6th Grade - Gateway 3

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 6 meet the expectations that materials are well-designed and take into account effective lesson structure and pacing.

There are six units of study that are designed around a collection of texts that support a common topic. For example, in the Mysteries & Investigations Unit, students “read like an investigator” and embark on a multi-genre study into the mesmerizing world of scientific and investigative sleuthing. Stories of mystery and suspense are a natural medium for involving Grade 6 students in close reading because the texts are constructed to raise readers’ curiosity. Each unit is divided into sub-units that contain lessons that follow a predictable guided instruction design and have a suggested pacing of 45 to 60 minutes per lesson. There is a Lesson Brief document provided for teachers that helps teachers understand the layout of each lesson. Each lesson launches with a “Vocabulary Activities” section that centers on the Vocabulary App, a “self-guided and adaptive means of learning new vocabulary,” that “introduces students to words that are integral to understanding the texts and key concepts in each unit.” Lessons include whole class, partner or small group, and individual practice with the intended outcomes through the “Present”, “Introduce”, “Connect Text”, and “Discuss” cards. The “Wrap Up” and “Exit Ticket” cards close the class with a review of the lesson and a formative assessment. The “Solo” card provides students with independent practice based on the learning outcomes for the day. Opportunities to differentiate instruction for individual students are available through the lesson. Each unit also includes Flex Days that provide an opportunity for students to receive regular instruction on needed grammar. 

Examples of unit set-up, structures, suggested timings, and sub-units include, but are not limited to: 

• In Unit 6A, “Dahl and Narrative,” Sub-unit 1, Lesson 1, teachers are instructed to launch the lesson with the following instructions in mind: 
• This first lesson is an introduction to the type of learning, interactions, and underlying principles that around which the Amplify materials were designed. 
• The lesson activities enable students to get to know each other better, help the class learn to navigate the lesson structure in a low-stakes environment, and engage students with some key classroom principles. 
• The lesson also allows the teacher to accommodate a variety of initial classroom configurations. 
• After delivering a short introductory talk, this playful take on the typical “first-day-of-school" lesson helps establish classroom principles. These principles will appear all jumbled (and you will appear to be surprised). 
• You will then guide your students through a series of word games to reveal the three essential classroom principles and then to experience that principle in action. 
• In the 6B Unit, “Mysteries & Investigations,” the lesson structure for each lesson appears in the Lesson at a Glance Compilation for the unit of the section as follows: 
• Vocabulary Activities
• Class Activities - Download text
• Classwork - Visuals
• Reading Selection of first text 
• Reading - Selection of next text 
• Writing 
• Class Share 
• Exit Ticket
• Solo
• Lessons within the 6B Unit and Sun-units include: 
• Sub-Unit 1: Fever 1793 - Lesson 1: A Nightmare in Philadelphia
• Sub-Unit 2: The Secret of the Yellow Death: Lesson 1: Meeting a Monster
• Sub-Unit 3: "The Speckled Band" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
• Sub-Unit 4: "The Red-Headed League" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
• Sub-Unit 5: Write an Essay
• Formative Assessments and Summative Assessments
• In Unit 6C, “Chocolate Collection,” Sub-unit 1, Lesson 1, teachers are provided with an overview of the lesson. The lesson is broken down into specific time lengths for each activity. The directions say, 
• “Before Class: Prepare for the Activity. Teacher is introduced to the hoax website concept, which will be the guiding example for the first Information Literacy lesson. 
• Download the Unit Texts (3 min). Students download the core texts for the unit so they will have access to the texts if they lose connectivity during class or do not have connectivity when they take their devices home. 
• Read: Exploring a Website (5 min) Students explore a website as a first step in determining its credibility. 
• Discuss: A Website's Credibility (5 min) Students discuss the website to focus on factors that help them determine a site's credibility. 
• Discuss: What Makes a Website Credible? (10 min) Along with partners, students use a checklist of points to discuss the credibility of the hoax website. Then, they review other sites to check the credibility of the hoax website further. 
• Discuss: Evaluating Sources (10 min) Students discuss 4 different sources to determine their credibility. 
• Domain Extensions (10 min) Students identify different domain extensions to determine what they are short for and their respective credibilities. 
• Exit Ticket (5 min) Students distinguish between sources that are credible and sources that are not credible.

