4th Grade - Gateway 3
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Usability
Gateway 3 - Does Not Meet Expectations | 52% |
|---|---|
Criterion 3.1: Use & Design | 4 / 8 |
Criterion 3.2: Teacher Planning | 5 / 8 |
Criterion 3.3: Assessment | 4 / 8 |
Criterion 3.4: Differentiation | 5 / 10 |
Criterion 3.5: Technology Use |
The materials do not meet overall expectations for usability and instructional supports. The frameworks for the program often provide more generalized supports for instruction and do not provide lesson and unit-specific guidance to help ensure teacher and student success. The materials do provide strong support for standards alignment and a systematic plan for independent reading. Guidance for supporting students with disabilities, students who are English language learners, and students working above grade level are limited. The materials do not outline how to use technology to support learning in the program.
Criterion 3.1: Use & Design
The materials for Grade 4 do not meet expectations for use and design that facilitates student learning. Because the materials are designed as more of a detailed information is not present for all aspects of lesson planning and support. In order to meet expectations for knowledge-building, the science and social studies units that must be taught alongside the English language arts units may present a challenge for completion within a typical school year. Materials lack a set of student materials that provide support for the lessons.
The materials provide an alignment document to delineate the standards met in each unit.
Indicator 3a
Materials are well-designed and take into account effective lesson structure and pacing.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 4 partially meet the criteria that materials are well-designed and take into account effective lesson structure and pacing.
The lessons in Grade 4 provide a framework for lesson planning instead of a detailed lesson plan for most of the lessons. These frameworks provide guidance for the teacher in what material to teach and key questions to ask, but do not provide pacing for the teacher. These frameworks, when combined with the Publisher’s Document on Planning an Effective Lesson allow the teacher to have the materials to effectively structure lessons with appropriate pacing or his/her classroom. Additionally, a limited number of lessons have suggested lesson plans, that include pacing and a structure that serve as an example for how a teacher can develop the lesson frames into step-by-step lessons for use in the classroom. The Publisher’s Document specifies that literature lessons should last from 60-90 minutes and the Science and Social Studies lessons should last 60 minutes. Because teachers have autonomy in the discussion and text consumption strategies, the lessons can be completed within individual class periods.
According to the Publisher, the lessons are meant to be frameworks. While the lessons provide the main components of the lessons, the detailed planning is left up to the teachers. The goal is for teachers to internalize the content and adapt it to meet the needs of the students. The Publisher suggests that teachers take the following steps when planning a lesson:
- Look at the lesson objective, target task, and standards. Write an exemplar student response to the target task.
- Pick a focus for the lesson
- Decide on class structures
- Determine how to launch the text, including what background knowledge students need
- Determine how to engage with the text while reading
- Figure out what structures will be in place to help students make sense with what they have learned
- Plan for feedback and how to gather data
- Determine all accommodations and modifications
Lesson objective, reading materials required for the lesson, standards covered, target task, vocabulary, key questions, criteria for success, mastery response, and notes provide the basic framework for teachers. These lessons do not provide any suggested timing or pacing for the lesson, but they allow for flexibility to meet the meets of the individual classroom. For example, in Science and Social Studies, Unit 2, Lesson 6, the lesson objective is to summarize what happened during the Boston Tea Party by using key details to summarize and explain key historical events in a text. The target task involves multiple choice questions and the writing prompt is to summarize what happened during the Boston Tea Party. Criteria for success is provided and a master response, as well as key questions.
While many of the lessons are to be designed in detail by the teacher, some lessons do have specific lesson plans with suggested pacing. These are meant to be models for teachers when planning lessons. These lessons are found in:
- 1 lesson in Literature Unit 1
- 3 lessons in Literature Unit 2
- 2 lessons in Literature Unit 3
- 1 lessons in Literature, Unit 4
- 1 lesson in Science and Social Studies, Unit 3
Indicator 3b
The teacher and student can reasonably complete the content within a regular school year, and the pacing allows for maximum student understanding.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 4 partially meet the criteria that the teacher and student can reasonably complete the content within a regular school year, and the pacing allows for maximum student understanding.
