6th Grade - Gateway 2

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 6 partially meet the criteria for Indicator 2a.

Materials include texts that are organized by a genre and a theme. Although texts are organized by genre and theme, it is unclear how the texts build students’ knowledge of the theme. Each unit begins with a unit opener that “introduces the genre and connects students to the literature,” includes a “thought-provoking quote [that] gives insight into literature,” features “fine art and photographs [that] connect with the unit theme,” and introduces “essential questions related to the unit theme [that] generate interest and set the stage for learning.” The opening pages of each unit provide an introduction to the unit’s genre of focus. Most text selections also include a Mirrors & Windows theme. Students make text-to-self connections to this sub-theme when responding to Mirrors & Windows questions at the start and conclusion of texts read. It is unclear how the Mirrors & Windows theme connects to the unit theme and builds students’ knowledge.

Texts are not organized around a cohesive topic/theme to build students’ ability to read and comprehend complex texts independently and proficiently. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following: 

• Texts are connected by a grade-appropriate cohesive topic/theme/line of inquiry. Texts miss opportunities to build knowledge, vocabulary, and the ability to read and comprehend complex texts across a school year.

  • In Unit 1, Finding a Place in the World, students focus on fiction texts as they explore the theme, “Finding a Place in the World” using the following essential question: “What makes us feel like we belong?” The anchor text for this unit is Francisco Jiménez’s short story, “The Circuit.” Students also read other fictional selections such as “Lob’s Girl” by Joan Aiken, “The All-American Slurp” by Lensey Namioka, “Same Song” by Pat Mora, “The Sand Castle” by Alma Luz Villanueva, and “Aaron’s Gift” by Myron Levoy. Materials do not revisit the unit theme or essential question during the Introduction to the unit genre, embedded Close Reading questions, and Extend Understanding tasks. As a result, it is unclear how students build knowledge of the theme.  

  • In Unit 2, Meeting Challenges, students continue their focus on the fiction genre as they explore the theme “Meeting Challenges” to answer the essential question “How do you face challenges?” While reading about the various characters throughout the unit texts, students should “think about how you confront situations in your own life. How would you handle the obstacles that the characters face?” The anchor text for this unit is the short story, “The Dog of Pompeii” by Louis Untermeyer. Students also read other fictional selections such as “The Bracelet” by Yoshiko Uchida, “Zlateh the Goat” by Isaac Bashevis Singer, and “The King of Mazy May” by Jack London. When appropriate, materials pair informational texts, such as “Pompeii” by Robert Silverberg” and “Card-carrying Collectors” by Kathleen McKenna, with literary texts to “add relevance to the literature selections by providing students with background information and context, and by helping them see relationships between literature, informational texts, and primary source materials.” Materials do not revisit the unit theme or essential question during the Introduction to the unit genre, embedded Close Reading questions, and Extend Understanding tasks. As a result, it is unclear how students build knowledge of the theme. 

  • In Unit 4, Testing Limits, students continue their exploration of the nonfiction genre, which began in the previous unit. Students explore the theme, “Testing Limits” using the following essential question: “Why do people feel a need to test their limits?” While reading the unit texts, students should “consider different peoples’ limits. Ask yourself if you would be able to overcome the same obstacles others have faced.” The anchor text for this unit is Dennis Brindell Fradin’s scientific article, “The Five ‘Wanderers’ of the Ancient Skies.” Students also explore informational texts such as “An Ancient Computer Surprises Scientists” by John Noble Wilford, “Muddy Waters” an excerpt from The Blues Singers by Julius Lester, an excerpt from Gorillas in the Mist by Dian Fossey, and “A Breath of Fresh Air?” by Alexandra Hanson-Harding. Materials do not revisit the unit theme or essential question during the Introduction to the unit genre, embedded Close Reading questions, and Extend Understanding tasks. As a result, it is unclear how students build knowledge of the theme.