The materials reviewed for Grade 6 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.

The teacher and students in Grade 6 can reasonably complete the content within a regular school year, and the pacing allows for maximum student understanding. The Amplify ELA materials include core lessons for 180 days of instruction as well as an extensive amount of supplementary materials that teachers can use at their discretion to support and enrich that experience. Additional instructional experiences have also been created for students to use independently. Working with the pacing guide, teachers see how the biggest parts of the program—units, Quests, and major assessments—can be scheduled over the 180 days of instruction. 

Examples of this include, but are not limited to:

• In Unit 6C, “The Chocolate Collection,” the unit is broken up into 26 lessons. For each particular lesson it provides minute-by-minute pacing. For example, the directions state for Lesson 3 that teachers should "Introduce: Framing a Quote (10 min) Students learn how to frame a direct quote from a text to avoid plagiarism.” Then students should "Try It On: Framing a Quote (8 min) Students practice writing framed direct quotes with an introduction to the quote and citation.” Next, they are told to explain “Paraphrasing (17 min) Students are introduced to the concept of paraphrasing an author’s text as another way to avoid plagiarism and then work independently to paraphrase informational text”
• In some units, options are provided to contract or shorten the unit if necessary. Lessons are identified within each sub-unit that might be unnecessary for some students and would be the lessons to eliminate first if there is a need to do so. For example, in the 6A Unit, “Dahl & Narrative,” Lessons 7 and 8 of Sub-unit 2 could be eliminated. These 2 lessons “provide additional instruction and practice with the writing skills of focus and productivity”.
• In Unit 6E, “Summer of the Mariposas,” Sub-unit 2, there are 5 lessons included. Students are instructed in gathering evidence and making a claim, writing body paragraphs, revising and writing an introduction as well as including and polishing the essay. There is also an essay flex day included and the instructions for teachers on this day says, “At this stage in the essay process, most middle school teachers find their students in different places. Some students are tearing through each piece and need to be told to slow down, read their writing, and develop their ideas more completely. Some students are still slogging through the first drafts of their body paragraphs. This lesson is designed with a little more flexibility so that you can guide students to work at the pace that allows them to benefit most from the writing activities.”

The materials reviewed for Grade 6 meet the criteria that the student resources include ample review and practice resources, clear directions, and explanation, and correct labeling of reference aids (e.g., visuals, maps, etc.)

There are clear, step-by-step directions and explanations for both teachers and students for every phase of the teaching and learning process. Supplemental materials are provided for each lesson and are well-labeled and organized. Each lesson also references the standards addressed and the goal. Throughout most lessons, there are numerous formative assessments built-in to the lesson activities to monitor progress and check for understanding. Each lesson begins with “Vocabulary Activities” that provide differentiated vocabulary support and ends with “Wrap-up” which is a formative assessment that allows students and teachers to monitor learning progressions. “Solo” assignments at the end of lessons provide progress check-ins and practice for standardized testing. Unit assessments gauge the abilities of students to apply what they are learning over the course of the unit by reading, understanding, and expressing their knowledge of a complex grade-level text. Within the lesson plan structure, activities are scaffolded and structured in such a way that students have ample opportunities to practice skills. 

The program has several pieces that provide students with ample review and practice resources, specifically, “Library”, “My Work”, and “Misunderstanding Notebook”. When students click on the Library tab they are taken to a digital library which contains many digital texts that students can read. The My Work tab shows students copies of all of their previous work done online including those pieces with teacher feedback. Each assignment is organized in the units that have been completed. In the “Misunderstanding Notebook” students can document misunderstandings that have occurred during their learning and then connect it to a particular lesson they have studied.

