8th Grade - Gateway 1
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Focus & Coherence
Gateway 1 - Partially Meets Expectations | 78% |
|---|---|
Criterion 1.1: Focus | 2 / 2 |
Criterion 1.2: Coherence | 4 / 4 |
Criterion 1.3: Coherence | 5 / 8 |
The instructional materials reviewed for Course 3 partially meet the expectation for focus and coherence in the CCSSM. For focus, the instructional materials meet the criteria for the time devoted to the major work of the grade with 71.4% of the days allocated in the timeline aligning to the major work. For coherence, supporting work is sometimes connected to the focus of the grade with some missed opportunities for natural connections to be made. The amount of content for one grade level is viable for one school year and will foster coherence between the grades. However, content from prior or future grades is not clearly identified and materials that relate grade level concepts to prior knowledge from earlier grades is not explicit. Overall, the materials are shaped by the CCSSM and incorporate some natural connections that will prepare a student for upcoming grades. The material does lack some consistency for grade-to-grade progressions, and content that is not on grade level, or supports on grade level learning, is not explicit.
Criterion 1.1: Focus
The instructional materials reviewed for Course 3 meet the expectations for focus within the grade. The materials reviewed for Course 3 do assess some above grade-level topics, but if the future grade content was removed, it would not change the underlying structure of the assessments. The instructional materials also meet the expectations for focus within major clusters. Seventy-one percent (71.4%) of the days are suggested for major work of the grade. In addition, there is some support from content in the non-major clusters that directly reinforce the major work. Overall, the instructional materials meet the criteria for grade level assessment as well as spending the majority of time in the major clusters of the grade.
Indicator 1a
The Assessments that are included in the web version of Springboard were reviewed for Course 3 and found to meet the expectations for instructional material that assesses the grade-level content and, if applicable, content from earlier grades. Content from future grades is sometimes introduced, but students should not be held accountable on assessments for those future expectations. If the future grade content was removed, it would not change the underlying structure of the assessments. Overall, the instructional material in the summative assessment items reviewed in Course 3 addressed the major areas of focus for this grade level in a challenging and effective manner with most Units having little or no above grade level standards addressed.
Quality, on grade-level examples are:
- Unit 1, question #8- Asking students to demonstrate their knowledge of 8.EE.A.4 by subtracting numbers in scientific notation and then converting the answer to standard form.
- Unit 4, question- #6. Asking students to demonstrate their knowledge of 8.F.B.4 by creating a function from the given information in the real world problem.
- Unit 4, question- #18. Asking students to demonstrate their knowledge of 8.F.B.5 by analyzing and then describing a graph.
Areas of improvement are:
- Unit 4, Answer key is incorrect on questions 2, 14, and 18.
- Unit 6, This unit address MP standards that do not work on 8th grade content standards. Many questions are aligned to high school compound interest questions.
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 Course 3 meet the expectations for focus within the grade. The materials reviewed for Course 3 do assess some above grade-level topics, but if the future grade content was removed, it would not change the underlying structure of the assessments. The instructional materials also meet the expectations for focus within major clusters. Seventy-one percent (71.4%) of the days are suggested for major work of the grade. In addition, there is some support from content in the non-major clusters that directly reinforce the major work. Overall, the instructional materials meet the criteria for grade level assessment as well as spending the majority of time in the major clusters of the grade.
Indicator 1b
Instructional material spends the majority of class time on the major cluster of each grade.
The Teacher Edition and Consumable Student Edition reviewed for Course 3 meet the expectations for spending the majority of class time on the major cluster of each grade. To determine this we evaluated three perspectives: 1) the number of ACTIVITIES devoted to major work, 2) the number of LESSONS devoted to major work, and 3) the number of DAYS devoted to major work. The number of DAYS devoted to major work is the most reflective for this indicator because it specifically addresses the amount of class time spent on concepts and our conclusion was drawn through this data.
We determined our evidence from the Contents Page, pgs. v - ix and the number of days suggested in "Planning the Unit" found in the the Teacher Edition and written by the publisher.
- Activities – 27 out of 36 activities which is 75% percent of time spent on major work
- Lessons – 62 out of 84 lessons which is 73.8% percent of time spent on major work
- Days – 100 out of 140 days which is 71.4% percent of time spent on major work
Including Embedded Assessment Days:
- Unit 1: 30 days, not all days on major work (15 days on Major Work)
- Unit 2: 28 days, all days on major work
- Unit 3: 43 days, All but Activity 26 (4 days) and one embedded test day (1 day) on major work
- Unit 4: 19 days all on major work
- Unit 5: 16 days, none on major work, of the grade level
- Unit 6: 4 days, none on major work, of the grade level
This allows for 100 days out of 140 which is 71.4% to be spent on major work of 8th grade.
Excluding Embedded Assessment Days:
- 8.EE.A,B,C has 36 instructional days out of 116 total days (31%)
- 8.F.A,B has 16 instructional days out of 116 total days (14%)
- 8.G.A,B, has 31 instructional days out of 116 total days (27%)
This allows for 83 days out of 123 which is 67.5% to be spent on major work of 8th grade.
