8th Grade - Gateway 1
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Focus & Coherence
Gateway 1 - Partially Meets Expectations | 71% |
|---|---|
Criterion 1.1: Focus | 2 / 2 |
Criterion 1.2: Coherence | 4 / 4 |
Criterion 1.3: Coherence | 4 / 8 |
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 8 partially meet the expectations for alignment to focusing on major work of the grade and coherence. The instructional materials meet expectations for both of the two focus criteria by not assessing above Grade 8 standards and allocating a large percentage of instructional materials to major standards of the grade. Some strengths are found and noted in the coherence criterion, but too many areas of weakness lead to the instructional materials not meeting quality expectations for coherence. Overall, the instructional materials lack consistency with the grade-by-grade progressions in the CCSSM and do not foster coherence within Grade 8.
Criterion 1.1: Focus
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 8 meet the expectations for assessing grade-level content. The text includes grade-level content and only lesson 9.1 is "preparation" for grade-level content. There are no Grade 9 or higher standards assessed in these instructional materials. Overall, the instructional materials do not assess content from future grades within the summative assessments provided for each chapter.
Indicator 1a
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 8 meet the expectations for assessing grade-level content. Overall, the instructional materials do not assess content from future grades within the summative assessments provided for each chapter.
- The text includes grade-level content and only lesson 9.1 is "preparation" for grade-level content.
Criterion 1.2: Coherence
Students and teachers using the materials as designed devote the large majority of class time in each grade K-8 to the major work of the grade.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 8 meet the expectations for spending the large majority of class time on the major clusters of the grade. More than 75% of the lessons are aligned with the major standards of Grade 8, and almost 80% of the instructional time is allocated for major work of the grade. Overall, the instructional materials allocate a large percentage of instructional time to clusters of standards that are major work of Grade 8.
Indicator 1b
Instructional material spends the majority of class time on the major cluster of each grade.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 8 meet the expectations for spending the large majority of class time on the major clusters of the grade. Overall, the instructional materials allocate a large percentage of instructional time to clusters of standards that are the major work of Grade 8.
- More than 75% of the lessons are aligned with the major standards of Grade 8.
- Almost 80% of the instructional time is allocated for major work of the grade.
Criterion 1.3: Coherence
Coherence: Each grade's instructional materials are coherent and consistent with the Standards.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 8 do not meet the expectations for being coherent and consistent with the CCSSM. The instructional materials have an amount of content designated for Grade 8 that is viable for one school year, and that is the strength for this criterion. The instructional materials partially enhance focus and coherence with the supporting, but they do not have materials foster coherence through connections at a single grade. Overall, the instructional materials for Grade 8 strongly exhibit some characteristics of coherence as noted in indicator 1d, but for the entire criterion there are too many weaknesses for the materials to partially meet the expectations.
Indicator 1c
Supporting content enhances focus and coherence simultaneously by engaging students in the major work of the grade.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 8 partially meet the expectations for having the supporting content enhancing focus and coherence simultaneously. Overall, the instructional materials miss opportunities to connect non-major clusters of standards to major clusters, and as a result, the supporting content does not always engage students in the major work of Grade 8.
- Although supporting content 8.NS.A (approximating irrational numbers) is found in the same chapter as major work 8.G.B (Pythagorean Theorem) and is connected to 8.EE.2 in the text via identified content standards, each standard is isolated in an individual lesson with no connections with problems or vocabulary.
- In some cases, the ordering of lessons seems to detract from the major work of the grade. For example, the text begins with 8.NS.A, which is supporting content, and then proceeds to 8.G.B (major). For this indicator, 8.G.B should start the text, and 8.NS.A should follow, supporting the major work with the content and exercises.
Indicator 1d
The amount of content designated for one grade level is viable for one school year in order to foster coherence between grades.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 8 meet the expectations for having an amount of content designated for one grade level as viable for one school year. Overall, the amount of time needed to complete the lessons is appropriate for a school year of approximately 170-190.
- As noted in the pacing on page T42-T45, the book totals 150 days of instruction, leaving time for review and enrichment, additional activity labs, assessments, and projects.
- Days beyond the 150 suggested by the materials can be used for assessment purposes or utilizing some of the guided problem-solving items.
Indicator 1e
Materials are consistent with the progressions in the Standards i. Materials develop according to the grade-by-grade progressions in the Standards. If there is content from prior or future grades, that content is clearly identified and related to grade-level work ii. Materials give all students extensive work with grade-level problems iii. Materials relate grade level concepts explicitly to prior knowledge from earlier grades.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 8 partially meet the expectations for having materials that are consistent with the progressions in the CCSSM. Overall, grade-level concepts are not always explicitly related to prior knowledge from earlier grades, and the materials partially develop according to the grade-by-grade progressions, with non-grade-level content clearly identified. Also, the materials partially give students extensive work with grade-level problems.
- 8.EE.A is about work with radicals and integer exponents, yet it is mostly found in chapter 6, and the Pythagorean Theorem, which requires work with radicals, is chapter 1.
- The progression of the standards is laid out in a logical sequence, but there is no clear explanation for teachers on the development of Grade 8 standards from prior or to future years.
- Two lessons are marked linking the work of Grade 8 to mastery of standards from a previous grade level, but neither of these lessons review work from the major work of previous grades in the grade-by-grade progressions.
- There is often only one challenge problem per section, giving little opportunity for learning grade-level content in greater depth.
- After providing examples, each lesson only provides five to 10 problems.
- Problems in lessons 2.2 and 2.3 do provide opportunities to expand expressions with the distributive property and collect like terms with some instances of rational (fraction and decimal, not just integer) coefficients (8.EE.C.7.B).
- At the beginning of each chapter there is a narrative about "What You've Learned." In chapters 1, 2 and 6, it includes what students have learned in a previous course and also lists "What You'll Learn Next." Chapters 3-5 and 7-10 do not mention knowledge or skills from a previous course.
Indicator 1f
Materials foster coherence through connections at a single grade, where appropriate and required by the Standards i. Materials include learning objectives that are visibly shaped by CCSSM cluster headings. ii. Materials include problems and activities that serve to connect two or more clusters in a domain, or two or more domains in a grade, in cases where these connections are natural and important.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 8 do not meet the expectations for having materials foster coherence through connections at a single grade. Overall, the materials do not include learning objectives that are visibly shaped by the CCSSM cluster headings, and the materials do not always connect two or more clusters in a domain or two or more domains in a grade when appropriate.
- Many standards in the same cluster are not in the same chapter. For example, 8.EE.B.6 is in the middle of chapter 7 on geometry and 8.EE.B.5 is in an activity lab at the beginning of chapter 4 on graphing functions.
- 8.EE.C is partially covered since all objectives in lessons 5.1 to 5.4 are focused on solving systems of equations with different methods, but students never have to analyze.
- There is one opportunity identified as connecting 8.NS with 8.EE, but there are no other identified connections between two or more domains in a grade.
- In chapter 1, 8.NS, 8.EE and 8.G standards all connect to the Pythagorean Theorem. However, in lesson 1.2 (8.NS.A.1, 8.NS.A.2, 8.EE.A.2), the only mention of equations is in the teacher manual under "Math Background" and students see the word "expression" in 1 out of 42 problems. This is the only lesson where two or more domains are addressed, and all other domains are taught in isolated lessons.