesson 15, Cool-down, students independently engage in a routine application problem as they use ratios to solve a problem. Question 1 states, “A house has a kitchen, a playroom, and a dining room on the first floor. The areas of the kitchen, playroom, and dining room in square feet are in the ratio 4 : 3 : 2. The combined area of these three rooms is 189 square feet. What is the area of each room?” (6.RP.3)

An example of a non-routine application of the math in Grade 7 includes:

  • Unit 6, Expressions, Equations, and Inequalities, Section A, Lesson 2 Practice Problems, students independently engage in a non-routine application problem using tape diagrams to explain and solve equations. Question 3 states, “Andre wants to save $40 to buy a gift for his dad. Andre’s neighbor will pay him weekly to mow the lawn, but Andre always gives a $2 donation to the food bank in weeks when he earns money. Andre calculates that it will take him 5 weeks to earn the money for his dad’s gift. He draws a tape diagram to represent the situation. Part A. Explain how the parts of the tape diagram represent the story. Part B. How much does Andre’s neighbor pay him each week to mow the lawn?” (7.EE.3)

An example of a non-routine application of the math in Grade 8 includes:

  • Unit 1, Rigid Transformations and Congruence, Section E, Lesson 17, Activity 17.2, students engage in a non-routine application problem using congruence and similarity to create their own tessellation. “1. Design your own tessellation. You will need to decide which shapes you want to use and make copies. Remember that a tessellation is a repeating pattern that goes on forever to fill up the entire plane. 2. Find a partner and trade pictures. Describe a transformation of your partner’s picture that takes the pattern to itself. How many different transformations can you find that take the pattern to itself? Consider translations, reflections, and rotations. 3. If there’s time, color and decorate your tessellation.” (8.G.A)

Indicator 2c.MLL

1 / 2

Materials provide support for MLLs’ full and complete participation in the intentional development of students’ ability to utilize mathematical concepts and skills in engaging applications.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 6-8 of Kiddom IM® v.360 partially meet the criteria of providing support for Multilingual Learners’ (MLLs’) full and complete participation in the intentional development of students’ ability to utilize mathematical concepts and skills in engaging applications. The materials partially provide supports that allow MLLs to engage in applying mathematical concepts and skills in routine and non-routine tasks as well as partner and whole-class discourse focusing on mathematical reasoning. These supports are not consistently provided or available at the point of entry, which results in inconsistent opportunities for MLLs to fully participate across all lessons. 

In Grade 6, Unit 2, Introducing Ratios, Lesson 15, Activity 15.3, students work in small groups to use tape diagrams to represent and reason about part-part whole ratios and solve non-routine, real-world word problems (6.RP.3). The activity begins with a whole-class discussion in which students are introduced to the idea of using “parts” in recipes: “Draw students’ attention to a ratio that uses ‘parts’ as its unit. Ask students what they think ‘one part’ means or amounts to, and how situations expressed in terms of ‘parts’ could be diagrammed. Make sure they understand that ‘parts’ do not represent specific amounts, that the value of ‘one part’ can vary but the size of all parts is equal, and that a tape diagram can be used to show these parts.” The materials do not include additional language supports to help MLLs comprehend the concept of using “parts” in recipes, creating a barrier in the point of entry into the task for MLLs. Then, students work in small groups to solve three word problems using tape diagrams. A note titled Supporting Multilingual Learners suggests the use of the Mathematical Language Routine (MLR) 2 Collect and Display, which directs teachers to circulate, listen for, and display language that supports students’ use of the concept of ratios that use “parts” for their units, such as, “one part of ____ represents …” The note encourages teachers to invite students to use the language from the display as needed, updating it throughout the lesson, to support MLLs in using precise mathematical language during partner discussions. In the Activity Synthesis, the teacher facilitates a whole-class discussion on the way in which tape diagrams are used to represent the quantities in the problems. The Activity Synthesis does not include guidance for addressing the listening and speaking language demands of participating in the whole-class discussion. Therefore, this activity does not provide consistent language supports at the task entry point as well as the language demands of speaking and listening while MLLs grapple with, make sense of, and solve application problems. 

In Grade 8, Unit 8, Pythagorean Theorem and Irrational Numbers, Lesson 11, Activity 11.2, students work in partners to solve a routine, real-world word problem involving the Pythagorean Theorem (8.G.7). The activity starts with the teacher reading the word problem aloud, inviting a class discussion to make sense of the word problem; a note titled Supporting Multilingual Learners suggests the use of MLR6 Three Reads to further support MLLs with making sense of the problem. The last read in MLR6 suggests the teacher asks a question aimed at providing students with an entry point into the task: “What are some ways we might get started on this?” Then, students work with partners to solve the word problem and justify their reasoning in writing. The activity lacks suggestions to support the productive language demands of partner discussions and justifying reasoning in writing. The activity concludes with the teacher facilitating a whole-class discussion in the Activity Synthesis, inviting 1-2 students to share their solutions and justifications. The materials do not provide suggestions for language supports for MLLs to participate fully in the whole-class discussion. In summary, this activity does not consistently provide language supports for all four domains of language: reading, writing, speaking, and listening. The lesson’s absence of consistent language supports limits MLLs’ access for grappling with routine, real-world application problems, limiting their full and complete participation in tasks. 

The materials partially meet the criteria for this Indicator because in every lesson, students engage with routine and non-routine application problems through: tasks that promote the use of known facts to build new understanding, the incorporation of multiple representations, such as number lines, arrays, and symbolic equations, and lesson structures that move from independent exploration to partner discussion and group synthesis, promoting reflection and connection-making. However, these opportunities often do not consistently include language supports for MLLs to participate in the full depth of application-based learning at critical moments, such as the launch of new tasks or during partner synthesis in discussions and through writing.

Indicator 2d

2 / 2

The three aspects of rigor are not always treated together and are not always treated separately. There is a balance of the three aspects of rigor within the grade as reflected by the standards.

The materials reviewed for Kiddom IM® v.360 Grade 6 through Grade 8 meet expectations in that the three aspects of rigor are not always treated together and are not always treated separately. There is a balance of the three aspects of rigor within the grade as reflected by the standards.

Multiple aspects of rigor are engaged simultaneously throughout the materials in order to develop students’ mathematical understanding of a single unit of study or topic. 

An example in Grade 6 includes:

  • Unit 2, Introducing Ratios, Section E, Lesson 16, Activity 16.3, students engage in all three aspects of rigor, conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, and application as they apply ratio reasoning to solve problems. Student Task Statement states, “Solve each problem and show your thinking. Organize it so it can be followed by others. If you get stuck, consider drawing a double number line diagram, a table, or a tape diagram. 1. A recipe for a cleaning liquid says to mix 4 parts water with 3 parts vinegar. How much water is needed to make a total of 28 tablespoons of the solution? Show your thinking using one of the tools below. (Draw, Write, Photo, Audio, Video). 2. Andre and Han are moving boxes. Andre can move 4 boxes every half hour. Han can move 5 boxes every half hour. How long will it take Andre and Han to move all 72 boxes? Show your thinking using one of the tools below. (Draw, Write, Photo, Audio, Video).” (6.RP.3)

An example in Grade 7 includes:

  • Unit 2, Introducing Proportional Relationships, Section A, Lesson 3, Activity 3.3, students engage in all three aspects of rigor, conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, and application as they apply their knowledge of the relationship between the constant of proportionality and constant speed. Student Task Statement states, “On its way from New York to San Diego, a plane flew over Pittsburgh, Saint Louis, Albuquerque, and Phoenix traveling at a constant speed. Complete the table as you answer the questions. Be prepared to explain your reasoning. Question 1. Part A. 1. What is the distance between Saint Louis and Albuquerque? 2. How many minutes did it take to fly between Albuquerque and Phoenix? Part B. What is the proportional relationship represented by this table? Part C. Diego says the constant of proportionality is 550. Andre says the constant of proportionality is 9\frac{1}{6}. Do you agree with either of them? A. I agree with Diego. B. I agree with Andre. C. I agree with both Diego and Andre. D. I disagree with both Diego and Andre. Explain your reasoning using one of the tools below. (Draw, Write, Photo, Audio, Video).” A table of time, distance, and speed is provided, with some values missing for each city segment. (7.RP.2)

An example in Grade 8 includes:

  • Unit 7, Exponents and Scientific Notation, Section B, Lesson 7, Cool-down, students develop conceptual understanding alongside procedural skill and fluency as they work with the rules of exponents. “Question 1. Rewrite each expression using a single, positive exponent: Part A. \frac{9^{3}}{9^{9}}Part B. 14^{-3}\cdot 14^{12}. Question 2. Diego wrote 6^{4}\cdot 8^{3}=48^{7}. Explain what Diego’s mistake was and how you know the equation is not true.” (8.EE.1) 

Criterion 2.2: Standards for Mathematical Practices

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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 meaningfully connect the Standards for Mathematical Content and Standards for Mathematical Practice (MPs).

The materials reviewed for Kiddom IM® v.360 Grade 6 through 8 meet expectations for mathematical practices. The materials meaningfully connect the Standards for Mathematical Content and the Standards for Mathematical Practice (MPs).