  • In Unit 8, Imagining the Fantastic, students delve into folk literature, reading common forms of the genre such as myths, folk tales, fairy tales, fables, and proverbs. Students seek to answer the essential question, “What can we learn from our imagination?” as they investigate the theme, “Imagining the Fantastic.” While reading the various forms of folk literature, students are directed to “ask yourself what these imaginary situations teach you about real life.” The Ghanaian folk tale, “The Cow of No Color” by Anonymous, retold by Nina Jaffe and Steve Zeitlin, serves as the anchor text for this unit. Students read other folk literature selections such as “Why Monkeys Live in Trees” by Anonymous, retold by Julius Lester, “The Magic Mortar” by Anonymous, retold by Yoshiko Uchida, “The Living Kuan-yin” by Anonymous, retold by Carol Kendall and Yao-Wen Li, and “How Robin Hood Saved the Widow’s Three Sons” by Sara Hyry Barry. Materials do not revisit the unit theme or essential question during the Introduction to the unit genre, embedded Close Reading questions, and Extend Understanding tasks. As a result, it is unclear how students build knowledge of the theme.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 6 partially meet the criteria for Indicator 2b.

Materials support and require students to analyze key ideas, details, craft and structure within individual texts as well as across multiple texts; however, lessons do not always include a coherently sequenced series of high-quality questions that lead to a final task. Questions and tasks are often embedded in the following before, during, and after-reading sections: Setting Purpose, Reading Skills, Finding Meaning, Making Judgments, and Making Connections. Tasks often occur in the optional Extend Understanding. As a result, these tasks may not occur during core instruction and there is no guarantee all students will have an opportunity to engage with these questions.

Materials sometimes require students to analyze the key ideas, details, craft, and structure within individual texts as well as across multiple texts using coherently sequenced, high-quality questions and tasks. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following: 

• For most texts, students analyze key ideas and details and craft and structure (according to grade-level standards). 

  • The materials contain coherently sequenced questions and tasks that address key ideas and details. 

    • In Unit 1, Finding a Place in the World, before reading “Lob’s Girl” by Joan Aiken, the teacher defines the following literary terms: plot, climax, resolution. While reading, students identify expository details in an excerpted passage of the text and respond to a series of questions as they identify the conflict, climax, and resolution of the short story. Questions include: “”What is the conflict in the plot at this point?”, “How does Aiken [hold readers’ interest by making each complication more serious than the last?]”, “Do you think the initial conflict has been resolved now that nine years have passed? Why or why not?”, “The narrator switches to a different point of view in the paragraphs about the Travers family. “How does this change contribute to the plot?”, “What does this situation suggest about possible resolutions in the plot?”, and “What part of the plot does this scene serve as?” After reading, students learn about foreshadowing. Students ``[r]eread the second half of the story” and determine “[w]hich plot events serve as clues to foreshadow the revelation at the story’s end.” During one of the Extend Understanding Writing Options, students write a “brief literary response analyz[ing] the effect of foreshadowing on the plot.” The Extend Understanding section contains four optional activities from which teachers may choose. As a result, this activity may not occur during core instruction.

    • In Unit 2, Meeting Challenges, students read a paired selection containing the short story, “President Cleveland, Where Are You?'' by Robert Cormier, and the news article, “Card-carrying Collectors” by Kathleen McKenna. While reading Cormier’s piece, students respond to questions about characterization: “How does Armand try to affect or influence Jerry?” and “[W]hat motivates Jerry to give Armand a dime instead of a nickel[?]” Students also identify who the main characters are, as well as “background information that they think will affect the story.” Students name the two conflicts of the plot and have the option to “[w]rite a character analysis of Jerry” after reading McKenna’s piece. Students must “[i]dentify what [Jerry] realizes about himself, what he truly values, and how he acts on his new realizations'' using details and examples from the text. 

  • The materials sometimes contain coherently sequenced questions and tasks that address craft and structure. 

