7th Grade - Gateway 1

The instructional materials reviewed for Ready Grade 7 meet the expectations that they assess grade-level content. The program provides two versions (Form A and Form B) of Mid-Unit assessments, Interim assessments, and End-of-Unit assessments for each unit. The assessments are available online and in print format.

Assessments contain grade-level content questions. Examples of questions include the following:

• In Unit 2, End-of-Unit Assessment Form B, Question 15, students analyze multiple representations and identify whether the provided statements a - d are true or false. Students then identify and compare unit rates, and identify whether relationships are proportional relationships (7.RP.1, 7.RP.2a, 7.RP.2b).
• In Unit 4, End-of-Unit Assessment Form A,Question 2, students compare diagrams of a composite shape and a triangle to determine which shape has a greater area (7.G.6).

Overall, assessment items are aligned to Grade 7 standards.

The instructional materials reviewed for Ready Grade 7 meet expectations for spending a majority of instructional time on major work of the grade. To determine focus on major work, three perspectives were evaluated: the number of units devoted to major work, the number of lessons devoted to major work, and the number of instructional days devoted to major work. Of the three perspectives, the number of instructional days is most representative and was used to determine the score for this indicator.

• Grade 7 instruction is divided into five units. Three and one half out of five units, approximately 70 percent, focus on major work of the grade. Unit 4 is composed of 7.G. The supporting work in Unit 4 Geometry supports the major work of the grade in half of the unit through the use of rational numbers and ratio and proportionality, which are a focus for Grade 7. Unit 5 is composed of additional and supporting standards within 7.SP with only one connection to the major work of the grade.
• Grade 7 instruction is divided into 33 lessons. Twenty-three out of 33 lessons, approximately 70 percent, focus on major work of the grade or supporting work connected to major work. This analysis includes updated lessons 20, 21, 23, 24 and 26, which explicitly connect supporting work to the major work of the grade.
• Grade 7 instruction consists of 165 instructional days. One hundred eight out of 165, approximately 65 percent, focus on major work of the grade or supporting work connected to major work.

The instructional materials reviewed for Ready Grade 7 meet expectations that supporting work enhances focus and coherence simultaneously by engaging students in the major work of the grade. Supporting standards/clusters are connected to the major standards/clusters of the grade.

Examples of the connections between supporting work and major work include the following:

• Unit 4, Lesson 18, Problem Solving with Angles (7.G.5) is connected to the major work of solving problems with equations (7.EE.4a). Students write and solve equations to find unknown angle measures using properties of supplementary, complementary, vertical, and adjacent angles.
• Unit 4, Lesson 22, Scale Drawings (7.G.1) is connected to the major work of proportional reasoning (7.RP.A). Students use proportional reasoning when they analyze scale drawings.
• Unit 5, Lesson 33, Probability of Compound Events (7.SP.8) is connected to the major work of solving real-world problems with rational numbers involving the four operations (7.NS.3). Students calculate simple and compound probabilities using rational numbers in various forms.

The instructional materials for Ready Grade 7 meet expectations that the amount of content designated for one grade level is viable for one year. As designed, the instructional materials can be completed in approximately 150 days with 15 additional days for assessment and diagnostics, for a total of 165 days. The suggested amount of time and expectations for teachers and students of the materials are viable for one school year as written and would not require significant modifications. According to the Teacher Guide page A44, each lesson is expected to last between 45 and 60 minutes. Other lesson resources include Fluency Skills Practice, Practice and Problem Solving, Unit Opener Lessons, and Classroom Routine Lessons for the first 5 days, which is included in the total number of days for this program.

The instructional materials for Ready Grade 7 meet expectations for the materials being consistent with the progressions in the CCSSM Standards.

The instructional materials clearly identify content from prior and future grade levels and use it to support the progressions of the grade-level standards. Overall, the materials develop according to the grade-by-grade progressions in the standards. The instructional materials relate grade-level concepts explicitly to prior knowledge from earlier grades. Each unit begins with a Unit Opener progression overview chart. The Learning Progressions set a context for the standards of the lessons based on how the standard builds on prior knowledge, particularly from the previous grades, and how it leads to expectations for the next year. For example, in the Unit 3 Lesson 16 Overview, the Learning Progression states, “In Grade 6, students solved one-step real-world and mathematical problems leading to equations of the form x + p = q. In Grade 8 students will solve real-world and mathematical problems leading to one linear equation and two linear equations in two variables.” Prerequisite skills are connected to new skills and concepts in the Lesson Overview document through Small Group Differentiation and Personalized Learning Lessons. In addition, the introduction of each lesson presents an opportunity to connect students’ prior knowledge to what they are going to learn in the lesson. For example, in Unit 2, Lesson 9, the Use What You Know section reminds students: "In Grade 6, you learned about unit rates.”

In general, the instructional materials attend to the full intent of the grade-level standards by giving all students extensive work with grade-level problems. This is achieved through on grade-level problems in all lessons. In addition to the problems present in the Ready Instruction Book there are on grade-level problems present in the Practice and Problem Solving Book. Additional practice with grade-level content is provided in the Additional Fluency Practice section of the teacher website.

However, there are some standards where students do not have sufficient practice opportunities. For example, in Unit 4, Lesson 22, students reproduce a scale drawing twice, but the materials do not provide opportunities for students to solve problems involving scale drawings of geometric materials and thus do not meet the full intent of Standard 7.G.1. Additionally, lessons in the Proportional Relationship unit do not contain adequate amounts of practice to develop fluency beyond percent increase and percent error. Unit 2, Lesson 13 does not provide sufficient exposure to a variety of multistep ratio and percent problems (i.e., simple interest, tax, gratuities, commissions) as mentioned in Standard 7.RP.3.

The instructional materials for Ready Grade 7 meet expectations that materials foster coherence through connections at a single grade, where appropriate and required by the standards. Overall, materials include learning objectives that are visibly shaped by CCSSM cluster headings and problems and activities that 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.

Instructional materials are clearly shaped by the CCSSM cluster headings. The units are divided into grade-level domains. Grade 7 standards are clearly identified in the Table of Contents and in the Ready Mathematics Standards Correlations pages, which identify the lessons that address specific standards. Instructional materials shaped by cluster headings include the following examples:

• Unit 3, Lesson 16, Solve Problems with Equations is shaped by 7.EE.B, solve real-life and mathematical problems using numerical and algebraic expressions and equations.
• Unit 5, Lesson 30, Understand Probability Concepts is shaped by 7.SP.C, investigate chance processes and develop, use, and evaluate probability models.
• Unit 4, Lesson 19, Understand Conditions for Drawing Triangles and Lesson 25, Understand Plane Sections of Prisms and Pyramids are shaped by 7.G.A, draw, construct, and describe geometrical figures and describe the relationships between them.

Instructional 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 the connections are natural and important. At the end of every unit there is a Performance Task and/or Interim Assessment that connects two or more clusters in a domain. For example:

• Unit 4, Performance Task connects 7.G.A, draw, construct and describe geometrical figures and describe the relationships between them, connects with 7.G.B, solve real-life and mathematical problems involving angle measure, area, surface area, and volume, and 7.RP.A, analyze proportional relationships and use them to solve real-world and mathematical problems.
• Unit 1, Lesson 8, Solve Problems with Rational Numbers and Unit 3, Lesson 16, Solve Problems with Equations, connect with 7.NS.A, apply and extend previous understandings of operations with fractions to add, subtract, multiply, and divide rational numbers, and 7.EE.B, solve real-life and mathematical problems using numerical and algebraic expressions and equations.