Indicator 2e

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Materials support the intentional development of MP1: Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them, for students, in connection to the grade-level content standards, as expected by the mathematical practice standards.

The materials reviewed for Kiddom IM® v.360 Grade 6 through Grade 8 meet expectations for supporting the intentional development of MP1: Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them, for students, in connection to the grade-level content standards, as expected by the mathematical practice standards. 

Students have opportunities to engage with MP1 across the year, and it is often explicitly identified for teachers within the Course Overview (Standards for Mathematical Practice) and within specific lessons (Preparation Narratives and Lesson Activities’ Narratives). According to the Course Overview, Standards for Mathematical Practice, “The Standards for Mathematical Practice (MP) describe the types of thinking and behaviors in which students engage as they do mathematics. Throughout the curriculum, the Teacher Guide identifies lessons and activities in which to observe the different MPs. The unit-level Mathematical Practice chart is meant to highlight lessons in each unit that showcase certain MPs. Some units, due to their size or the nature of their content, have fewer predicted chances for students to engage in a particular MP, indicated in the chart by a dash.” 

An example in Grade 6 includes:

  • Unit 1, Area and Surface Area, Section D, Lesson 12, Warm-up, students analyze and make sense of problems as they estimate surface area. Lesson Narrative, “Students begin by exploring surface area in concrete terms, by thinking about the number of square sticky notes it would take to cover a filing cabinet. First, they make an estimate, and then they think about what information is needed to calculate the actual number of sticky notes. Because no techniques are given, students need to make sense of the problem and persevere in solving it (MP1).” Launch states, “Arrange students in groups of 2. Show the video of a teacher beginning to cover a large cabinet with sticky notes or display the following still images for all to see. Before starting the video or displaying the image, ask students to be prepared to share one thing they notice and one thing they wonder. A man begins covering a file cabinet with post-it notes and numbers them as he goes. Give students a minute to share their observation and question with a partner. Invite a few students to share their questions with the class. If the question, ‘How many sticky notes would it take to cover the entire cabinet?’, is not mentioned, ask if anyone wondered how many sticky notes it would take to cover the entire cabinet. Give students a minute to make an estimate.” Question 1 states, “Your teacher will show you a video about a cabinet or some pictures of it. Estimate an answer to the question: How many sticky notes would it take to cover the cabinet, excluding the bottom?” The Activity Synthesis states, “Poll the class for students' estimates, and record them for all to see. Invite a couple of students to share how they made their estimate. Explain to students that they will now think about how to answer this question.”

An example in Grade 7 includes:

  • Unit 3, Measuring Circles, Section C, Lesson 11, 11.1, students apply their understanding of circumference and area to solve real-world problems. Activity Narrative, “In this activity students apply what they have learned about circles to solve a multi-step problem (MP1). Students find the area and perimeter of geometric figures whose boundaries are line segments and fractions of circles and use that information to calculate the cost of a project.” Question 1 states, “The students in art class are designing a stained-glass window to hang in the school entryway. The window will be 3 feet tall and 4 feet wide. Here is their design. They have raised $100 for the project. The colored glass costs $5 per square foot. The clear glass costs $2 per square foot. The material they need to join the pieces of glass together costs 10 cents per foot. The frame around the window costs $4 per foot. Do they have enough money to cover the cost of making the window?”

An example in Grade 8 includes:

  • Unit 6, Associations in Data, Section A, Lesson 1, Warm-up, students work to organize data in a way that makes sense to them. Activity Narrative, “The purpose of this Warm-up is to elicit the idea that organizing data is helpful for recognizing patterns, which will be useful when students work with ways or organizing data in a later activity. While students may notice and wonder many things about this table, working towards recognizing any patterns and associations are the important discussion points. This Warm-up prompts students to familiarize themselves with the context and mathematics that might be involved by making sense of data before organizing it (MP1).” Question 1 states, “Here is a table of data. Each row shows 2 measurements of a triangle. What do you notice? What do you wonder?” Students are provided with a table containing data that shows the length of the short side (in inches) and the perimeter (in inches). The Activity Synthesis states, “Ask students to share the things they noticed and wondered. Record and display their responses without editing or commentary for all to see. If possible, record the relevant reasoning on or near the table. Next, ask students, ‘Is there anything on this list that you are wondering about now?’ Encourage students to observe what is on display and respectfully ask for clarification, point out contradicting information, or voice any disagreement. If the pattern that both values increase together does not come up during the conversation, ask students to discuss this idea.”

Indicator 2e.MLL

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Materials provide support for MLLs’ full and complete participation in the intentional development of MP1: Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them, for students, in connection to the grade-level content standards, as expected by the mathematical practice standards.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grades 6-8 of Kiddom IM® v.360 meet the criteria of providing support for Multilingual Learners’ (MLLs’) full and complete participation in the intentional development of MP1: Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.

In every unit, the materials consistently provide opportunities for students to use and develop language when making sense of problems through whole-group and student-to-student discourse. The materials provide these opportunities through features embedded within the lesson facilitation or as a suggested support in notes titled Supporting Multilingual Learners. An example of a feature embedded within the lesson facilitation are the Instructional Routines. Specifically, the Course Overview,  What’s in an IM Lesson, describes how the Instructional Routine Notice and Wonder supports MP1: “Notice and Wonder invites all students into a mathematical task with two low-stakes prompts: ‘What do you notice? What do you wonder?’ By thinking about things they notice and wonder, students gain entry into the context and might have their curiosity piqued.  Students learn to make sense of problems (MP1) by taking steps to become familiar with the context and the mathematics that might be involved.” Additionally, the Course Overview, Standards for Mathematical Practice states, “Some instructional routines are generally associated with certain MPs. For example… The Information Gap routine often requires students to make sense of problems and persevere in solving them (MP1) as well as attend to precision (MP6) in their language as they ask questions of their partner.” 

As described in the report for 1d.MLL, the materials consistently employ Mathematical Language Routines (MLRs) by Stanford University UL/SCALE. The Course Overview,  Advancing Mathematical Language and Access for Multilingual Learners outlines how the material’s lesson design centers the unique language needs of MLLs by embedding Stanford University’s four design principles, the first of which being Support Sense-Making, which aligns with MP1. The specific MLRs that directly support MP1 are:

  • MLR4 Information Gap: In a group, each student has different parts of a mathematical situation, and they piece together that information orally or visually to bridge the gap between the parameters of the situation. They ask questions to solve a mathematical problem.

  • MLR5 Co-Craft Questions: Students examine a problem stem, a graph, a video, an image, or a list of interesting facts and author a mathematical question that might be asked about the situation. With partners or as a class, they compare questions before the teacher reveals the mathematical question of the task as designed. 

  • MLR6 Three Reads: Students are guided to read a problem three separate times with three separate purposes with quick discussions between each read.

  • MLR7 Compare and Connect: Students identify, compare, and contrast their own understandings with other students’ mathematical approaches, representations, concepts, examples, and language.

  • MLR8 Discussion Supports: Teachers provide a variety of supports to foster inclusive whole-class discussions, such as:

    • Revoicing or rephrasing.

    • Pressing for details.

    • Providing sentence frames.

    • Providing multimodal instructional suggestions (e.g. reading, writing, speaking, listening, pointing, gesturing, acting out, etc).

    • Using choral responses.

    • Modeling a think-aloud.

    • Providing think time.

Specifically, in Grade 6, Unit 1, Area and Surface Area, Lesson 12, the lesson begins with a video that introduces the concept of surface area by showing a teacher starting to cover the surface of a large metal cabinet with sticky notes with numbers written on them. The video offers a real-life example of surface area that MLLs can use to make sense of the concept prior to being introduced to the formal vocabulary. The video purposefully does not reveal how many sticky notes will cover the entire surface, and instead invites students to make sense of the situation by engaging with the Instructional Routine Notice and Wonder with a partner. Activity 12.2 directs the teacher to arrange students in groups of two to four, working for approximately ten minutes to find the number of sticky notes needed to cover the cabinet (excluding the bottom). The Activity Synthesis directs the teacher to facilitate a whole-class discussion about groups’ answers and solution strategies before introducing the terms surface area and faces. A note titled Supporting Multilingual Learners suggests supports for MLLs during the whole-class discussion through teachers optionally facilitating MLR7 Compare and Connect. At about halfway through this lesson, students have worked on only one problem; the materials consistently employ deep, sustained engagement with a small number of problems, supporting students in persevering in solving problems. The lesson then moves on to Activity 12.3, which invites students to build right rectangular prisms from physical cubes or within an applet in the digital version of the activity. The lesson’s use of manipulatives, whether physical or digital, supports MLLs with making sense of how the area of each face relates to the total surface area. 

While live demonstrations and videos are infrequent in Grades 6-8 lesson facilitation, the Instructional Routine Notice and Wonder, the MLRs listed above, and the use of digital and physical manipulatives appear consistently and frequently within Grades 6-8. The materials do not include explicit language supports for addressing multiple-meaning terms, such as 'cover' used as both a verb and a noun, which may limit some MLLs’ ability to fully make sense of certain problems.

Indicator 2f

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Materials support the intentional development of MP2: Reason abstractly and quantitatively, for students, in connection to the grade-level content standards, as expected by the mathematical practice standards.