    • In Unit 3, Defining Freedom, students read a paired selection that contains an excerpt from the argumentative essay, “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten” by Robert Fulghum and the lyric poem,“The World Is Not a Pleasant Place to Be” by Nikki Giovanni. After reminding the students of the definition of theme, the teacher facilitates a discussion about the theme of Giovanni’s work. Afterwards, “students speculate about whether or not Robert Fulghum would agree with Giovanni’s theme.” Materials do not include additional questions on theme and the Extend Understanding options do not include tasks that address theme.  

    • In Unit 6, Encountering Nature, students read “The Dream Keeper” by Langston Hughes. Analyze Literature questions help students understand that the speaker and writer of a poem are not always the same. During the Close Read section, students discuss whether speakers, such as a parent, teacher, friend, or stranger, would be appropriate speakers for the poem. Students suggest other appropriate speakers, after the discussion. While reading the lyric poem, students respond to the following prompt: “The poem’s speaker directly addresses the reader. Why do you think Hughes wrote the poem that way?” After reading, students brainstorm who the speaker might be using a response chart and “decide which of the speakers you have identified would make the poem most meaningful for you and explain why.” As an Explanatory Writing option in the Extend Understanding section, students “[w]rite Hughes a letter explaining how the effect of his poem would differ had he used the third-person point of view.” The Extend Understanding section contains four optional activities from which teachers may choose. As a result, this activity may not occur during core instruction. 

• By the end of the year, at times, these components (language, word choice, key ideas, details, structure, craft) are embedded in students’ work rather than taught directly. 

  • In Unit 7, Discovering Other Worlds, students compare an excerpt from William Shakespeare’s play,The Fairies’ Lullaby and William Butler Yeats’ lyric poem, “The Stolen Child.” After reading both selections, students respond to Make Judgments questions about how both authors used repetition. During one of the Extend Understanding Writing Options, students ``[w]rite an informative essay comparing and contrasting how Shakespeare and Yeats used repetition in the selections.” Students must include examples of repetition from both selections and “explain why [they] think each author used repetition as he did.” The Extend Understanding section contains four optional activities from which teachers may choose. As a result, this activity may not occur during core instruction.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 6 partially meet the criteria for Indicator 2c.

Materials include text-specific and text-dependent questions and tasks that address key ideas and details, as well as craft and structure, within informational texts. While materials embed the integration of knowledge and ideas in students’ work, tasks often occur during the Extend Understanding section which contains four activity options from which the teacher may choose. As a result, there is no guarantee that all students will complete these tasks during core instruction. Materials include opportunities for students to develop ideas and analyze both within single texts and across multiple texts. Students respond to text-specific and text-dependent questions during and after reading. However, series of questions are not always coherently sequenced, leading to the culminating task, and culminating tasks do not always fully address the associated standard.

Materials require students to analyze the integration of knowledge and ideas within individual texts as well as across multiple texts; however, there are missed opportunities for coherently sequenced, high-quality text-specific and/or text-dependent questions and tasks. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following: 

• Most sets of questions and tasks support students’ analysis of knowledge and ideas. 

  • In Unit 3, Defining Freedom, students read an excerpt from “There Is No Salvation for India,” a speech by Mohandas Gandhi. Students "identify some words and phrases that Gandhi uses to make his communication passionate" and "expressively read the speech aloud to convey Gandhi’s voice." As part of the paired selection, students read “An Old Language Lives,” an article from Tales from the Times by Rachel L. Swarns. Students discuss “how the author’s voice is different in the different parts of the selection” and read aloud various portions of the text. During the after-reading Analyze Literature section, students use a T-chart to describe Gandhi’s voice in his speech, as well as how “his voice affect[s] the main points of his speech and help[s] him to make a convincing argument.” Students also “[a]nalyze how appropriate Gandhi’s attitude toward his subject is for his audience.” 