 Examples of resources within the materials include, but are not limited to: 

• In Unit 6A, “Dahl and Narrative,” Sub-unit 3, Lesson 10, students revise their use of evidence. Specifically, the lessons asks students to “1. Reread your writing from Lesson 9 and underline a sentence(s) where you used details from the book to develop your idea. (Your teacher may have underlined a sentence for you.) 2. Reread that part of the book and identify one or two more details that connect to your idea.3. Write 3–5 more sentences using those details to explain your idea. Use at least one direct quote.”
• In Unit 6D, “The Greeks,” Sub-Unit 1: "Prometheus" activities include: 
• Activity 1: Vocabulary Activities - students are instructed to open the vocabulary app through the provided link; 
• Activity 2: Students are instructed to download the texts through the Amplify library, the titles of the text 
• Activity 3: Students are instructed to interact with the digitally downloaded text vocabulary and where to write the answers to their responses. 
• Activity 4: Students are Introduced to the Prometheus Myth image and instructed to spend time observing the differences.
• Activity 5: Students are directed to respond to the question by highlighting the sentences that answers the questions.
• Activity 7: Students are directed to discuss their Arguments and Points of View, through writing their responses on the digital cards, then discuss their responses whole group.
• Activity 8: Students are instructed to respond to a class Wrap-Up Poll
• Activity 9: Students are given a digital Exit Ticket, they are instructed to respond to the multiple choice questions.
• Activity 10: Students are prompted to read the assigned text in the Solo section and digitally answer questions using text evidence.
• In Unit 6E, “Summer of the Mariposas,” Sub-unit 1, Lesson 7, students are asked to participate in a fishbowl discussion. The instructions for the inner circle discussion are: Follow the five "C"s of the conversation--Communicate—Share your idea and include supporting evidence. Connect—Agree with someone’s comment and add supporting information or an additional thought. Contrast—Present an alternate point of view and include supporting evidence. Query—Ask a question. Clarify—Answer a question and include supporting evidence. Observe discussion etiquette: Wait for someone to finish before speaking. Don’t hog the floor. Listen and consider seriously the speaker’s idea.If you disagree, do so politely.”

The materials reviewed for Grade 6 meet the criteria that materials include publisher-produced alignment documentation of the standards addressed by specific questions, tasks, and assessment items.

For Grade 6, instructors are presented with a correlations guide that indicates all standard listed within the CCSS for ELA: Reading literature (RL), reading informational (RI), writing (W), speaking and listening (SL), and language (L). Each sub-standard has the correlated lessons identified with focus “cards” and lessons that most strongly support that standard.

When viewing individual lessons standards appear under the “Focus Standards” section of the Prep portion of the Lesson Guide and the “Other Standards Addressed in This Lesson” section. For “cards” providing opportunities to specifically focus on a standard, there is a “Standards” tab and the focus standard for the activities on that card are identified. For the Unit Assessments a Teacher Rationale document aligning “questions to specific grade level standards and standard strands” is provided.

Examples of this include, but are not limited to:

• In each unit, once teachers click on the Unit Overview page, they scroll down below the unit icons to the section labeled “Planning for the Unit”. Then, they click on the standards button and all the standards for each of the lessons are listed. For example, in the 6C unit “The Chocolate Collection” sub unit 1, lesson 1, the focus standard is “CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.6.8---Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources; assess the credibility of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and providing basic bibliographic information for sources.” They also explain that there are “Other Standards Addressed in this lesson” which are: “CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.6.6---Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of three pages in a single sitting.” and “CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.6.1.A Come to discussions prepared, having read or studied required material; explicitly draw on that preparation by referring to evidence on the topic, text, or issue to probe and reflect on ideas under discussion.”
• In the unit overview page for each unit in the print edition, there are standards listed for each portion of the lesson. For example in unit 6A “Dahl and Narrative” on page 6-7, it lists the lesson objective, the reading, writing and the standards that will be addressed in each lesson. Lesson 2, which is titled “Focus on a Moment” says that students will “review Spotlight student exemplars and revise their own writing to use precise details to strengthen focus on one moment” as well as “practice focus by writing on one moment when they did something new or unexpected” and “students will present their writing and respond with constructive comments to their peers’ writing”. On the right hand side of the page, it provides the focus standards that correspond to these goals in red and the rest of the standards applicable to the lesson in black. 