The materials reviewed for Kiddom IM® v.360 Grade 6 through Grade 8 meet expectations for supporting the intentional development of MP2: Reason abstractly and quantitatively, for students, in connection to the grade-level content standards, as expected by the mathematical practice standards. 

Students have opportunities to engage with MP2 across the year and it is often explicitly identified for teachers within the Course Overview (Standards for Mathematical Practice) and within specific lessons (Preparation Narratives and Lesson Activities’ Narratives). According to the Course Overview, Standards for Mathematical Practice, “The Standards for Mathematical Practice (MP) describe the types of thinking and behaviors in which students engage as they do mathematics. Throughout the curriculum, the Teacher Guide identifies lessons and activities in which to observe the different MPs. The unit-level Mathematical Practice chart is meant to highlight lessons in each unit that showcase certain MPs. Some units, due to their size or the nature of their content, have fewer predicted chances for students to engage in a particular MP, indicated in the chart by a dash.” 

An example in Grade 6 includes:

  • Unit 5, Arithmetic in Base Ten, Section C, Lesson 9, 9.3, students use base-ten diagrams to represent division of whole numbers and division of a decimal by a whole number. Student Task Statement states, “To find 53.8\div 4 using diagrams, Elena began by representing 53.8. She placed 1 ten into each group, decomposed the remaining 1 ten into 10 ones, and went on distributing the units. This diagram shows Elena’s initial placement of the units and the decomposition of 1 ten. Here’s Elena’s finished diagram, showing the quotient of 53.8\div 4. Discuss with a partner: 1. What did Elena do after decomposing the 1 ten into 10 ones? How did she get to the last diagram? 2. Based on Elena’s work, what is the value of 53.8\div 4?” Activity Narrative, “In this activity, students analyze several diagrams that represent a decimal being divided by a whole number. They interpret and explain the presence or arrangement of base-ten units in several stages of reasoning, including in a final diagram, which shows the quotient. As students decompose and distribute base-ten pieces into equal-size groups and think about the meaning of each piece, students practice reasoning abstractly and quantitatively (MP2).”

An example in Grade 7 includes:

  • Unit 1, Scale Drawings, Section B, Lesson 7, 7.2, students reason abstractly and quantitatively as they measure the lengths of scale drawings. “1. To the nearest tenth of a centimeter, measure the distances on the scale drawing that are labeled a–d. Record your results in the first row of the table. 2. The statement ‘1 cm represents 2 m’ is the scale of the drawing. It can also be expressed as ‘1 cm to 2 m, or ‘1 cm for every 2 m.’ What do you think the scale tells us? 3. How long would each measurement from the first question be on an actual basketball court? Your teacher will give you a scale drawing of a basketball court. The drawing does not have any measurements labeled, but it says that 1 centimeter represents 2 meters. 4. On an actual basketball court, the bench area is typically 9 meters long. Part A. Without measuring, determine how long the bench area should be on the scale drawing. Part B. Check your answer by measuring the bench area on the scale drawing. Did your prediction match your measurement?” Activity Narrative, “Students measure lengths on a scale drawing and use a given scale to find corresponding lengths on a basketball court (MP2). Because students are measuring to the nearest tenth of a centimeter, some of the actual measurements they calculate will not have the precision of the official measurements. For example, the official measurement for d is 0.9 m.”

An example in Grade 8 includes:

  • Unit 2, Dilations, Similarity, and Introducing Slope, Section D, Lesson 13, 13.2, students reason abstractly and quantitatively as they examine the lengths of shadows of different objects. Student Task Statement states, “Here are some measurements that were taken when the photo was taken. It was impossible to directly measure the height of the lamppost, so that cell is blank. 1. What relationships do you notice between an object’s height and the length of its shadow? 2. Make a conjecture about the height of the lamppost.” A table is provided for students that shows the relationships between the heights and shadow lengths of specific people or objects. Activity Narrative, “The given measurements are real measurements rounded to the nearest inch, and therefore, the values in the table are not in a perfectly proportional relationship. The quotient of each shadow length and its corresponding object’s height is around, but not exactly, \frac{2}{3}. Students engage in quantitative reasoning by exploring relationships with real-world measurements (MP2).”

Indicator 2f.MLL

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Materials provide support for MLLs’ full and complete participation in the intentional development of MP2: Reason abstractly and quantitatively, for students, in connection to the grade-level content standards, as expected by the mathematical practice standards.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grades 6-8 of Kiddom IM® v.360 partially meet the criteria of providing support for Multilingual Learners’ (MLLs’) full and complete participation in the intentional development of MP2: Reason abstractly and quantitatively.

In every unit, the materials provide opportunities for students to use and develop language when reasoning abstractly and quantitatively through whole-group and student-to-student discourse. The materials provide these opportunities through features embedded within the lesson facilitation or as a suggested support in notes titled Access for English Language Learners. An example of a feature embedded within the lesson facilitation are the Instructional Routines. Specifically, the Course Overview, What’s in an IM Lesson, describes how the Instructional Routine Card Sort supports MP2. Card Sort states, “A card-sorting task gives students opportunities to analyze representations, statements, and structures closely, and make connections (MP2 and MP7).” 

As described in the report for 1d.MLL, the materials consistently employ Mathematical Language Routines [MLRs] by Stanford University UL/SCALE. The specific MLRs that directly support MP2 are as follows:

  • MLR4 Information Gap: In a group, each student has different parts of a mathematical situation, and they piece together that information orally or visually to bridge the gap between the parameters of the situation. They ask questions to solve a mathematical problem. Through this questioning, students are clarifying the meaning of the  numbers and symbols in the mathematical situation.

  • MLR6 Three Reads: Students are guided to read a problem three separate times with three separate purposes, with quick discussions between each read. In the second read, students are guided to consider quantities and units involved in the problem.

  • MLR7 Compare and Connect: Students identify, compare, and contrast their own understandings with other students’ mathematical approaches, representations, concepts, examples, and language. These discussions help students make sense of the relationships between representations and the problem to solve.

  • MLR8 Discussion Supports: Teachers provide a variety of support to foster inclusive whole-class discussions, which at times focuses on making sense of representations and symbols. 

Specifically, in Grade 6, Unit 5, Arithmetic in Base Ten, Lesson 12, Activity 2, students use long division to divide whole numbers whose quotient is not a whole number, which is a new complexity for students. The activity begins with a partner and then a whole-class discussion analyzing a worked example. The materials encourage the teacher to ask students questions that aim to support abstract reasoning by drawing connections between what’s happening symbolically in the worked example with place value understanding, such as, “What value does the 4 in the quotient represent? How do you know?” The lesson does not provide language support for MLLs to participate fully in this crucial whole-class discussion. Next, students complete five long division problems either with partners or individually. The materials do not provide language supports to help MLLs to apply the understandings from the whole-class discussion to new and novel long division problems, and this pattern of limited language support for MP2-related reasoning tasks appears across multiple lessons.

The materials partially meet the criteria for this Indicator because while the materials embed opportunities for students to engage with MP2 through the use of specific Instructional Routines and MLRs, the materials lack language supports at point-of-use within problems in which students are asked to reason abstractly and quantitatively.

Indicator 2g

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Materials support the intentional development of MP3: Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others, in connection to the grade-level content standards, as expected by the mathematical practice standards.

The materials reviewed for Kiddom IM® v.360 Grade 6 through Grade 8 meet expectations for supporting the intentional development of MP3: Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others, for students, in connection to the grade-level content standards, as expected by the mathematical practice standards. 

Students have opportunities to engage with MP3 across the year, and it is often explicitly identified for teachers within the Course Overview (Standards for Mathematical Practice) and within specific lessons (Preparation Narratives and Lesson Activities’ Narratives). According to the Course Overview, Standards for Mathematical Practice, “The Standards for Mathematical Practice (MP) describe the types of thinking and behaviors in which students engage as they do mathematics. Throughout the curriculum, the Teacher Guide identifies lessons and activities in which to observe the different MPs. The unit-level Mathematical Practice chart is meant to highlight lessons in each unit that showcase certain MPs. Some units, due to their size or the nature of their content, have fewer predicted chances for students to engage in a particular MP, indicated in the chart by a dash.” 

An example in Grade 6 includes:

  • Unit 8, Data Sets and Distributions, Section C, Lesson 12, 12.2, students construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others as they use mean and MAD to make comparisons. Activity Narrative: “This activity allows students to practice calculating MAD and to build a better understanding of what it tells us. Students compare data sets with the same mean but different MADs and interpret what these differences imply in the context of the situation. During the discussion, they select a student to be on their team based on the comparison. Expect students to choose different players to be on their team, but be sure they support their preferences with a reasonable explanation (MP3).” “Multipart Question 1. Andre and Noah joined Elena, Jada, and Lin in recording their basketball scores. They all record their scores in the same way: the number of baskets made out of 10 attempts. Each person collects 12 data points. Andre’s mean number of baskets is 5.25, and his MAD is 2.6. Noah’s mean number of baskets is also 5.25, but his MAD is 1. Here are two dot plots that represent the two data sets. The triangle indicates the location of the mean. Part A. Without calculating, decide which dot plot represents Andre’s data and which represents Noah’s. Explain how you know using one of the tools below. (Draw, Write, Photo, Audio, Video). Part B. If you are the captain of a basketball team and can use 1 more player on your team, do you choose Andre or Noah? A. I would choose Andre to be a player on my basketball team. B. I would choose Noah to be a player on my basketball team.” 