Areas that need clarification are:
- Unit 1 - Activities 1 and 2 (6 periods) are spent on reviewing. There are no standards indicated for the lessons.
- Unit 2 - Activity 9 goes into geometric sequences allowing students to recognize models and patterns to support the work in 8.EE. There are no standards indicated for the lessons in this activity.
- Unit 3 - Activity 25 is focused on surface area of prisms and cylinders which is standard 7.G but is not indicated. There is only one problem in this activity of two lessons using the Pythagorean Theorem that matches with the standard indicated (page 332 problem 11)
- Unit 6 - There are no standards indicated for the activities in this unit. This is a Financial Literacy Unit that is continued from grades 6 through 8.
Criterion 1.3: Coherence
Coherence: Each grade's instructional materials are coherent and consistent with the Standards.
The instructional materials reviewed for Course 3 partially meet the expectations for being coherent and consistent with the standards. Supporting work is sometimes connected to the focus of the grade with some missed opportunities for natural connections to be made. The amount of content for one grade level is viable for one school year and will foster coherence between the grades. However, content from prior or future grades is not clearly identified, and materials that relate grade level concepts to prior knowledge from earlier grades is not explicit. Overall, the materials are shaped by the CCSSM and incorporate some natural connections that will prepare a student for upcoming grades. The material does lack some consistency for grade-to-grade progressions, and content that is not on grade level, or supports on grade level learning, is not explicit.
Indicator 1c
Supporting content enhances focus and coherence simultaneously by engaging students in the major work of the grade.
The instructional materials reviewed for Course 3 partially meet expectations that supporting content enhances focus and coherence by engaging student in the major work of the grade. In some cases, the supporting work enhances and supports the major work of the grade level, and in others, it does not.
Examples where connections between supporting content and major work are present but are not well explored include the following:
Non-Major Cluster 8.NS.A- Know that there are numbers that are not rational, and approximate them by rational numbers.
- Unit 1- Activity 3, pgs. 33-44 support 8.EE through having students create and solve expressions and equations based on Powers and Roots.
Non-Major Cluster 8.SP.A- Investigate patterns of association in bivariate data.
- Unit 5- Activity 33-2, pages 459-460 support 8.EE through the use of Trend Lines.
Examples where connections are missed or not explicitly stated:
- Unit 2- Activity 10, pages 119-130 is an activity aligning with 7.EE but is not identified as such. This supports the 8th grade major work in 8.EE.
- Unit 5- None of the work in this unit that contains the 8.SP.A standards support any major standards in eighth grade.
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 Course 3 meet the expectations for the amount of content designated for one grade level being viable for one school year in order to foster coherence between grades. The Teacher’s Guide offers a 'Planning the Unit' section for each of the 6 Units and the pacing provided by the publisher is reasonable for lessons to be completed in the time suggested.
With embedded assessment days not included there are approximately 123 days of lessons in the materials. This team believes that the amount of those days on major work of the 8th grade will ensure a student'sgrasp of all major work at this grade level and will foster coherence between the grades. Overall, the amount of days that are designated as "lesson days" for this grade level is short of the amount of material needed to make it truly viable for one school year, this team believes that when the Embedded assessments and Summative End of Unit tests are included, this material meets expectations.
- According to the pacing guide, each period is 45 minutes in length and there is a suggested 123 days of lessons.
- When Embedded assessments are also included in the pacing guide and if all are given during the course of the year the total would be 140 days.
- Also, if a summative end of the unit test is included and one day per unit is added, this would bring the total to 146 days.
The guiding focus taken for this indicator for our team was, "Will this material be enough to prepare a student for the next grade level?" With the amount of days and those days that are focusing on major work, it will prepare the student for the next grade level and supports this indicator receiving a 'meets' rating.
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 Teacher Edition, Consumable Student Edition, and Summative end of Unit Assessments reviewed for Course 3 partially meet the expectations for the material to be consistent with the progressions in the standards. Content from lower/above grade standards is not clearly identified, and a teacher will have to spend much time unpacking the Activities to identify the non-grade level material. Also, materials do not always relate grade-level concepts explicitly to prior knowledge from earlier grades within each lesson. Connections are not explicitly made to content in future grades. However, in general, the progression of standards are followed throughout this course.
Some examples of areas where identification of standards from lower/upper grades would be beneficial are:
- Unit I, Activity 1 Investigating Patterns uses sequences to describe patterns. The work from this activity aligns to F.IF.A.3, which is a high school standard. One could argue that this activity addresses linear relationships, but since the book does not adequately describe this in the teachers edition, it just appears to be off grade level.
- Unit I, Activity 2 Operations with Fractions adds to work from 5th grade. As with the other books from the series, it does not list the standards addressed and how it relates to grade level work. The majority of the practice problems were procedural in nature and did not address any extensions to challenge students.
- Unit 3 Activity 25 works with surface area and volume. (7.G.B.6) The book does not discuss the relationship of the work completed in this activity and the prior and future activities of the unit. Some of the work in this unit is prior or supporting work and could claim that is was necessary to support the overall unit, however without them being specifically mentioned, it appears to just be off grade level.