The materials reviewed for Grade 6 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 Teacher Edition provides numerous support materials in multiple formats. The materials can be accessed digitally or in a print version. There are Unit Overviews for each unit and Lesson Guides for each individual lesson.The Unit Overviews provide tips on contracting the unit when necessary, the reading and writing assignments within the unit, applications to be used, differentiation, and assessment information. Additional teacher references are available with standards, vocabulary, and supplemental texts. Within the Lesson Guides, teachers will find an overview of the lesson, the preparation necessary, the objective, key vocabulary, skills and standards addressed, and methods of differentiation.

Examples of materials available to teachers include, but are not limited to:

• In Unit 6A, “Dahl and Narrative,” Sub-Unit 1, Lesson 1, Activity 1, students are directed to solve an anagram in order to reveal Classroom Principle 1. Specifically, the Teacher Edition directions say “Divide students into groups of 3. Students can share devices if not all students are logged in. Make sure all students using a device are viewing this activity. If not, direct students to the correct location using the activity number and name on the Lesson Map (top of screen)”. The directions continue by saying, “Have students solve the puzzle, using their devices or the class projection. Direct students to click HAND IN at the top right of their screens each time they complete an activity.”
• In Unit 6C, “The Chocolate Collection,” Sub-unit 1, Lesson 1, students prepare to do a research project on chocolate. In the directions for the Teacher Edition the instructions read that teachers should do the following: “Before class, research online to find a hoax website for your students to explore as they learn about sources that are credible and not credible. There are many of these sites; find one that you think will work best for your students. Ideally, this website will be convincing but suspicious.” The instructions continue on to explain the types of details that teachers should look for when they choose a “hoax website”. Then the instructions explain that “For this lesson to work best and be as much fun as possible, students need to be taken by surprise, which makes it important to keep them in the dark. For that reason, we have carefully worded student-facing information to keep them from uncovering the surprise should they click ahead.”
• In Unit 6F, “The Titanic Collection,” Sub-unit 1, Lesson 1, Activity 2, the Instructional Guide explains to the teacher how to download the unit texts. The Instructional Guide also notes that in certain situations, this step should be skipped. The notes explain how students can reset their personal PINs when using the Amplify Library and other helpful pieces of information.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 6 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.

The Program Guide provides a pedagogical approach to assist teachers in establishing a classroom where students thrive in every area, academically, socially, emotionally, as well as developing age-appropriate skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking. 

The Program Guide Pedagogical Approach gives teachers steps in order to design a well-balanced classroom, supporting the needs of all learners. For example, in the Critical Collaboration and Engagement section, it states that it gives students lessons that immerse them in close reading activities and cognitively challenging work that engages them with collaborative, digital and project based learning opportunities. 

In the Program Guide Integrated Approach Targeted Objectives section, it states that it guides students with working through the text using key standards. While reading analytical texts, using evidence based writing, and academic discussion to support their ideas. Text at the center supports teachers in using complex and diverse texts that develop students skills in middle school and beyond.

Examples of materials provided to teachers for their advancement in the subject area include, but are not limited to:

• In Unit 6B, “Mysteries and Investigations,” Sub-unit 5, Lesson 1, students prepare to write an essay about which character trait most helped the investigators solve problems based on their analysis of their collected evidence. In the materials for the lesson there is a PDF handout labeled “Possible Evidence and Explanations” chart. This instructional resource the different traits that students could choose for their essay along with possible evidence and explanations about the texts that students could choose from. 
• In Unit 6E, “Summer of the Mariposas,” Sub-unit 1, Lesson 6, students engage in a process to find the symbolism in the text. In the Teacher Edition section titled “Preparation” the instructions say “In Activity 4, students search for and select a passage for analysis. Using the keywords 'butterfly' and/or 'mariposa' to search the text is a good way to identify passages. However, some of the places identified do not lend themselves to an easy analysis of the symbolic meaning. You may want to point them toward the suggested passages.” There is also a handout included in the lesson that explains symbolism as well as provides several examples of this concept for students. 

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 6 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 Teacher Edition explains the role of specific ELA/literacy standards within every individual lesson, sub-unit and unit as a whole. In addition, there is a Common Core State Standards correlations guide for each grade level and a Common Core State Standards Unit Level Standards Alignment document where educators can see the standards at a glance for each unit. 