An example in Grade 7 includes:

  • Unit 2, Introducing Proportional Relationships, Section D, Lesson 10, 10.3, students construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others as they represent proportional relationships with graphs. Lesson Narrative, “In this activity, students sort different graphs and tables that represent situations they have worked with during previous activities. A sorting task gives students opportunities to analyze representations, statements, and structures closely and make connections (MP2, MP7). As students trade roles explaining their thinking and listening, they have opportunities to explain their reasoning and critique the reasoning of others (MP3).” Student Task Statement states, “Your teacher will give you a set of cards that show representations of relationships. 1. Sort the cards into categories of your choosing. Be prepared to describe your categories. Pause for a whole-class discussion. 2. Take turns with your partner to match a table with a graph. a. For each match that you find, explain to your partner how you know it’s a match. b. For each match that your partner finds, listen carefully to their explanation. If you disagree, discuss your thinking and work to reach an agreement. 3. Which of the relationships are proportional? 4. What do you notice about the graphs of proportional relationships? Do you think this will hold true for all graphs of proportional relationships?”

An example in Grade 8 includes:

  • Unit 4, Linear Equations and Linear Systems, Section A, Lesson 3, 3.2, students construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others as they begin writing equivalent equations. Question 1, “Take turns with your partner to match a pair of equations with a description of the valid move that is used to rewrite the first equation as the second. a. For each match that you find, explain how you know it’s a match. b. For each match that your partner finds, listen carefully to your partner's explanation. If you disagree, discuss your thinking and work to reach an agreement. One of the letter cards does not have a match. For this card, write two equations showing the described move.” Activity Narrative, “In this partner activity, students take turns matching equations with descriptions of valid moves between them to practice identifying and providing descriptions of moves. As students trade roles explaining their thinking and listening, they have opportunities to explain their reasoning and critique the reasoning of others (MP3).”

Indicator 2g.MLL

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Materials provide support for MLLs’ full and complete participation in the intentional development of MP3: Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others, in connection to the grade-level content standards, as expected by the mathematical practice standards.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grades 6-8 of Kiddom IM® v.360 meet the criteria of providing support for Multilingual Learners’ (MLLs’) full and complete participation in the intentional development of MP3: Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.

In every unit, the materials provide opportunities for students to use and develop language when constructing arguments through whole-group and student-to-student discourse. The materials provide these opportunities through features embedded within the lesson facilitation or as a suggested support in notes titled Access for English Language Learners. An example of a feature embedded within the lesson facilitation are the Instructional Routines. Specifically, the Course Overview, What’s in an IM Lesson, describes how the Instructional Routine 5 Practices supports MP3. 5 Practices states, “Lessons that include this routine allow students to solve problems in ways that make sense to them. Monitor to uncover and nurture conceptual understandings during the activity, as students engage in a problem in meaningful ways. During the Activity Synthesis, students collectively reveal multiple approaches to a problem and make connections between these approaches (MP3).” 

As described in the report for 1d.MLL, the materials consistency employ Mathematical Language Routines [MLRs] by Stanford University UL/SCALE. The specific MLRs that directly support MP3 are as follows:

  • MLR1 Stronger and Clearer Each Time: Students construct a verbal or written response to a math problem, then verbally share their response with a partner to get feedback to improve the response, and revise their original response based on the feedback they received.

  • MLR2 Collect and Display: Students access their own and others’ mathematical ideas as the teacher scribes the language, strategies, and concepts students use during partner, small group, or whole-class while constructing arguments and critiquing others. 

  • MLR3 Critique, Correct, Clarify: Students critique mathematical reasoning by rewriting a math response from an example that is incorrect, incomplete, or otherwise ambiguous.

  • MLR7 Compare and Connect: Students identify, compare, and contrast their own understandings with other students’ mathematical approaches, representations, concepts, examples, and language.

  • MLR8 Discussion Supports: Teachers provide a variety of supports to foster inclusive whole-class discussions that support constructing mathematical arguments, such as:

    • Revoicing or rephrasing.

    • Pressing for details.

    • Providing sentence frames.

    • Modeling a think-aloud.

    • Providing think time to allow for mental or oral rehearsal.

Expanding on the sentence frames that MLR8 Discussion Supports occasionally references, the Course Overview,  Advancing Mathematical Language and Access for Multilingual Learners contains a table with sample sentence frames and sentence starters for eight language functions. Three of the language functions—explain, justify, and critique—are directly related to MP3. Example sentence frames include:

  • Explain: “First, I ____, because…” / “I noticed ____ so I…”

  • Justify: “I know ____, because…” / “Why did you… ?”

  • Critique: “That is/isn’t true because…” / “We can agree that…”

These sentence frames support interdisciplinary language connections since they are generic in nature. This section of the Course Overview states, “The table shows examples of generic sentence frames that can support common disciplinary language functions across a variety of content topics. Some of the lessons in these materials include suggestions of additional sentence frames that could support the specific content and language functions of that lesson.” The materials do not reference these sentence frames within lessons at point-of-use. 

However, while the materials note that the language domain of writing is addressed through routines such as MLR1 Stronger and Clearer Each Time, writing is not as consistently emphasized as listening and speaking. Structured writing tasks are less frequently present compared to supports for speaking and listening, limiting opportunities for balanced language development across domains. Teachers could apply many of the sentence frames that MLR8 Discussion Supports references and within the Course Overview, Advancing Mathematical Language and Access for Multilingual Learners to written constructed responses, but the materials rarely reference such use.

Indicator 2h

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Materials support the intentional development of MP4: Model with mathematics, for students, in connection to the grade-level content standards, as expected by the mathematical practice standards.

The materials reviewed for Kiddom IM® v.360 Grade 6 through Grade 8 meet expectations for supporting the intentional development of MP4: Model with mathematics, for students, in connection to the grade-level content standards, as expected by the mathematical practice standards. 

Students have opportunities to engage with MP4 across the year, and it is often explicitly identified for teachers within the Course Overview (Standards for Mathematical Practice) and within specific lessons (Preparation Narratives and Lesson Activities’ Narratives). According to the Course Overview, Standards for Mathematical Practice, “The Standards for Mathematical Practice (MP) describe the types of thinking and behaviors in which students engage as they do mathematics. Throughout the curriculum, the Teacher Guide identifies lessons and activities in which to observe the different MPs. The unit-level Mathematical Practice chart is meant to highlight lessons in each unit that showcase certain MPs. Some units, due to their size or the nature of their content, have fewer predicted chances for students to engage in a particular MP, indicated in the chart by a dash.” 

An example in Grade 6 includes:

  • Unit 3, Unit Rates and Percentages, Section D, Lesson 17, Activity 17.3, students model with mathematics as they apply their understanding of rates and percentages to determine the amount of paint needed to paint a bedroom, the costs for buying paint in different-size containers, and how discounts affect the costs. Activity Narrative, “There are several combinations of can sizes that would be enough for two coats of paint on all the walls. Some students might consider the possibility of spills or errors and opt to buy a larger quantity. This is perfectly valid as long as students can support and explain their choices. In making assumptions and connecting calculations to real-life considerations, students practice modeling with mathematics (MP4).” Student Task Statement states, “Question 1. An ad for paint reads: ‘Just 2 quarts covers 175 square feet!’ If you need to apply two coats of paint on all the walls, how much paint do you need to buy? Question 2. Paint can be purchased in 1-quart or 1-gallon containers. The paint chosen for the room costs $12 a quart and $38 a gallon. Pause for a whole-class discussion. Part A. Which container sizes and how many could you buy to have enough paint for the room? Name at least two options. Part B. Which of your options would cost the least? Show your reasoning. Question 3. The hardware store is having a sale: 20% off of quart-size paint and 30% off of gallon-size paint. Part A. With the sale, how much would you save with each option? Part B. Would the option you chose earlier still be the cheapest? Show your reasoning. Check the prices for a quart and a gallon of interior paint at a local store or online. Look for discounts or deals, but also consider possible differences in quality. Some paints may be more expensive because they are of higher quality. Question 4. When would it make sense to pay more for better paint? When would it make sense to buy the least expensive paint? Question 5. What is the best deal you can find for putting 2 coats of paint on the walls of this bedroom?”

An example in Grade 7 includes:

  • Unit 4, Proportional Relationships and Percentages, Section C, Lesson 13, Activity 13.2, students model with math when they express measurement error as a percentage of the correct amount. Activity Narrative: “In this activity, students determine the amount of error in a measurement and express the error as a percentage of the correct value. They brainstorm possible sources of error and discuss how real-world limitations on humans using measuring devices can introduce measurement errors. As students interpret these results, they consider sources for error and improvement in a mathematical model (MP4).” Student Task Statement states, “A soccer field is 120 yards long. Han uses a 30-foot-long tape measure to measure the length of the field and gets a measurement of 376 feet 6 inches. Question 1. What is the amount of the error? Question 2. Express the error as a percentage of the actual length of the field. Explain or show your reasoning. Question 3. What are some possible causes for this error?”