The instructional materials reviewed for Course 3 partially meets the expectation of giving all students extensive work with grade-level problems. Overall, the materials do not consistently give students of varying abilities extensive work with grade-level problems.
For each activity, there are 0 to 6 standards attached and there are at least 1 to 4 lessons based on that activity to extend and develop the understanding of the standards included in the activity. For struggling learners or those that need enrichment, the book does provide pointers interspersed throughout the units with ideas on how to differentiate or teach the topic in a different way.
Examples of this are:
- Unit 3, Activity 16- page 211, has general pointers for differentiating instruction to assist the teacher with teaching the concept.
- Unit 4, Activity 28- page 380, has ELL Support and Teacher to Teacher suggestions on how to assist and present the work needed for this activity.
Examples that are not at the depth of knowledge needed to prepare a student for the next grade are:
- The summative assessments reviewed for this course were limited in nature, containing multiple-choice responses and no significant performance tasks found.
- Unit 1, Activity 3, Lesson 3-3 on Exponents, Roots, and Order of Operations is an example of low depth of knowledge and procedural in nature lesson.
- Unit 1, Activity 6, Lesson 6-2 on Negative Exponents is also very procedural and not at the level needed to prepare a student for the next grade level.
Examples of lessons that do give a student extensive work at the grade level and are real world application problems covering the major work of the grade are:
- Unit 4, Activity 31, Lesson 31-1 on Linear and Non-Linear Functions has the student often justifying their answers and working with real-world problems.
- Unit 5, Activity 33, Lesson 33-3 on Scatter Plots and Trend Lines has students working with prior knowledge of creating equations, justifying answers with that prior knowledge and on grade level work and making predictions that are all beneficial in preparing a student for the upcoming grades.
The instructional materials reviewed for Course 3 partially meet the expectation of relating grade-level concepts explicitly to prior knowledge from earlier grades. Overall, materials only generally relate grade-level concepts explicitly to prior knowledge from earlier grades and most often only make connections within grade level standards.
Most units, in the Teacher's Edition, begin with an "Activity Standards Focus" section that will explain the connections between the previous Activity and the current one or a previous grades learning and the new learning. This is rather a general overview and is never specific as to where the connections are actually happening and between which grades.
Example of the general overview:
- Unit 2, Activity 9- page 105 begins with the "Activity Standards Focus" saying- "Unit 2 focuses on linear equations. Activity 9 introduces some of the ideas that will be needed when analyzing equations by first looking at those ideas in the context of patterns. Before they see algebraic equations, students will be introduced to algebraic expressions as they use them to identify and represent patterns. They will write and evaluate algebraic expressions that represent patterns-some with constant differences and some without."
- Unit 3, Activity 22, page 297 begins with "In this activity, students investigate one of the most important theorems in mathematics, the Pythagorean Theorem. Students explore a proof of the theorem and then use the theorem to find unknown side lengths in right triangles. Note that additional applications of the theorem are covered in Activity 23, and students explore the converse of the theorem in Activity 24."
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 Course 3 partially meet the expectations for fostering 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.
The Unit titles are clearly labeled and aligned to the standards without a need for much interpretation.
- Unit 1 - Numerical Relationships (8.NS)
- Unit 2 - Equations (8.EE)
- Unit 3 - Geometry (8.G)
- Unit 4 - Functions (8.F)
- Unit 5 - Probability & Statistics (8.SP)
The instructional materials do include some problems and activities that serve to connect two or more clusters in a domain. They include a few problems and activities that connect two or more domains in a grade, in cases where these connections are natural and important. However, overall the materials only partially foster coherence through connections in Course 3.
- For the majority of the work, most standards were taught and covered within one lesson out of the entire series and not aligned with any other concept throughout the year.
Examples of not fully developed connections are:
- Unit 3 on Geometry never brings in the 8.EE.B.6, "Use similar triangles to explain why the slope m is the same between any two distinct points on a non-vertical line in the coordinate plane; derive the equation y = mx for a line through the origin and the equation y = mx + b for a line intercepting the vertical axis at b" standard which is a missed opportunity to show coherence through connections. Equations and defining slope are addressed in Unit 2, so it would be a natural fit to address this standard in the Geometry unit.
- Unit 2 covering Equations, standard 8.EE.A.2, "Use square root and cube root symbols to represent solutions to equations of the form x2 = p and x3 = p, where p is a positive rational number" has a natural connection to 8.NS.A, "Know that there are numbers that are not rational, and approximate them by rational numbers." However, there is no connection to these standards in Course 3.
Some examples of where connections were made are:
8.EE.B.5
- This standard is taught in Unit 2, Activity 11.
- It is reviewed frequently through the unit in Activities 12 and 13.
8.G.B.6 and 8.G.B.8
- These standards are taught in Unit 3, Activity 22.
- They are reviewed throughout the remainder of the unit in Activities 23 and 24.
8.F.A.3
- This standard is taught in Unit 4, Activity 29
- It is reviewed in Unit 4, Activity 31.