Due to scheduling constraints, the total number of lessons in both Literature and Science and Social Studies may be more than can be planned or completed in a typical 180 day school year in a traditional school setting. The lesson framework provides the outline for core instruction; however, many of the lessons within the framework need to be developed through teacher design. In addition to pacing, the daily schedule sample is based on an eight plus hour school day, which is not the norm in many schools.
The Literature Units have approximately 164 lessons and 174 days of instruction and the Science and Social Studies Units have approximately 160 lessons and 192 days of instruction given the number of projects included. According to the Publisher’s Document, classroom instruction while using this program should include 60-90 minutes of Literature, 60-90 minutes of Science and Social Studies, 45-60 minutes of independent reading, and 60 minutes of guided reading.
Indicator 3c
The student resources include ample review and practice resources, clear directions, and explanation, and correct labeling of reference aids (e.g., visuals, maps, etc.).
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 4 do not meet the criteria that the student resources include ample review and practice resources, clear directions, and explanation, and correct labeling of reference aids (eg. visuals, maps, etc.)
The lesson frameworks do not supply student materials or reference aids. The books that students use are purchased individually for the students to annotate throughout the year.
Indicator 3d
Materials include publisher-produced alignment documentation of the standards addressed by specific questions, tasks, and assessment items.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 4 meet the criteria that materials include publisher-produced alignment documentation of the standards addressed by specific questions, tasks, and assessment items.
Standards are included for each lesson. There is an overview in each unit summary that lists all of the standards covered in the unit. This overview is not separated by lesson, however, each lesson contains a “Lesson Map” which details the lesson number, the standards being measured and the overarching questions that the students are using to address the standard.
For example, in Unit 6, Lesson 16, after reading, Bud-not Buddy, students are asked to, “Compare and contrast Bud and the man’s perspective on the events of the chapter by analyzing details that describe a character’s point of view in a story” meeting standard RL4.6.
Both the Literature and Social Studies and Science Units provide a Standards Map within the Unit Overview that indicates which standards are taught within each unit. In this course overview, each unit is labeled and the literature, informational, writing, speaking & listening, and language standards are identified for each unit they are in.
Unit Summaries do list out the standards for the entire unit, and Lesson Maps specify which lessons, questions, or tasks reflect the listed standard(s). Reading, writing, speaking, and listening standards are identified. Lessons list the individual standards covered; however, in some lessons, all standards are not identified. For example, in Literature, Unit 2, Lesson 5, a writing prompt is listed in the lesson frame, but no writing standard is provided, while two reading standards are listed and two language standards are listed. Similarly, in Literature, Unit 6, Lesson 4, the lesson includes vocabulary instruction, but the standards listed are reading standards. In Science and Social Studies, Unit 3, Lesson 5, students are asked how does the author use reasons and evidence to show the importance as a writing prompt but writing standards not listed.
Assessment questions are labeled by the standards. For example, in Literature Unit 4, one assessment question is, what sentence from the story helps the reader understand the meaning of the word loathing as used in paragraph 5 of the story, which is attached to RL 4.4 and another question is, which sentence best summarizes the plot of Apollo and Daphne which is attached to RL 4.2.
Indicator 3e
The visual design (whether in print or digital) is not distracting or chaotic, but supports students in engaging thoughtfully with the subject.
Criterion 3.2: Teacher Planning
Materials support teacher learning and understanding of the Standards.
The materials partially support teacher planning and learning for success with the standards. While support is provided for some pieces of the learning process (e.g., guides for writing, guidelines for teaching vocabulary), there is a lack of explicit and lesson-specific support for some lessons. There is also limited support to link teachers to research on best practices for the ELA classroom and the research base that the program. There is limited guidance for communications with families to provide a home/school partnership to support the
tion of the standards within and across units.
Indicator 3f
Materials contain a teacher's edition with ample and useful annotations and suggestions on how to present the content in the student edition and in the ancillary materials. Where applicable, materials include teacher guidance for the use of embedded technology to support and enhance student learning.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 4 partially meet the criteria that materials contain a teacher’s edition with ample and useful annotations and suggestions on how to present the content in the student edition and in the ancillary materials. Where applicable, materials include teacher guidance for the use of embedded technology to support and enhance student learning.