An example in Grade 8 includes:

  • Unit 8, Pythagorean Theorem and Irrational Numbers, Section E, Lesson 18, Activity 18.3, students model with math as they use the Pythagorean Theorem to compare the diagonal lengths of rectangles with various dimensions. Lesson Narrative, “In this culminating lesson for the unit, students use the Pythagorean Theorem to compare the diagonal lengths of rectangles with various dimensions. They investigate different aspect ratios of items such as photographs and smartphone screens. There is an element of mathematical modeling (MP4) in the last activity, because in order to quantify the screens’ sizes to compare them, students need to refine the question that is asked.” Student Task Statement, Question 1 states, “Before 2017, a smart phone manufacturer’s phones had a diagonal length of 5.8 inches and an aspect ratio of 16 : 9. In 2017, they released a new phone that also had a 5.8-inch diagonal length, but an aspect ratio of 18.5 : 9. Some customers complained that the new phones had a smaller screen. Were they correct? If so, how much smaller was the new screen compared to the old screen?”

Indicator 2h.MLL

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Materials provide support for MLLs’ full and complete participation in the intentional development of MP4: Model with mathematics, for students, in connection to the grade-level content standards, as expected by the mathematical practice standards.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grades 6-8 of Kiddom IM® v.360 partially meet the criteria of providing support for Multilingual Learners’ (MLLs’) full and complete participation in the intentional development of MP4: Model with mathematics.

In every unit, the materials provide opportunities for students to use and develop language when modeling with mathematics through whole-group and student-to-student discourse. The materials provide these opportunities through features embedded within the lesson facilitation or as a suggested support in notes titled Supporting Multilingual Learners. An example of a feature embedded within the lesson facilitation are the Instructional Routines. Specifically, the Course Overview, Standards for Mathematical Practice states, “Some instructional routines are generally associated with certain MPs. For example… Poll the Class is used to register an initial response or an estimate, most often in the Launch of an activity or to kick off a discussion… going on record with an estimate makes students want to know if they are right, and increases investment in the outcome. If coming up with an estimate is daunting for students, ask them for a guess that they are sure is too low or too high. Putting some boundaries on possible outcomes of a problem is an important skill for mathematical modeling (MP4).”

As described in the report for 1d.MLL, the materials consistency employ Mathematical Language Routines [MLRs] by Stanford University UL/SCALE. The specific MLRs that directly support MP4 are:

  • MLR4 Information Gap: In a group, each student has different parts of a mathematical situation, and they work together to piece together that information orally or visually to bridge the gap between the parameters of the situation and a question to solve a mathematical problem. Through this questioning, students are breaking down the modeling process, identifying important information in the problem. 

  • MLR7 Compare and Connect: Students identify, compare, and contrast their own understandings with other students’ mathematical approaches, representations, concepts, examples, and language. Through this discussion, students are modeling the situation with representations and describing what they do with the models. 

  • MLR8 Discussion Supports: Teachers provide a variety of supports to foster inclusive whole-class discussions, which at times provides sentence frames to support students with describing what to do with mathematical models. 

Expanding on the sentence frames occasionally provided in MLR8 Discussion Supports, the Course Overview, Advancing Mathematical Language and Access for Multilingual Learners contains a table with sample sentence frames and sentence starters for nine language functions. Two of the language functions are directly related to MP4: represent and interpret. Example sentence frames include:

  • Represent: “_____ represents _____.” / “Another way to show ____ is…”

  • Interpret: “We are trying to…” / “It looks like _____ represents…” 

These sentence frames support interdisciplinary language connections since they are generic in nature. This section of the Course Overview states, “The table shows examples of generic sentence frames that can support common disciplinary language functions across a variety of content topics. Some of the lessons in these materials include suggestions of additional sentence frames that could support the specific content and language functions of that lesson.” The materials do not reference these sentence frames within lessons at point-of-use. 

In Grade 6, Unit 3, Unit Rates and Percentages, Lesson 17, students work independently and in partners to apply prior concepts and skills from the past three units to estimate and calculate various quantities in a home improvement context. Students must make reasonable assumptions (e.g., about paint coverage or rounding costs) and use prior knowledge from multiple units to make sense of an open-ended, real-world scenario, which reflects the iterative nature of modeling described in MP4. Activity 1 begins with whole-group discussion meant to activate or build prior knowledge around the context of painting the walls of a room, which is used throughout this culminating lesson for this unit. This activity supports MLLs with anticipating both the language needed to engage with the context of the lesson as well as predicting the types of mathematical models students might need to engage with to calculate the cost of painting a room. Activity 17.2 provides specific details about the room to be painted, and a note titled Supporting Multilingual Learners suggests the use of MLR6 Three Reads in which MLLs are supported in reading the printed details. The note suggests that the teacher guides MLLs to read the details about the room three separate times with three separate purposes with quick discussions between each read. Then, the rest of Activity 2, and Activity 3 engage students in structured partner and whole-group discourse to calculate the total area of walls that need to be painted and then apply their understanding of rates and percentages to determine the amount of paint needed. These tasks exemplify mathematical modeling (MP4) as students must interpret a real-world context, decide what quantities and operations are needed, represent the problem mathematically (e.g., through area calculations and proportional reasoning), and interpret their results to determine quantities such as surface area and paint cost. The materials do not provide consistent language support for MLLs to participate fully in the structured small-group and whole-class discourse in which they model with mathematics.

The materials partially meet the criteria for this Indicator because while the materials embed opportunities for students to engage with MP4 through the use of specific Instructional Routines and MLRs, the materials lack language supports during partner and whole-class discourse in which students are asked to model with mathematics.

Indicator 2i

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Materials support the intentional development of MP5: Choose tools strategically, for students, in connection to the grade-level content standards, as expected by the mathematical practice standards.

The materials reviewed for Kiddom IM® v.360 Grade 6 through Grade 8 meet expectations for supporting the intentional development of MP5: Choose tools strategically, for students, in connection to the grade-level content standards, as expected by the mathematical practice standards. 

Students have opportunities to engage with MP5 across the year, and it is often explicitly identified for teachers within the Course Overview (Standards for Mathematical Practice) and within specific lessons (Preparation Narratives and Lesson Activities’ Narratives). According to the Course Overview, Standards for Mathematical Practice, “The Standards for Mathematical Practice (MP) describe the types of thinking and behaviors in which students engage as they do mathematics. Throughout the curriculum, the Teacher Guide identifies lessons and activities in which to observe the different MPs. The unit-level Mathematical Practice chart is meant to highlight lessons in each unit that showcase certain MPs. Some units, due to their size or the nature of their content, have fewer predicted chances for students to engage in a particular MP, indicated in the chart by a dash.” 

An example in Grade 6 includes:

  • Unit 2, Introducing Ratios, Section E, Lesson 16, Activity 16.2, students choose an appropriate strategy to solve ratio problems. Lesson Narrative, “In this lesson, students use all representations they have learned in this unit—double number lines, tables, and tape diagrams—to solve ratio problems that involve the sum of the quantities in the ratio. They consider when each tool might be useful and preferable in a given situation and why (MP5).” Student Task Statement states, “A teacher is planning a class trip to the aquarium. The aquarium requires 2 chaperones for every 15 students. The teacher plans accordingly and orders a total of 85 tickets. How many tickets are for chaperones, and how many are for students? 1. Solve this problem in one of three ways: Use a triple number line. Use a table. (Fill rows as needed.) Use a tape diagram. Use one of the tools below to create or draw your solution to the problem. (Draw, Write, Photo, Audio, Video). 2. After discussing all three representations with your class, which representation do you prefer for this problem and why? Are You Ready for More? 3. Use the digits 1 through 9 to create three equivalent ratios. Use each digit only one time.”

An example in Grade 7 includes:

  • Unit 7, Angles, Triangles, and Prisms, Section A, Lesson 3, Activity 3.2, students use appropriate tools strategically to identify complementary or supplementary angles. Student Task Statement states, “1. Identify any pairs of angles in these figures that are complementary or supplementary.” Activity Narrative, “In this activity, students see that angles do not need to be adjacent to each other in order to be considered complementary or supplementary. Students are given two different polygons and are asked to find complementary and supplementary angles, using any tools in their geometry toolkit (MP5). The most likely approaches are: Measure each angle with a protractor and look for any that add up to 180 or 90 degrees. Trace the legs of an angle with tracing paper and align its vertex and one leg with another angle to see if the two angles, when adjacent, form a straight angle or a right angle.”

An example in Grade 8 includes:

  • Unit 1, Rigid Transformations and Congruence, Section B, Lesson 7, Activity 7.2, students use appropriate tools strategically to compare the side lengths and angle measures of a figure and its image under a translation, rotation, or reflection. Activity Narrative, “The purpose of this activity is for students to see that translations, rotations, and reflections preserve side lengths and angle measures. Students can use tracing paper to help them draw the figures and make observations. While the grid helps measure lengths of horizontal and vertical segments, students may need more guidance when asked to measure diagonal lengths. It is important in the launch to elicit strategies from students to either use tracing paper or an index card to mark off unit lengths using the grid as they use tools strategically (MP5).” Student Task Statement states, “1. Translate Polygon A so point P goes to point Q. In the image, write the length of each side, in grid units, next to the side. 2. Rotate Triangle B 90° clockwise using R as the center of rotation. In the image, write the measure of each angle in its interior. 3. Reflect Pentagon C across line l. a. In the image, write the length of each side, in grid units, next to the side. You may need to make your own ruler with tracing paper or a blank index card. b. In the image, write the measure of each angle in the interior.”