Examples of explanations of the role of specific standards includes, but are not limited to:

• In Unit 6B, “Mysteries and Investigations,” Sub-unit 2, Lesson 1, students are beginning to read The Secret of the Yellow Death: A True Story of Medical Sleuthing. In the lesson brief, under the section “Skills and Standards”, the curriculum states that the skills addressed are “CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.3: Analyze in detail how a key individual, event, or idea is introduced, illustrated, and elaborated in a text (e.g., through examples or anecdotes) and CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.6.1: Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.” This section also describes other standards that are addressed in the lesson.
•  In Unit 6E, “Summer of the Mariposas,” page 14 of the Grade 6 Curriculum Map explains that “students consider how characters change and develop, compare McCall’s retelling to episodes from Homer’s Odyssey, contrast the sisters’ fictional journey to the nonfiction account of a migrant boy’s journey, and research Aztec mythology.” 
• In the Amplify ELA Common Core State Standards Correlations Guide for Grade 6 which can be found in the Resources of the curriculum, all the standards are shown along with the activities from the curriculum that they correspond to. For example, for the first standard it explains, “RL.6.1: Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.”

The guide also provides support for the activities that are different between the digital and print editions of the Amplify curriculum. 

The materials reviewed for Grade 6 meet the criteria that materials contain explanations of the instructional approaches of the program and identification of the research based strategies.

The Program Guide provides explanations of the instructional approaches of the curriculum as well as the research based strategies included. The Amplify materials have been created based on research around the developmental needs of middle-grade students including their learning, cognition, and how they develop literacy skills.

The guide lists five research-based pillars: 

1. A focus on middle grade engagement recognizes that middle grade students thrive when they are given collaborative, social and experiential learning opportunities that provide exploratory curricula using varied and diverse teaching approaches.
2. Text at the center focuses on providing text that is high quality. The curriculum includes text that promotes a range of cultures and experiences that include a variety of texts that appeal to culturally diverse students. Reading, Writing and Vocabulary are emphasized in the Amplify curriculum. Students are engaged in close reading - the intensive analysis of high quality texts, “in order to come to terms with what it says, how it says it and what it means.” This emphasis is a key component of college and career readiness. Amplify also believes that strong writing instruction improves reading comprehension and fluency. Students write routinely for an authentic audience and are given frequent writing prompts to interpret and paraphrase the texts they are reading. Vocabulary knowledge plays a critical role in reading comprehension and overall success and should include frequent, varied, direct, and contextualized exposures to words and extended in-depth instruction in definitonal and contextual information and word learning strategies. They also include encounters with Tier Two vocabulary. 
3. High expectations and strong supports meet students where they are, while ensuring grade-level rigor. Differentiated instruction is the core instructional model that Amplify uses to provide six levels of activities, designed to support a range of students from ELL, special needs and advanced students. Amplify uses scaffolds such as text previews, word banks, guiding questions and graphic organizers to support reading comprehension.
4. Active, multimodal, and collaborative learning is the focus of Amplify’s curriculum, since research suggests that active engagement is key and that students thrive when classroom activities are social and varied. Amplify ELA employs a variety of pedagogical styles, multimodal instruction, and ample opportunity for student collaboration. Varied teaching styles are used across Amplify ELA’s curriculum - Explicit instruction, Active learning, Multimodal instruction Collaboration as well as Effective constructivist learning environments all these teaching styles are incorporated into Amplify’s curriculum in order to support middle grade learners.
5. Feedback and assessment Amplify ELA curriculum incorporates many opportunities for students to receive feedback on their work. Utilizing formative assessment students are provided with feedback about their work. Regular feedback is critical for teachers and students to monitor their performance.” 

The materials reviewed for Grade 6 meet the expectation that materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that genuinely measure student progress.

There are varied opportunities for teachers to use both formative and summative assessments that genuinely measure student progress. All of the information can be found in the Assessment document in the Resources section of the curriculum.