The lesson frameworks function as a Teacher’s Guide for implementing this curriculum; however, most of the lessons provide only a framework that do not include ample annotations and suggestions. Within the lesson framework is the Intellectual Prep section that provides annotations and guidelines for presenting the material for students. In addition to the information provided in the frameworks, the publisher has included a number of Publisher Documents that provide guidance for teachers in how to present the material contained in the units. The guidance provided is on a variety of topics including but not limited to teaching writing, conducting a classroom discussion, teaching vocabulary in the classroom, and think alouds. The lesson frames have objectives, standards, target task, key questions, and notes for the teacher. There is little embedded technology to promote student learning other than linked texts that serve as texts in the unit. Guidance is not consistently written in the form of annotations or suggestion on how to present the content. The ancillary documents and the unit prep are in separate locations, placing the information for teachers in multiple sources and locations.
The Publisher's Document provides guidance for teachers on how to present content to students. For example there are guidelines for teaching vocabulary and giving feedback. There is also a guide to informational writing, literary analysis writing, and narrative writing. These explain how to present the content. However, these guidelines are not for specific units or specific vocabulary words, and the teachers need to create the lessons based on the guidelines. There are also Match Minis, which provide further assistance for teachers on how to present material and use techniques to develop lessons.
Information in the Lesson Frameworks are also not specific and leave much up to the teacher. For example, in Literature Unit 2, Lesson 8, it states that the teaching point is that good writers use relevant text details or background knowledge from the text to develop characters, ideas, or situations. This is then embedded through the lesson guidance and a student exemplar is provided.
Indicator 3g
Materials contain a teacher's edition that contains full, adult-level explanations and examples of the more advanced literacy concepts so that teachers can improve their own knowledge of the subject, as necessary.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 4 partially meet the criteria that materials contain a teacher’s edition that contains full, adult-level explanations and examples of the more advanced literacy concepts so that teachers can improve their own knowledge of the subject, as necessary.
Publisher documents provide guidance for teachers to design instruction and prepare lessons including explanations of some of the literary concepts utilized in the program. While there are adult explanations and examples provided within the publisher documents, they appear to be limited to the publisher’s core beliefs and do not provide research and/or explanation of best practices that will necessarily improve teacher learning. For novice teachers, there are limited materials that would help advance their knowledge of content prior to teaching.
Within the units, the Intellectual Prep contains a Content Knowledge and Connections section, which provides further guidance for teachers.
Each unit contains an Intellectual Prep section that contains detailed information for the teacher. For example, in Literature, Unit 2, students read Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and the Intellectual Prep explains the role of storytelling in Chinese culture. In Science and Social Studies, Unit 5, there is a lot of information provided for the teacher to build content knowledge on the Civil Rights; however, little information is provided on how to internalize the priority standards for this unit. For example, for standard RI4.8 (explain how an author uses reasons and evidence), the Intellectual Prep provides teachers with questions to think about including what type of evidence does Kadir Nelson use, but the answers are not provided to teachers.
The Feedback as Teaching Tool provided gives a detailed explanation of the approach to writing instruction and examples of how to implement the literacy concepts of revising writing. For example, if students need help with revision, suggested feedback includes:
- Having students do multiple drafts of the written responses to questions, while applying feedback
- Sharing exemplary work with students and helping them identify key features to replicate
- Sharing examples of student work with common errors and collectively correcting them before all students revise their writing to address similar errors.
Another feature included is the Rigorous Discussion Guidelines which informs the teacher how to explicitly increase students’ thinking by challenging them to test out their ideas, build upon those of their peers, and craft persuasive arguments. It reminds teachers that their voice is not central to the discussion and they should be listening for evidence of academic ownership by the students.