Indicator 2i.MLL

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Materials provide support for MLLs’ full and complete participation in the intentional development of MP5: Choose tools strategically, for students, in connection to the grade-level content standards, as expected by the mathematical practice standards.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grades 6-8 of Kiddom IM® v.360 partially meet the criteria of providing support for Multilingual Learners’ (MLLs’) full and complete participation in the intentional development of MP5: Choose appropriate tools strategically.

As described in the report for 1d.MLL, the materials consistently employ Mathematical Language Routines [MLRs] by Stanford University UL/SCALE. The specific MLRs that directly support MP5 are:

  • MLR7 Compare and Connect: Students identify, compare, and contrast their own understandings with other students’ mathematical approaches, representations, concepts, examples, and language. Through this discussion, students are choosing appropriate tools or strategies and recognizing the pros and cons of each tool. 

  • MLR8 Discussion Supports: Teachers provide a variety of supports to foster inclusive whole-class discussions, which at times focuses on describing how to use various tools.

Specifically, in Grade 6, Unit 2, Introducing Ratios, Lesson 16, Activity 2, students work independently and in small groups to choose an appropriate tool (double number line, table, or tape diagram) to solve ratio word problems. This activity supports MP5 as students are prompted to select from among multiple mathematical tools—double number line, table, or tape diagram—based on the structure of the problem and their own reasoning. The materials direct teachers to facilitate MLR6 Three Reads to support comprehension of the ratio word problems. The Launch of the activity states, “Arrange students in groups of 3–4. Use Three Reads to support reading comprehension and sense-making about this problem… In the first read, students read the problem with the goal of comprehending the situation... In the second read, students analyze the mathematical structure of the story by naming quantities... In the third read, students brainstorm possible starting points for answering the questions.” The materials direct teachers to provide sentence frames for students to discuss possible solution strategies after the third read, such as, “To find the number of tickets for chaperones (or students), I can start by… ” Then, students independently complete a ratio word problem using one of three partially completed representations. In the Activity Synthesis, the teacher arranges students in groups of 3, where a group includes one student who used each representation. Then, small groups compare and contrast the three representations. Students engage in structured comparison of the tools, evaluating the advantages and limitations of each. This culminates in a written reflection in which they justify their preferred representation, a key behavior associated with MP5. The lesson does not provide language supports to aid MLLs in discussing in groups of 3, fully participating in the whole-group discourse, or writing to explain which representation is their preferred representation. In summary, lessons inconsistently apply language support for MLLs to engage with choosing appropriate tools strategically. Without language scaffolds, MLLs may struggle to fully participate in the analytical discourse and reflective writing that MP5 requires.

The materials partially meet the criteria for this indicator because while the materials embed opportunities for students to engage with MP5 through the use of specific MLRs, the materials lack language supports during partner and whole-class discourse in which students are asked to choose appropriate tools strategically.

Indicator 2j

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Materials support the intentional development of MP6: Attend to precision, for students, in connection to the grade-level content standards, as expected by the mathematical practice standards.

The materials reviewed for Kiddom IM® v.360 Grade 6 through Grade 8 meet expectations for supporting the intentional development of MP6: Attend to precision, for students, in connection to the grade-level content standards, as expected by the mathematical practice standards. 

Students have opportunities to engage with MP6 across the year, and it is often explicitly identified for teachers within the Course Overview (Standards for Mathematical Practice) and within specific lessons (Preparation Narratives and Lesson Activities’ Narratives). According to the Course Overview, Standards for Mathematical Practice, “The Standards for Mathematical Practice (MP) describe the types of thinking and behaviors in which students engage as they do mathematics. Throughout the curriculum, the Teacher Guide identifies lessons and activities in which to observe the different MPs. The unit-level Mathematical Practice chart is meant to highlight lessons in each unit that showcase certain MPs. Some units, due to their size or the nature of their content, have fewer predicted chances for students to engage in a particular MP, indicated in the chart by a dash.” 

An example in Grade 6 includes:

  • Unit 7, Rational Numbers, Section A, Lesson 7, Activity 7.2, students attend to precision when they compare numbers and distance from zero. Activity Narrative, “The Information Gap structure requires students to make sense of problems by determining what information is necessary, and then to ask for information they need to solve it. This may take several rounds of discussion if their first requests do not yield the information they need (MP1). It also allows them to refine the language they use and ask increasingly more precise questions until they get the information they need (MP6).” Launch, “Tell students they will be locating points on a number line. Display the Information Gap graphic that illustrates a framework for the routine for all to see. Remind students of the structure of the Information Gap routine, and consider demonstrating the protocol if students are unfamiliar with it. Arrange students in groups of 2. In each group, give a problem card to one student and a data card to the other student. After reviewing their work on the first problem, give students the cards for a second problem, and instruct them to switch roles.” Student Task Statement states, “Question 1. Your teacher will give you either a problem card or a data card. Do not show or read your card to your partner. Silently read the problem card. ‘Can you tell me _____? (Ask for a specific piece of information.)’ ‘I need to know _____ because . . . .’ ‘I have enough information to solve this problem.’ Display the problem card. Silently read the data card. ‘Why do you need to know _? (Repeat the information requested)’ Listen to your partner’s reason. Answer with information from the data card. Solve the problem independently. Continue to ask questions if more information is needed. Share Data Card, then compare strategies and solutions. Pause here so your teacher can review your work. Ask your teacher for a new set of cards and repeat the activity, trading roles with your partner.” Activity Synthesis, “After students have completed their work, share the correct answers, and ask students to discuss the process of solving the problems. Here are some questions for discussion: What information do you know about the points?’ ‘How could you keep track of the information you've learned about the points so far?’”

An example in Grade 7 includes:

  • Unit 8, Probability and Sampling, Section A, Lesson 2, Cool-down, students attend to precision when they investigate chance experiments. Student Task Statement states, “Here are some situations: According to market research, a business has a 75% chance of making money in the first three years. According to lab testing, \frac{5}{6} of a certain kind of experimental light bulb will work after three years. According to experts, the likelihood of a car needing major repairs in the first three years is 0.7. 1. Write these situations in order of likelihood from least to greatest after three years: The business makes money, the light bulb still works, and the car needs major repairs. 2. Part A. Select one of the situations. A. According to market research, a business has a 75% chance of making money in the first three years. B. According to lab testing, \frac{5}{6} of a certain kind of experimental light bulb will work after three years. C. According to experts, the likelihood of a car needing major repairs in the first three years is 0.7. Part B. Write a chance experiment and event that has the same likelihood as the situation you selected.” Lesson Narrative, “In some cases, a value is assigned to the likelihood of an event using a fraction, decimal, or percentage chance. By comparing informal categories early and numerical quantities later, students are attending to precision (MP6) when sorting the scenarios. Later, students will connect this language to more precise numerical values on their own.”

An example in Grade 8 includes:

  • Unit 5, Functions and Volume, Section B, Lesson 5, Warm-up, students attend to precision when they analyze graphs of functions. Activity Narrative, “This Warm-up prompts students to compare four graphs. It gives students a reason to use language precisely (MP6). The activity also enables the teacher to hear the terminologies students know and how they talk about characteristics of graphs.” Launch, “Arrange students in groups of 2–4. Display the graphs for all to see. Give students 1 minute of quiet think time, and ask them to indicate when they have noticed three graphs that go together and can explain why. Next, tell students to share their response with their group and then together find as many sets of three as they can.” Question 1 states, “Which three go together? Why do they go together?” Activity Synthesis states, “Invite each group to share one reason why a particular set of three go together. Record and display the responses for all to see. After each response, ask the class if they agree or disagree. Since there is no single correct answer to the question of which three go together, attend to students’ explanations and ensure the reasons given are correct. During the discussion, prompt students to explain the meaning of any terminology they use, such as ‘continuous,’ ‘discrete,’ ‘segment,’ and to clarify their reasoning as needed. Consider asking: ‘How do you know...?’ ‘What do you mean by...?’ ‘Can you say that in another way?’ During the discussion, avoid introducing the traditional names of x and y for the axes unless students use them first. More formal vocabulary will be developed in later activities, lessons, and grades, and much of the motivation of this added vocabulary is to improve upon the somewhat clunky language we are led to use without it.”

Indicator 2j.MLL

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Materials provide support for MLLs’ full and complete participation in the intentional development of MP6: Attend to precision, for students, in connection

The instructional materials reviewed for Grades 6-8 of Kiddom IM® v.360 meet the criteria of providing support for Multilingual Learners’ (MLLs’) full and complete participation in the intentional development of MP6: Attend to precision.