  • In Unit 4, Testing Limits, students read “The Five 'Wanderers’ of the Ancient Skies'' by Dennis Brindell Fradin. While examining a passage of the text, students ``describe details from the text that explain how we know that people have studied the skies for thousands of years.” Students then take notes while responding to questions, such as “How do these five objects differ from stars?”, “What names did the Romans give to five of today’s planets?”, “With what did the Chinese associate each of the planets?”, and “Who led the attack on Aristarchus’s ideas?” Students then read two other selections as part of the text set. As part of the Analyze Literature after-reading task, students ``[a]nalyze Fradin’s article with a K-W-L chart.” While materials state that students ``determine the central idea of [the] text and how it is conveyed through particular details”, it is not addressed within this unit. Although one of the Extend Understanding options involves students writing a summary of an article, the summary that students write is for another article within the text set.  

• By the end of the year, integrating knowledge and ideas is embedded in students’ work (via tasks and/or culminating tasks). 

  • In Unit 4, Testing Limits, students explore a visual media selection, “Childhood Photographs” by Jacques-Henri Lartigue. Students “compare and contrast the pros and cons of black-and-white or ‘duotone’ photographs versus color photography” and discuss which pictures they think were planned in advance and which ones they think were taken on the spur of the moment. As part of the paired selection, students read an excerpt from Lartigue’s autobiography, Diary of a Century. Students infer whether Papa “is using the same kind of camera that Lartigue used to take the picture of the girl falling off the bicycle” and support their inference. Students respond to the following Text to Text Connection questions: “What do you think of how Lartigue expressed himself, in these excerpts, when he was seven and twelve years old? How did he mature as the world changed around him? Do Lartigue’s photos reflect the personality and growth that come through in his writing?” During the argumentative writing Extend Understanding option, students write a one-page review of Lartigue’s pictures, commenting “on the ‘message’ in the pictures, Lartigue’s purpose, and the effect of the pictures on you, the viewer.” The Extend Understanding section contains four optional activities from which teachers may choose. As a result, this activity may not occur during core instruction.

  • In Unit 4, Testing Limits, students read a paired selection containing an excerpt from Gorillas in the Mist by Dian Fossey and an excerpt from Woman in the Mists by Farley Mowat. After reading both selections, students respond to the following Text to Text Connection prompt: “Compare and contrast the viewpoints in Fossey’s autobiography and Mowat’s biography. Mowat calls Fossey ‘an adopted member of the family’ for gorilla Group 4. How was Group 4 like a human family? How was it different? What does Mowat identify as ‘the unique value of Dian’s study?’ How does the structure of each selection help to achieve the author’s purpose?” During the Collaborative Learning option in the Extend Understanding section, students work in small groups to “discuss the advantages and disadvantages of studying animals in their own environments.” Students list “three pros and three cons of studying animals in their own environments versus in captivity.” The Extend Understanding section contains four optional activities from which teachers may choose. As a result, this activity may not occur during core instruction.

• Sets of questions and tasks provide opportunities to analyze across multiple texts as well as within single texts.

  • In Unit 4, Testing Limits, students read and compare “Developing Your Chops' ' by Fran Lantz and “Muddy Waters' ' from The Blues Singers by Julius Lester. While reading “Developing Your Chops,” students analyze the article and identify the author’s purpose, compare and contrast diction, identify the main idea and details of several pages of the text, and identify opinions expressed in a section of the text. While reading “Muddy Waters,” students examine anecdotes and discuss what they add to characterization, draw a timeline, and sequence story events. In the after-reading Compare Literature section, student directions state to ``[u]se your chart to analyze each writer’s voice and diction, and then answer the following questions. Give examples from the readings to support your responses.” The three questions students respond to are as follows: “1. Are these authors writing for the same audience? 2. Which author has the more practical, familiar tone? 3. Which author chooses more descriptive, sensory, and unusual words?” During the informative writing option in the Extend Understanding section, students imagine their older cousin plays the guitar but is feeling frustrated and write a brief compare-and-contrast essay to inspire and reassure their cousin. The essay must address the following questions and recommend one of the selections for reading: “How is Lantz’s topic similar to and different from the biography of Muddy Waters? How do the writers’ word choices and tones differ, and why?” The Extend Understanding section contains four optional activities from which teachers may choose. As a result, this activity may not occur during core instruction.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 6 partially meet the criteria for Indicator 2d.