Indicator 3h
Materials contain a teacher's edition that explains the role of the specific ELA/literacy standards in the context of the overall curriculum.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 4 meet the criteria that materials contain a teacher’s edition that explains the role of the specific ELA/literacy standards in the context of the overall curriculum. the criteria that the visual design (whether in print or digital) is not distracting or chaotic, but supports students in engaging thoughtfully with the subject.
Materials include Publisher Documents with standards charts and unit progressions. The Course Overviews for Literature and Science and Social Studies found within the Publisher’s Documents provide an explanation of the role of the standards within each unit and across the grade. Additionally, the materials provide an added explanation of how the literary standards addressed in each grade tie to standards addressed in previous and future grades. The Course Overview also includes a checklist of standards indicating which standards are taught in each unit throughout the year.
The Course Overview explains the skills taught in each unit and how they fit into the overall course, which ties into the ELA standards. According to this document, in fourth grade students work on developing an understanding of theme, a shift from third grade where the main focus was on determining the main message, lesson,or moral of a text. In fifth grade, students will also be asked to explain how the characters respond to the challenges. Another focus is on describing characters and setting in depth, which includes the third grade focus of identifying character traits, motivations, and feelings, while also explaining how characters and setting contribute to the sequence of events. A final focus is on point of view. In third grade students compare their own point of view with that of the character, but do not dive into understanding author’s use of point of view. The Unit by Unit explanations also explain the approach to meeting the goal of teaching all of the standards. For example, in Unit 3, students read The Wild Book, and the focus of the text is to understand the genre features of poetry and how the features support a reader’s understanding of character, setting, and point of view.
The Course Overview for Science and Social Studies also includes information on how the standards are addressed in the units, although they are not listed by specific standard numbers. For example, students work on explaining events or ideas in a text, particularly what happened and why, based on specific information in the text. This prepares students for fifth grade when they need to explain the relationships or interactions between multiple events or ideas in a text. Another focus is on determining main idea and summarizing a text. They need to explain the main idea and explain how it is supported by key details. They are also introduced to the idea of summarizing for the first time. A final focus is understanding author’s craft. This builds upon third grade and prepares students for fifth grade when they are asked to compare and contrast the structure across two or more texts. A Unit by Unit explanation of the approaches to meeting the goal of teaching all standards is included in each unit. For example, in Unit 2, it states that the students continue to focus on describing the connection between ideas in a text based on specific details from the text and images/illustrations.
Indicator 3i
Materials contain explanations of the instructional approaches of the program and identification of the research-based strategies.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 4 partially meet the criteria that materials contain a explanations of the instructional approaches of the program and identification of the research based strategies.
The website contains an “Our Approach” page that specifically details the approach taken in their Language Arts instruction. This plan includes both explanations of the overall approach taken by the program in determining which strategies to include and documents specifically dedicated to the explanation of some of the instructional approaches of the program, and when they should be implemented. Some of these strategies include think aloud, mini lesson, turn and talk, stop and jot, annotation, and writing about reading. However, there is not any identification of the research upon which these strategies or decision are based. The publisher provides information in support of their materials based upon their use in the school.
It should be noted that within the Teacher Tool Materials “Our Approach to Language” notes that, “The structure of the language lessons in our curriculum draws heavily on the approach outlined in Patterns of Power by Jeff Anderson (Stenhouse Publishers, 2017)” however, that is the only reference to a specific “research based” approach.
The website explains that the goal of the curriculum is to develop students into critical readers, writers, and thinkers. It further explains that the Literature Curriculum is deeply rooted in the following believes about English instruction:
- Text First vs. Skills First: Rich and nuanced texts spark students’ thinking
- Content Selection: Selected texts that both affirm the various cultures represented in classrooms while simultaneously exposing the students to great literature.
- Writing Instruction: Teach students to construct persuasive arguments and express their own voices
- Discussion: A powerful tool for testing out ideas and strengthening thinking
- Word Knowledge: Building word knowledge through both explicit instruction and exposure to content knowledge
- Lifelong Learning: Cultivate inquisitive readers, writers, and thinkers.