In every unit, the materials provide opportunities for students to use and develop language when attending to precision through whole-group and student-to-student discourse. The materials provide these opportunities through features embedded within the lesson facilitation or as a suggested support in notes titled Access for Multilingual Learners. An example of a feature embedded within the lesson facilitation are the Instructional Routines. Specifically, the Course Overview, What’s in an IM Lesson, describes how the Instructional Routines Card Sort and Which Three Go Together? support MP6. Card Sort states, “Card Sorts provide opportunities to attend to mathematical connections, using ready-made representations that save time and effort. A card-sorting task gives students opportunities to analyze representations, statements, and structures closely and make connections (MP2, MP7). As students work, monitor for the different ways groups choose their categories, and encourage increasingly precise mathematical language (MP6).” Which Three Go Together? states, “Which Three Go Together fosters a need for students to define terms carefully and to use words precisely (MP6) in order to compare and contrast a group of geometric figures or other mathematical representations.”

As described in the report for 1d.MLL, the materials consistently employ Mathematical Language Routines [MLRs] by Stanford University UL/SCALE. The specific MLRs that directly support MP6 are:

  • MLR2 Collect and Display: Students access their own and others’ mathematical ideas as the teacher scribes the vocabulary, strategies, and concepts students use during partner, small group, or whole-class discourse.

  • MLR4 Information Gap: In a group, each student has different parts of a mathematical situation, and they work together to piece together that information orally or visually to bridge the gap between the parameters of the situation and a question to solve a mathematical problem. This process prompts students to refine the language they use to ask increasingly more precise questions until they get useful input.

  • MLR8 Discussion Supports: Teachers provide a variety of supports to foster inclusive whole-class discussions that support using precise terms, such as:

    • Revoicing or rephrasing.

    • Pressing for details.

    • Providing sentence frames.

    • Modeling a think-aloud.

    • Providing think time to allow for mental or oral rehearsal.

Generally, the materials invite students to engage with a mathematical concept, both through speaking and listening during mathematical discourse and through the use of visuals or manipulatives, before attaching a precise new vocabulary term to the concept. For example, in Grade 6, Unit 6, Expressions and Equations, Lesson 16, students work independently and in partners to engage in reasoning about relationships using tables, graphs, and equations. This lesson supports MP6 by guiding students to refine informal language into precise mathematical vocabulary through structured discourse and visual representations. In Activity 2, students can work in the print or digital version of the activity to analyze the relationship between two quantities that form a ratio, and think about how tables, graphs, and equations represent the relationship. The Launch activates students’ prior knowledge of the language used in ratios. Then, students work independently for 3-4 minutes, then in partners for 3-4 minutes to answer questions about mixing two colors of paint in different combinations using tables, graphs, and equations. The materials use the familiar context of mixing paint to elicit language related to ratios and rates, but students may also use language that is less formal to describe one quantity in terms of the other. In the Activity Synthesis, the teacher facilitates a whole-class discussion to introduce the terms dependent variable and independent variable using student-friendly definitions. 

The materials include a student-facing glossary that contains the printed word, the student-friendly definition, and a visual representation or example. When a new term is introduced in a lesson, the glossary entry for the term is included at the bottom of Lesson Preparation. As noted in the report for 1.2.MLL-1, the Course Overview, Scope and Sequence provides a chart with lesson locations of when new vocabulary terms are introduced with students taking in the terms as receptive language, and when students are expected to use the terms in productive language.

Indicator 2k

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Materials support the intentional development of MP7: Look for and make use of structure, for students, in connection to the grade-level content standards, as expected by the mathematical practice standards.

The materials reviewed for Kiddom IM® v.360 Grade 6 through Grade 8 meet expectations for supporting the intentional development of MP7: Look for and make use of structure, for students, in connection to the grade-level content standards, as expected by the mathematical practice standards. 

Students have opportunities to engage with MP7 across the year, and it is often explicitly identified for teachers within the Course Overview (Standards for Mathematical Practice) and within specific lessons (Preparation Narratives and Lesson Activities’ Narratives). According to the Course Overview, Standards for Mathematical Practice, “The Standards for Mathematical Practice (MP) describe the types of thinking and behaviors in which students engage as they do mathematics. Throughout the curriculum, the Teacher Guide identifies lessons and activities in which to observe the different MPs. The unit-level Mathematical Practice chart is meant to highlight lessons in each unit that showcase certain MPs. Some units, due to their size or the nature of their content, have fewer predicted chances for students to engage in a particular MP, indicated in the chart by a dash.” 

An example in Grade 6 includes:

  • Unit 1, Area and Surface Area, Section C, Lesson 7, Cool-down, students look for and make use of structure by identifying patterns, recognizing relationships, and applying mathematical properties to simplify problem-solving and deepen their understanding of concepts. Lesson Narrative, “Highlighting the relationship between triangles and parallelograms is a key goal of this lesson. The activities make use of both the idea of decomposition (of a quadrilateral into triangles) and composition (of two triangles into a quadrilateral). The two-way study is designed to help students view and reason about the area of a triangle differently and to look for structure (MP7). Students see that a parallelogram can always be decomposed into two identical triangles, and that any two identical triangles can always be composed into a parallelogram.” Student Task Statement states, “1. Here are some quadrilaterals. Part A. Select all quadrilaterals that you think can be decomposed into two identical triangles using only one line. Part B. What characteristics do the quadrilaterals that you selected have in common? 2. Here is a right triangle. Show or briefly describe how two copies of it can be composed into a parallelogram.”

An example in Grade 7 includes:

  • Unit 1, Scale Drawings, Section A, Lesson 5, Warm-up, students look for and make use of structure by recognizing patterns in multiplication and division to solve equations mentally. Activity Narrative: “This Math Talk focuses on solving equations of the form px=q. It encourages students to think about the relationship between multiplication and division and to rely on properties of operations to mentally solve problems. The understanding elicited here will be helpful later in the lesson when students examine the effects of reciprocal scale factors. To solve these equations mentally, students need to look for and make use of structure (MP7).” Student Task Statement states, “Solve each equation mentally. 1. 8x=4.  2. 8x=1  3. \frac{1}{5}x=1. 4  \frac{2}{5}x=1.” Activity Synthesis, “To involve more students in the conversation, consider asking: ‘Who can restate _______’s reasoning in a different way?’ ‘Did anyone use the same strategy but would explain it differently?’ ‘Did anyone solve the problem in a different way?’ ‘Does anyone want to add on to _________’s strategy?’ ‘Do you agree or disagree? Why?’ ‘What connections to previous problems do you see?’ The key takeaways are: Dividing 1 by a number gives the reciprocal of that number. Multiplying a number by its reciprocal equals 1.”

An example in Grade 8 includes:

  • Unit 7, Exponents and Scientific Notation, Section A, Lesson 5, Activity 5.3, students look for and make use of structure as they look for patterns in exponents. Activity Narrative, “In this activity students make sense of negative powers of 10 as repeated multiplication by \frac{1}{10} and use this structure in order to distinguish between equivalent exponential expressions (MP7).” Activity Synthesis, “The goal of this discussion is for students to understand that the exponent rules work even with negative exponents by making a clear connection between the exponent rules and the process of multiplying repeated factors that are 10 and \frac{1}{10}. Display the expressions (10^{-2})^{3} and (10^{-2})^{3} from the first problem for all to see. Ask students what is the same and different about these two expressions. (They are both equivalent to 10^{-6}. Both expressions contain one positive exponent and one negative exponent.) Reinforce students' understanding of the exponent rules by writing out an expanded form of each expression when discussing the following questions: ‘What do the 3 and -2 in (10^{-2})^{3} mean in terms of repeated multiplication?’ (The 3 means that there are 3 factors that are each 10^{-2}, and the -2 means that there are 2 factors that are \frac{1}{10}.) So (10^{-2})^{3}=(\frac{1}{10}\cdot \frac{1}{10})(\frac{1}{10}\cdot \frac{1}{10})(\frac{1}{10}\cdot \frac{1}{10})=\frac{1}{10\cdot 10\cdot 10\cdot 10\cdot 10\cdot 10}=10^{-6}. ‘What do the 2 and -3 in (10^{-2})^{3}  mean in terms of repeated multiplication?” (The 2 means that there are 2 factors that are each 10, and the -3 means that there are 3 factors that are each \frac{1}{10\cdot 10}.) So (10^{-2})^{3}=(\frac{1}{10}\cdot \frac{1}{10})(\frac{1}{10}\cdot \frac{1}{10})(\frac{1}{10}\cdot \frac{1}{10})=\frac{1}{10\cdot 10\cdot 10\cdot 10\cdot 10\cdot 10}=10^{-6}."

Indicator 2k.MLL

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Materials provide support for MLLs’ full and complete participation in the intentional development of MP7: Look for and make use of structure, for students, in connection to the grade-level content standards, as expected by the mathematical practice standards.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grades 6-8 of Kiddom IM® v.360 meet the criteria of providing support for Multilingual Learners’ (MLLs’) full and complete participation in the intentional development of MP7: Look for and make use of structure.