Materials include smaller tasks in the Extend Understanding sections at the end of each text, paired selection, and text set. Although these tasks allow students to demonstrate their understanding of texts, these tasks often do not integrate literacy skills and the enactment of these tasks is contingent upon teacher selection and, as a result, may not occur during core instruction. Materials include text-specific and text-dependent questions and tasks; however, these questions and tasks are not coherently sequenced, and they do not provide the teacher with usable information on whether students are on track to successfully complete the end-of-unit Culminating Tasks.

Culminating tasks require students to demonstrate their knowledge through integrated literacy skills; however, it is unclear how tasks relate to the unit’s topic/theme. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Culminating tasks are evident and varied across the year and they are multifaceted, requiring students to demonstrate mastery of several different standards (reading, writing, speaking, listening) at the appropriate grade level, and comprehension and knowledge of a topic or topics through integrated skills (reading, writing, speaking, listening).

  • In Unit 1, Finding a Place in the World, during the End-of-Unit Speaking & Listening Workshop, students deliver and listen to an informative speech that presents their thoughts and ideas on a self-selected topic. To prepare for this culminating task, students must plan their speech, drafting an outline to organize their ideas. Guidance also advises that students create note cards that highlight their key points to use while delivering their speech. Although the Speaking Rubric assesses whether students support their ideas with evidence, the Workshop does not instruct students to gather evidence for their presentation. This task integrates speaking and listening, and writing.

  • In Unit 3, Defining Freedom, students deliver and listen to a persuasive speech during the End-of-Unit Speaking & Listening Workshop. Students choose a topic and position, identify their audience, and outline their research arguments. Students must determine “[w]hat facts, statistics, expert opinions, anecdotes, examples, or other details will support [their] arguments.” Guidance directs students to tell “a short dramatic story related to your point of view by asking the audience a question” to grab their attention and interest during the opening of the speech. Students should also use persuasive techniques, such as repetition and rhetorical questions, to convince their audience of their argument. This task integrates reading, writing, speaking, and listening. 

  • In Unit 8, Seeking Wisdom, during the End-of-Unit Speaking & Listening Workshop, students use a previously written research paper and rewrite it to create an outline for a research presentation. After planning the speech, students work in groups to evaluate their presentation, and then deliver the speech to their classmates. This task integrates writing, and speaking and listening. 

• Earlier text-specific and/or text-dependent questions and tasks are not coherently sequenced and will not give the teacher usable information about the student's readiness (or whether they are “on track”) to complete culminating tasks.

  • In Unit 1, Finding a Place in the World, students read “Harvesting Hope: The Story of César Chávez'' by Kathleen Krull. To support students with note taking, the teacher directs students to draw a chart to “record their thoughts and reactions'' as they “ask questions, make predictions, react to ideas, identify key points, write down unfamiliar words, and make connections between the text and their own lives” while reading the selection. During the optional Lifelong Learning task in the Extend Understanding section, students “research a fruit or vegetable, discover how it is farmed in the United States today, and present your findings in a formal presentation.” While reading “The All-American Slurp” by Lensey Namioka, students revisit a portion of the text, “identify major and minor details,” and “state the main idea of the passage,” during the embedded Reading Skills: Distinguish Between Major and Minor Details mini lesson. These tasks are not coherently sequenced. It is unclear how these tasks give the teacher usable information about the student's readiness to complete the End-of-Unit Speaking and Listening Workshop in which they deliver and listen to an informative presentation.