The Social Studies and Science Curriculum serves both to expose students to the core knowledge, skills, and habits of thinking needed to be successful in those two domains, while simultaneously honing students’ ability to read and write about complex informational texts. This curriculum is deeply rooted in the following beliefs:
- Content Knowledge: In order to become active citizens and make sense of the world around them, students need to develop deep background knowledge about key historic events, scientific concepts, and their own and other cultures
- Informational Texts: Read, analyze, and write about a broad range of informational texts
- Project-Based Learning: Hands-on projects, labs, and activities engage students in the content and teach important thinking and problem-solving skills
- Discussion: Powerful tool for testing ideas out and strengthening thinking
- Word Knowledge: Build word knowledge through both explicit instruction and exposure to content knowledge.
Indicator 3j
Materials contain strategies for informing all stakeholders, including students, parents, or caregivers about the ELA/literacy program and suggestions for how they can help support student progress and achievement.
Criterion 3.3: Assessment
Materials offer teachers resources and tools to collect ongoing data about student progress on the Standards.
The materials offer regular assessments that allow teachers to accurately assess student progress and to determine how students are progressing in their mastery of the standards and other content. However, there is limited support to guide teachers in their interpretation of assessment results to redirect, reteach, and support students who have not reached mastery and minimal guidance for monitoring of student progress.
The materials provide a systematic approach to supporting students in reading independently and assuring that students are achieving a volume of reading both at school and at home.
Indicator 3k
Materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that genuinely measure student progress.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 4 meet the criteria that materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that genuinely measure student progress.
Each unit contains a Unit Assessment that assesses focus standards for the unit with most also containing an extended response that assesses both literature standards and writing standards. Assessments at times include reading a text that has not been studied to analyze the transfer of skills.
Included within lessons are Target Tasks, which can be writing prompts or multiple choice questions focusing on the lesson objective. Target Tasks can be utilized as formative assessments to regularly measure student progress. Some lessons include key questions, which provide an opportunity for assessing student mastery. Additional lessons include projects and writing that function as assessments of student mastery of both content and literary standards. Examples of formative assessments opportunities include:
- In Literature, Unit 4, Lesson 5, students are asked multiple choice questions including which line from the drama best supports the answer to Part A. The writing prompt for this lesson is how does the author use the structural elements of poetry to retell what happens in “Pandora’s Box”.
- In Science and Social Studies, Unit 1, Lesson 4, key questions asked of students include what is earth’s crust like and how is the mantle different from the crust.
Indicator 3l
The purpose/use of each assessment is clear:
Indicator 3l.i
Assessments clearly denote which standards are being emphasized.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 4 meet the criteria that assessments clearly denote which standards are being emphasized.
Assessments included with each unit specify the standard being assessed by each question by labeling the question with the standard number.
Examples of assessment questions and the corresponding labeled standards include:
- In Science and Social Studies, Unit 3, students are asked what statement best explains what the chart adds to the article, which is labeled RI4.7.
- In Literature, Unit 4, students are asked what is the meaning of the word drift as it is used in paragraph 18 of “Just Like Home”, which is labeled RL4.4 and L4.4.
- In Science and Social Studies, Unit 5, students are asked why Carver decided to try crop rotation, which is labeled RI4.3.
- In Literature, Unit 6, students are asked what two details best show how the setting of the story influences the plot, which is labeled RL.4.3.
Indicator 3l.ii
Assessments provide sufficient guidance to teachers for interpreting student performance and suggestions for follow-up.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 4 do not meet the criteria that assessments provide sufficient guidance to teachers for interpreting student performance and suggestions for follow up.
Rubrics for scoring writing and projects are included within the teacher materials. In the “Teacher Tools” section of the “A Guide to Assessments” in the ancillary materials that provides, “Suggestions on how teachers respond to or adjust lessons based on assessment data” for both formative and summative assessments. The guide states, “Data from end-of-unit assessments allows a teacher to make necessary adjustments in planning and feedback for upcoming units. Teachers should look for trends in the data, and respond accordingly” however, the suggestions that are made are generic and vague and do not offer sufficiently detailed guidance for interpreting student performance and/or suggestions other than for teachers to, “Review student data, reflect on current practices, create detailed plans for students who are not making progress.” While the additional notes section includes student answers for the writing portion of the assessment, there is no clear instruction for interpretation or follow up.