In every unit, the materials provide opportunities for students to use and develop language when looking for and making use of structure through whole-group and student-to-student discourse. The materials provide these opportunities through features embedded within the lesson facilitation or as a suggested support in notes titled Access for English Language Learners. An example of a feature embedded within the lesson facilitation are the Instructional Routines. Specifically, the Course Overview, What’s in an IM Lesson, describes how the Instructional Routines Card Sort and Math Talk, support MP7. Card Sort states, “A card-sorting task gives students opportunities to analyze representations, statements, and structures closely, and make connections (MP2 and MP7).” Math Talk states, “The Math Talk builds fluency by encouraging students to think about the numbers, the shapes, or the algebraic expressions, and to rely on what they know about structure, patterns, and properties of operations to mentally solve a problem… Math Talk often provides opportunities to notice and make use of structure (MP7).”

As described in the report for 1d.MLL, the materials consistently employ Mathematical Language Routines [MLRs] by Stanford University UL/SCALE. The specific MLRs that directly support MP7 are:

  • MLR4 Information Gap: In a group, each student has different parts of a mathematical situation, and they work together to piece together that information orally or visually to bridge the gap between the parameters of the situation and a question to solve a mathematical problem. Through this questioning, students are breaking down steps in multistep problems.

  • MLR7 Compare and Connect: Students identify, compare, and contrast their own understandings with other students’ mathematical approaches, representations, concepts, examples, and language. Through this discussion, students are analyzing a problem with several different approaches. 

  • MLR8 Discussion Supports: Teachers provide a variety of supports to foster inclusive whole-class discussions, which at times provides sentence frames to support students with describing what patterns or structures they notice. 

Expanding on the sentence frames occasionally provided in MLR8 Discussion Supports, the Course Overview, Advancing Mathematical Language and Access for Multilingual Learners contains a table with sample sentence frames and sentence starters for nine language functions. The language functions of comparing and contrasting are directly related to MP7. Example sentence frames include, “___ and ____ are the same/alike because…” and “One thing that is different is…”These sentence frames support interdisciplinary language connections since they are generic in nature. This section of the Course Overview states, “The table shows examples of generic sentence frames that can support common disciplinary language functions across a variety of content topics. Some of the lessons in these materials include suggestions of additional sentence frames that could support the specific content and language functions of that lesson.” The materials do not reference these sentence frames within lessons at point-of-use.

Indicator 2l

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Materials support the intentional development of MP8: Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning, for students, in connection to the grade-level content standards, as expected by the mathematical practice standards.

The materials reviewed for Kiddom IM® v.360 Grade 6 through Grade 8 meet expectations for supporting the intentional development of MP8: Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning, for students, in connection to the grade-level content standards, as expected by the mathematical practice standards. 

Students have opportunities to engage with MP8 across the year, and it is often explicitly identified for teachers within the Course Overview (Standards for Mathematical Practice) and within specific lessons (Preparation Narratives and Lesson Activities’ Narratives). According to the Course Overview, Standards for Mathematical Practice, “The Standards for Mathematical Practice (MP) describe the types of thinking and behaviors in which students engage as they do mathematics. Throughout the curriculum, the Teacher Guide identifies lessons and activities in which to observe the different MPs. The unit-level Mathematical Practice chart is meant to highlight lessons in each unit that showcase certain MPs. Some units, due to their size or the nature of their content, have fewer predicted chances for students to engage in a particular MP, indicated in the chart by a dash.” 

An example in Grade 6 includes:

  • Unit 1, Area and Surface Area, Section C, Lesson 9, Activity 9.2, students use repeated reasoning as they find areas of polygons and surface areas of polyhedra. Student Task Statement states, “1. For each triangle: Identify a base and a corresponding height, and record their lengths in the table. Find the area of the triangle and record it in the last column of the table. In the last row, write an expression for the area of any triangle, using b and h.” Activity Narrative states, “Students first find the areas of several triangles given base and height measurements. They notice regularity in repeated reasoning and arrive at an expression for finding the area of any triangle (MP8).” 

An example in Grade 7 includes:

  • Unit 2, Introducing Proportional Relationships, Section B, Lesson 4, Cool-down, students use repeated reasoning as they solve proportional relationships. Student Task Statement states, “Snow is falling steadily in Syracuse, New York. After 2 hours, 4 inches of snow has fallen. 1. Part A. If it continues to snow at the same rate, how many inches of snow would you expect after 6.5 hours? Part B. If you get stuck, you can use the table to help. 2. Write an equation that gives the amount of snow that has fallen after x hours at this rate. 3. How many inches of snow will fall in 24 hours if it continues to snow at this rate?” Lesson Narrative states, “As students calculate values in the tables and write equations relating the quantities, they practice looking for and expressing regularity in repeated reasoning (MP8).”

An example in grade 8 includes:

  • Unit 3, Linear Relationships, Section C, Lesson 9, Activity 9.2, students use repeated reasoning as they identify and apply the pattern in the decreasing balance of Noah's fare card. Activity Narrative states, “In this activity, students see negative slopes for the first time as they answer questions about a public transportation fare card. After computing the amount left on the card after 0, 1, and 2 rides, they express regularity in repeated reasoning to represent the amount remaining on the card after x rides (MP8).” Student Task Statement states, “Noah has $40 on his fare card. Every time he rides public transportation, $2.50 is subtracted from the amount available on his card. 1. How much money, in dollars, is available on his card after he takes Part A. 0 rides? Part B. 1 ride? Part C. 2 rides? Part D. x rides? 2. How many rides can Noah take before the card runs out of money? Where would you see this number of rides on a graph? Explain or show your reasoning using one of the tools below. (Draw, Write, Photo, Audio, Video). 3. Graph the relationship between amount of money on the card and number of rides.”

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Materials provide support for MLLs’ full and complete participation in the intentional development of MP8: Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning, for students, in connection to the grade-level content standards, as expected by the mathematical practice standards.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grades 6-8 of Kiddom IM® v.360 partially meet the criteria of providing support for Multilingual Learners’ (MLLs’) full and complete participation in the intentional development of MP8: Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.

In every unit, the materials provide opportunities for students to use and develop language when looking for and expressing regularity in repeated reasoning through whole-group and student-to-student discourse. The materials provide these opportunities through features embedded within the lesson facilitation or as a suggested support in notes titled Access for English Language Learners. An example of a feature embedded within the lesson facilitation are the Instructional Routines. Specifically, the Course Overview, Standards for Mathematical Practice, describes how the Instructional Routine Math Talk supports MP8. Math Talk states, “The Math Talk routine offers opportunities to look for and make use of structure (MP7) and look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning (MP8) as students explain the strategies they use and apply strategies as they develop fluency.”

As described in the report for 1d.MLL, the materials consistency employ Mathematical Language Routines [MLRs] by Stanford University UL/SCALE. The specific MLRs that directly support MP8 are as follows:

  • MLR7 Compare and Connect: Students identify, compare, and contrast their own understandings with other students’ mathematical approaches, representations, concepts, examples, and language. Through this discussion, students notice repeated calculations or evaluate the reasonableness of answers.

  • MLR8 Discussion Supports: Teachers provide a variety of supports to foster inclusive whole-class discussions, which at times provides sentence frames to support students with describing a general formula or algorithm.

Expanding on the sentence frames occasionally provided in MLR8 Discussion Supports, the Course Overview, Advancing Mathematical Language and Access for Multilingual Learners contains a table with sample sentence frames and sentence starters for nine language functions. The language function of generalizing is directly related to MP8, and the materials provide sentence frames to support this language function such as, “Is it always true that…?” and “____ will always _____ because…” These sentence frames support interdisciplinary language connections since they are generic in nature. This section of the Course Overview states, “The table shows examples of generic sentence frames that can support common disciplinary language functions across a variety of content topics. Some of the lessons in these materials include suggestions of additional sentence frames that could support the specific content and language functions of that lesson.” The materials only mention these sentence frames in this section of the Course Guide. The materials do not reference these sentence frames within the lessons at point-of-use, limiting their potential utility during instruction. 

For example, in Grade 6, Unit 1, Area and Surface Area, Lesson 9, Activity 2, students work independently and in small groups to generalize a process for finding the area of a triangle, justifying why this process can be abstracted into a formula. In Activity 9.1, students examine written statements about bases and heights of triangles, determining whether the statements are true or false. The teacher gives students two to three minutes of independent work time before discussing their responses with a partner. The Activity Synthesis directs teachers to facilitate a whole-class discussion, inviting students to explain how they know each statement is true or false. The activity does not provide language supports to aid MLLs with comprehending the written statements or participating in the partner and whole-class discussion. Activity 2 invites students to build on prior understandings from the previous lesson to determine the areas of triangles on graph paper. Students work first independently and then in small groups to determine and record areas, with access to a geometry toolkit and tracing paper. The activity lacks language support for the listening and speaking demands of working in small groups. The Activity Synthesis directs the teacher to facilitate whole-class discourse using questions designed to generalize a process for finding the area of a triangle by asking questions like, “Can you explain why this expression is true for any triangle?” A note titled Supporting Multilingual Learners suggests the use of MLR8 Discussion Supports in which the teacher provides MLLs with the opportunity to orally rehearse with a partner their explanation for why the algorithm works for finding the area of any triangle before they share it with the whole class. In summary, the materials provide inconsistently applied language support to help MLLs with generalizing and looking for repeated reasoning. 

The materials partially meet the criteria for this Indicator because while the materials embed opportunities for students to engage with MP8 through the use of specific Instructional Routines and MLRs, the materials lack language supports during partner and whole-class discourse in which students are asked to look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.