For formative assessments in writing, students’ writing skills are automatically scored by Amplify’s Automatic Writing Evaluator, using a 0–4 rubric score, although this can be changed by the teacher. For reading, teachers can view individualized reports and “this daily measure provides teachers with an understanding of their students’ ability to independently read a grade-level text with accuracy." Finally, teachers can assign exit tickets for each lesson as a quick assessment of student learning on that day. There are also several summative assessments throughout each unit and grade level. These include unit reading assessments, writing assessments and end-of-unit assessments. 

Examples include, but are not limited to: 

• Within each lesson, students engage in writing assignments related to the text they just read. According to the assessment documentation, “The work students submit is scored and measures their ability to produce sustained writing, focus on one claim or idea, use textual evidence to support and develop that idea or use conventions to communicate in a clear way.”
• The Assessment document also indicates, “at the end of every lesson, students complete an independent reading activity (“solo”) that measures the accuracy of their answers to auto-scorable reading questions. . .in addition, the reports show where students struggled in the reading, giving teachers and students an opportunity to revisit those portions of the text.”
• Several summative assessments are located in the program that teachers can assign to their students, including unit reading assessments connected to grade level standards. There are also writing assessments, including one extended response question focused on two nonfiction passages, and end-of-unit essays which cover a range of topics and take multiple days to complete. 

The materials reviewed for Grade 6 meet the criteria that assessments clearly denote which standards are being emphasized.

Within each unit, several sub-units divide a unit’s texts and skills into manageable learning goals. Each unit overview contains a list of the focus standards as well as the other standards that are covered during instruction. 

Examples of how standards being taught are emphasized include, but are not limited to:

In Unit 6C, “The Chocolate Collection,” the unit overview details the standards that are covered in the assessments under the subheading “Lesson Standards”. For example for Sub-unit 6, the reading assessment, the following standards are covered:

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.1: Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.2: Determine a central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments.
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.3: Analyze in detail how a key individual, event, or idea is introduced, illustrated, and elaborated in a text (e.g., through examples or anecdotes).
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings.
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.5: Analyze how a particular sentence, paragraph, chapter, or section fits into the overall structure of a text and contributes to the development of the ideas.
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.6: Determine an author's point of view or purpose in a text and explain how it is conveyed in the text.
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.7: Integrate information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words to develop a coherent understanding of a topic or issue.
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.8: Trace and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, distinguishing claims that are supported by reasons and evidence from claims that are not.
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.9: Compare and contrast one author's presentation of events with that of another (e.g., a memoir written by and a biography on the same person).

The materials reviewed for Grade 6 meet the criteria that assessments provide sufficient guidance to teachers for interpreting student performance and suggestions for follow up.

The assessment brochure provided by the publisher list the variety of ways for teachers to interpret student performance and provide suggestions for follow up. 

These examples include, but are not limited to:

• Students submit their work at multiple places in each lesson including reading responses and selected response items that check for reading comprehension. Data from students responses is populated into reports that indicate if students are comprehending what they are reading. Writing skills are automatically scored by Amplify’s Automatic Writing Evaluator using a 0–4 rubric score, but can also be updated by the teacher.
• On page 7 of the assessment brochure it explains how “at the end of every lesson, students complete an independent reading activity (“solo”) that measures the accuracy of their answers to auto-scorable reading questions. This daily measure provides teachers with an understanding of their students’ ability to independently read a grade-level text with accuracy. It also gives teachers a picture of progress and challenge with reading comprehension, particularly when a student is working with the same text over multiple lessons. In addition, the reports show where students struggled in the reading, giving teachers and students an opportunity to revisit those portions of the text.”
• On page 8 of the assessment brochure it discusses the feedback that can be received from the unit reading assessments. In addition, it explains how “the assessment report generates data tied to the most common domains found in standards: Key Ideas and Details, Craft and Structure, and Integration of Knowledge and Ideas”.

The materials reviewed for Grade 6 meet the criteria that materials should include routines and guidance that point out opportunities to monitor student progress.

In the lessons, teachers are able to monitor student progress through the use of formative assessments in the form of Lesson Exit Tickets, Solo Reading Comprehension, Formative Writing also Embedded Assessment Measures that includes auto-scored reading activities. Additional progress monitoring takes place through the use of summative assessments in the form of essays, constructed and selected response questions. 