Indicator 3m
Materials should include routines and guidance that point out opportunities to monitor student progress.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 4 do not meet the criteria that materials should include routines and guidance that point out opportunities to monitor student progress.
A limited number of lessons provide guidance within the lesson on developing routines and guidance for monitoring student progress through the collection of data. The publisher provides documents that include both general and specific routines and protocols for gathering information on student progress to drive instruction and adjust, as needed, however there is limited guidance for implementation.. These documents provide the teacher with the rationale on why gathering data is essential and the process by which to gather data. They explain that the teachers use the information gathered to make individual classroom decisions to maximize instruction.
The Teacher Feedback as a Teaching Tool provides guidance on collecting information in a variety of teaching areas. For example, the information to gather in reading includes:
- Ask questions to help students make connections, revisit misunderstandings and uncover
- Listen to students read aloud or whisper read in a group to identify moments for correction
- Conference with students to provide guidance on specific reading skills
- Monitor annotations to ensure students are noticing key moments
- Use short comprehension questions mid - reading to monitor comprehension
- Point out moments of misunderstanding and ask students to re-read
- The Planning a Lesson Document includes a place for teachers to plan for feedback and gather data. However, it does not provide a specific protocol for doing so. Suggestions for ways to gather the data are included within this guidance. It tells teachers to plan for how to give feedback and gather student data. It also gives questions to consider such as how will the teacher circulate to give feedback and check for understanding and what type of data will be gathered. However, no answers are provided.
The Literary Blocks Document includes Guided Reading instructions that the results a separate reading assessment that is not included with the Match Fishtank program.
In the Rigorous Discussion Guide there is information on how data should be gathered to drive instruction. This includes:
- Tracking data from the discussion such as actively monitoring individual student readiness to transition to the written synthesis task
- Using data to inform celebrating multiple strategies used by students to arrive at the same outcome
- Steps to take the using data to inform future classes, though no specifics on how to do this is provided.
The Writing Instruction document contains specific information on how to gather information on student writing and how to use that information in Included in this is:
- Focus Correct Areas which are specific writing techniques that students are held accountable for and used daily to give students feedback on their written work
- Teachers should use data from previous tasks to guide mini - lessons and Focus Correction Areas
Indicator 3n
Materials indicate how students are accountable for independent reading based on student choice and interest to build stamina, confidence, and motivation.
Criterion 3.4: Differentiation
Materials provide teachers with strategies for meeting the needs of a range of learners so that they demonstrate independent ability with grade-level standards.
The materials do not meet expectations for providing support for differentiated instruction to meet the needs of all learners. While generalized support and suggestions for grouping strategies for students with disabilities, students for whom English is a second language, and students performing above grade level is described in supporting documents, specific supports within each lesson or unit are not provided.
Indicator 3o
Materials provide teachers with strategies for meeting the needs of a range of learners so the content is accessible to all learners and supports them in meeting or exceeding the grade-level standards.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 4 partially meet the criteria that materials provide teachers with strategies for meeting the needs of a range of learners so the content is accessible to all learners and supports them in meeting or exceeding the grade-level standards.
The Publisher's Document explains the various approaches to meeting the needs of diverse learners and provides strategies for meeting these students’ needs. However, these are not specific for lessons or activities. The Supporting Student Needs in ELA Instruction document provides specific guidance on how to meet the needs of a range of learners.
Various strategies for diverse learners are outlined in the Publishers Document. In addition, an explanation of how to remediate student error is briefly described, as well as how to prompt students to correct their own errors or refine their thinking. There are various strategies outlined in the Publisher's Document based on students’ needs. For example:
Building excitement and enthusiasm for the text and task- Building strong reading and writing habits
- Previewing genre knowledge
- Circulating and providing feedback during reading and writing for individuals and the group
- Identifying and/or pre-teaching two key vocabulary words
- Providing essential background knowledge via other texts or preview.