Examples of routines and guidance include, but are not limited to:

• In Unit 6E, “Summer of the Mariposas,” Essay Prompt: What is a special characteristic or source of strength for one of the Garza sisters? How does this characteristic or strength help her succeed in any two moments of her hero’s journey?
• In Unit 6E, "Summer of the Mariposas," Lesson 1, Reading Assessment - The assessment consists of 20–22 auto-scored questions and 2 constructed response questions. The constructed responses are text-based prompts, where students develop a claim supported by evidence in 10 minutes. The teacher chooses which questions best correspond with the skills practiced in the unit.

The materials reviewed for Grade 6 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 strategies for the program are well-documented in the Amplify ELA Research base. In addition, there are specific strategies to help teachers reach all learners including: differentiated instruction, formative assessments, scaffolded tasks, and a variety of active, multimodal, and collaborative learning.

Examples include, but are not limited to: 

• According to page 5 of the Amplify ELA Research base document that can be found in the Resources section of the Amplify ELA curriculum, “Amplify ELA meets students where they are while maintaining grade-level rigor for all. Through its differentiated instruction model, the curriculum is designed to 'provide equity of access to excellence for the broadest possible range of learners' (Tomlinson, 2015, p. 203)." The document goes on to explain that “this approach follows Vygotsky’s model of support by ensuring that each student is working within their ‘zone of proximal development,’.... In this way, all students are able to work with texts at their grade-band level of complexity and fully participate in classroom culture….Amplify provides six levels of differentiated activities, indicated by a (+) icon in the lessons. For each level of differentiated instructional support, teachers are provided with instructional materials and students are provided with the scaffolds they need in order to complete each classroom activity.” 
• According to pages 7 and 8 of the Amplify ELA Research base document found in the Resources section, there are several different considerations addressed in the curriculum to support all learners, including explicit instruction, active learning, effective learning environment, multimodal instruction, and collaboration. 
• On page 9 of the Research base document, there are descriptions of various routines wherein students work together to tackle complex tasks including breaking off into pairs or small groups to analyze texts, compare interpretations, and refine their understanding of the texts. During writing activities, students frequently share their work with peers and provide one another with constructive feedback. Additionally, student-led activities such as Quests, Reader’s Theatre, fishbowl discussions, Socratic seminars, and debates all involve groups of varying sizes and tap into students’ innate need for social interaction. These collaborative activities are situated as part of the classroom culture as determined by the materials.
• Every lesson has a “Differentiation” tab within the “Lesson Brief” to guide the teacher through the differentiation strategies and techniques available for that particular lesson. Differentiation tips are provided for “Core” students who are on-level and other specific materials for students who are below-level. Tips range from ensuring ensure that the appropriate technology-based accommodations are available to alternate activities within a lesson. For example, if there is an alternate “Solo” available, the “Differentiation” tab will identify and explain the modification and support provided on the alternate version of the “Solo” in contrast to the regular one.

The materials reviewed for Grade 6 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 materials provide six levels of differentiated activities, indicated by a (+) icon in the lessons. For each level of differentiated instructional support, teachers are provided with instructional materials and students are provided with the scaffolds they need in order to complete each classroom activity. These supports and modifications are designed to support a range of English Learners and students with special needs. In addition to these differentiated lessons, they also have reading comprehension support, text previews written with simplified language, and other strategies to support students in their comprehension. Embedded in each unit are Flex Days, these are days that allow students to catch up or move ahead with a variety of activities, including Quests, vocabulary, and language work. Students can work on revisions during these days as well, although there is limited specific support for teachers to assure implementation of this differentiation. 

The Program Guide entails how the Amplify curriculum provides ELL supports that allows teachers to provide ELL students access to grade level content that their peers are able to access. The supports for ELL are available throughout the curriculum and include Vocabulary App, word banks, chunked directions and prompts, reduced amount of text, sentence frames to provide language conventions and support reading comprehension, and graphic organizers. 