- Checking-in with students to ensure they are reading and writing appropriately during independent work
- Previewing the most important words for the text either individually or in a small group
- Teaching the students additional literal comprehension annotation strategies to use during homework and/or independent reading
- Creating additional stopping points to pause the students when reading to ask questions to build comprehension
- Creating an opportunity for the student to pre-read the text
- Providing an annotated copy of the text that includes definitions, pictures, and synonyms for key vocabulary and idioms
- Providing a chance for the students to orally plan with a teacher or peer before writing
- Providing checklists and/or exemplars for writing
- Segmenting the text based on importance and guiding the student to read some parts more closely than others
- Providing a read-aloud support to the student before the lesson
- Providing a graphic organizer for the students to organize their written responses
- Shortening the section of text the student is expected to read
- Modifying the lesson’s key or guiding questions to make easier
- Excusing the student from some or all of the challenging assignment
- Scribing the student’s written response
Indicator 3p
Materials regularly provide all students, including those who read, write, speak, or listen below grade level, or in a language other than English, with extensive opportunities to work with grade level text and meet or exceed grade-level standards.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 4 partially meet the criteria that materials regularly provide all students, including those who read, write, speak, or listen below grade level, or in a language other than English, with extensive opportunities to work with grade level text and meet or exceed grade-level standards.
The Publisher’s Document explicitly states that the teachers need to provide supports that never remove the most important thinking and meaning-making, while ensuring that students can access those thinking tasks. It explains that the goal is to support students while still requiring students to perform at grade-level standards. Teachers can use the supports outlined in this document to help students who are English Language Learners work with the grade level text and meet or exceed grade-level standards.
Indicator 3q
Materials regularly include extensions and/or more advanced opportunities for students who read, write, speak, or listen above grade level.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 4 do not meet the criteria that materials regularly include extensions and/or more advanced opportunities for students who read, write, speak, or listen above grade level.
There are no extensions or advanced opportunities for students who read, write, speak, or listen above grade level.
Indicator 3r
Materials provide opportunities for teachers to use a variety of grouping strategies.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 4 meet the criteria that materials provide opportunities for teachers to use a variety of grouping strategies.
The Text Consumption Publisher’s Document explains the various types of text consumption strategies that teachers can utilize throughout the program. While it does not prescribe how a text should be consumed on any given day, it provides teachers the opportunity to decide how the text is consumed based on the scope of the week, the demands of the text, the target task question, and the students in the class. The various text consumption strategies outlined in the program are read-aloud, shared reading, partner reading, independent reading, and close reading. It suggests that over the course of the week, the text is consumed in multiple different modes, with an emphasis on independent or small-group reading. The document shares the strengths of each grouping strategy and suggestions on when to use each type of grouping. The document also provides a graphic representation of a suggested progression of grouping strategies throughout a week.
Criterion 3.5: Technology Use
Materials support effective use of technology to enhance student learning. Digital materials are accessible and available in multiple platforms.
The materials do not meet overall expectations for technology use. While the materials and platform are teacher-friendly and easily navigated, there is no support in the materials themselves to support or teacher use of technology, including digital collaboration, local customization, and personalization of learning.
Indicator 3s
Digital materials (either included as supplementary to a textbook or as part of a digital curriculum) are web-based, compatible with multiple Internet browsers (e.g., Internet Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome, etc.), "platform neutral" (i.e., are compatible with multiple operating systems such as Windows and Apple and are not proprietary to any single platform), follow universal programming style, and allow the use of tablets and mobile devices.
Indicator 3t
Materials support effective use of technology to enhance student learning, drawing attention to evidence and texts as appropriate.
Indicator 3u
Materials can be easily customized for individual learners.
Indicator 3u.i
Digital materials include opportunities for teachers to personalize learning for all students, using adaptive or other technological innovations.
Indicator 3u.ii
Materials can be easily customized for local use.
Indicator 3v
Materials include or reference technology that provides opportunities for teachers and/or students to collaborate with each other (e.g. websites, discussion groups, webinars, etc.).