Example include, but are not limited to: 

• Students have Flex Days as they move through the units. The rationale for the day (which repeat no matter what grade level or unit a teacher is in) explain that “The Flex Days are an opportunity for you to provide students with needed grammar instruction and also support additional practice in a targeted area of reading, writing, or language. Depending on students’ performance during the previous sequence of lessons, you might assign a particular group to work on reading fluency, revise an existing piece of writing, create a new piece of writing, practice close reading and discussion, or work on one of the key reading strands.”
• Each lesson has a “Solo” activity requiring students to independently read a grade level text, usually one of the core texts, and answer numerous questions. The “Solo” activities are differentiated based on discretion and the Embedded Assessment Measure (EAM) report. Students complete “Solo” activities at the level appropriate for their unique needs. There are five levels ranging from "ELL/Substantial" to "Challenge." The writing prompts within the “Solo” activities are also structured with the assigned level. The “Instructional Guide” and “Lesson Briefs” provide teacher guidance as to the differentiation within each level of each activity.
• On page 6 of the Amplify ELA Research Base document which can be found in the Resources section of the Amplify curriculum, the authors explain how the curriculum has “text previews as well as varying degrees of simplified language and visual supports for each of its differentiation levels. Text previews are not summaries of texts but rather introductions written at a lower level of complexity that prime students with what to focus on while they are reading.” 
• On page 7 of the Amplify ELA Research Base document which can be found in the Resources section of the Amplify curriculum, there are several supports that are specific to EL learners. For example, the “EL-specific supports include think-alouds, simple Wh- questions, and additional partner work. For EL students, the provision of a think-aloud allows them to model their own thinking within a new language and to build the skills of code switching appropriately while reading complex, grade-level tasks…... Additionally, there is ample research supporting the inclusion of verbal instructional practices for ELs. Amplify ELA therefore includes many verbal experiences for EL students to increase their language acquisition skills to provide a rich educational experience. Last, ELs receive alternative vocabulary instruction during typical instruction time, to include important high frequency words that will appear in texts and may be familiar to native speakers but unfamiliar to ELs.”

The materials reviewed for Grade 6 meet the criteria that materials regularly include extensions and/or more advanced opportunities for students who read, write, speak, or listen above grade level.

The Flex Days, included in every unit, provide time for advanced students to read from the Amplify library and expand vocabulary and language knowledge through the vocabulary app. In addition to these days, there are supplemental texts available in the Amplify library that provide additional reading and engagement for advanced learners. The instructional materials include extensions and advanced opportunities throughout, as well as a Challenge level designed for advanced students.

Examples include, but are not limited to:

• According to page 5 of the Amplify ELA Research Base document,  the approach to vocabulary instruction supports above grade-level instruction by allowing the teacher to adjust portions of the program to reflect more challenging tasks. 

The Challenge level extensions provide opportunities for advanced students to engage in more sophisticated comparisons of text, create counterarguments, find evidence to support both sides of an argument, or to extend their thinking about a text or topic. Additionally, advanced students are given challenging writing prompts, asking them to read a new text and explain how it compares to what they have been reading and learning.”

• On page 59 of the Program Overview guide, there is a comprehensive overview of the Challenge Level. In addition to differentiated prompts in the challenge level that push students past the core prompt, there are extra activities at the end of many lessons that challenge students to read a new text and form a written analysis. The novel guides for each of the texts read in the curriculum provide reading questions and writing prompts that are an additional layer of challenge. There are two other activities that students can pursue on the challenge level. Finally, there are 17 curated archives that focus on a challenge for independent study. These include topics that are close to the texts being studied.

The materials reviewed for Grade 6 meet the criteria that materials provide opportunities for teachers to use a variety of grouping strategies.

Within the lessons, students have many opportunities to work in groups and teachers are provided with guidance on how to organize students. Teachers are encouraged to group students by many different categories including ability, proximity etc. with times for both teacher-selected groupings as well as student-selected groupings.

For example, in Unit 6D, “The Greeks,” Sub-unit 1, Lesson 3, students create and perform a scene using words and nonverbal elements to communicate an emotion. For this activity the instructions indicate that teachers should “select 4 student groups, one representing each attitude (happy, unhappy, greedy, generous), to act out the scene before the whole class. If you have a large class, select a representative subset of students from each group”.