  • In Unit 3, Defining Freedom, students read an excerpt from Aung San Suu Kyi’s speech, “The Need for Solidarity Among Ethnic Groups.” During the Argumentative Writing option in the Extend Understanding section, students choose a current issue they feel strongly about and “[w]rite a brief position statement outlining your feelings on the issue. Describe your position in your thesis and include several reasons that support it.” During the embedded Writing Skills mini lesson for “Abd al-Rahman Ibrahima'' by Walter Dean Myers, students ``write a persuasive letter to the African’s family in Fouta Djallon,” telling the family what action to take and supporting their request “with details they have learned about Ibrahima’s life.” Later in the unit, students read “Little Rock, Arkansas'' by Jim Haskins and “Youth” by Langston Hughes. When responding to the Text to Text Connection question, students compare and contrast the mood of each piece, discussing “each writer’s attitudes toward past events.” Students also determine what attitude Americans should “have about working for a better future,” according to Haskins and Hughes. In the Argumentative Writing option in the Extend Understanding section, students pretend that they are participating in a debate on “whether the governor of a state should have the right to prevent desegregation of that state’s schools'' and “[w]rite a one-paragraph position statement describing your opinion on this issue.” These tasks are not coherently sequenced. It is unclear how these tasks provide the teacher with usable information about the student's readiness to complete the End-of-Unit Speaking & Listening Workshop, during which students deliver and listen to a persuasive speech.

  • In Unit 8, Seeking Wisdom, students read “The Magic Mortar '' retold by Yoshiko Uchida and “The Stone '' by Lloyd Alexander. During the Lifelong Learning Extend Understanding option, students ``[r]esearch the scientific basis for the saltiness of our planet’s seas and oceans.” The report must include “five examples of aquatic life that can lie only in salt water, and find out what percentage of salt is in most bodies of salt water.” During the Media Literacy option in the Extend Understanding section, students research Aesop’s Fables on the Internet or in a library database and choose one or two fables “whose morals seem relevant to the present day.” Students discuss the concept of the fable and how people could benefit from living according to these morals'' in small groups. Students have the option to conduct research and write a report during the Lifelong Learning Extend Understanding option, after reading “The Cow of No Color” retold by Nina Jaffe and Steve Zeitlin and “Ewe Proverbs” (author not cited). During the embedded Research Skills mini lesson for “Clever Anaeet '' by Tanya Robyn Batt, the teacher models how to frame a research question and students “name three search terms to substitute for the words code and textiles”. Students then “frame three research questions that use alternative words.” These tasks are not coherently sequenced. It is unclear how these tasks provide the teacher with usable information about the student's readiness to complete the End-of-Unit Writing Speaking & Listening Workshop, during which students rewrite a previously written research report to create an outline for a research presentation. 

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 6 partially meet the criteria for Indicator 2e. 

Each unit includes a Writing Workshop that focuses on a specific writing mode and includes numerous supports for both teachers and students, including, but not limited to: guidance during each step of the writing process, checklists, models, and rubrics. During the Writing Workshop, materials explain what students should do during each step of the writing process but rarely provide explicit instruction on the writing mode of focus. Writing Workshop tasks do not connect to the unit theme and are stand-alone in nature with some tasks requiring students to use evidence from sources. Students complete the same Writing Workshop tasks in Grades 6, 7, and 8. Materials include practice opportunities in the Writing Skills section embedded within the End-of-Unit Test Practice Workshop. During this Workshop, students practice timed writing responses and revision and editing skills. As with the Writing Workshops, Test Practice Workshop activities span various genres but are not connected to the unit text selections. The optional Writing and Grammar ancillary may be used to supplant writing instruction and includes lessons for every unit, including a Writing Scope and Sequence that outlines the In-Text Writing Workshops for the school year, the writing mode of focus, and the writing assignment. Materials also include a Writing Rubrics ancillary that contains rubrics for each writing mode. Materials lack teacher guidance on enacting ancillary and optional writing lessons and tasks. 

Materials include a year-long plan for students to achieve grade-level writing proficiency by the end of the school year; however, cohesion is lacking. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following: 

• Materials include limited writing instruction that aligns to the standards for the grade level and sometimes supports students’ growth in writing skills over the course of the school year.

  • While there is an evident structure to the writing aspect of the program, including frequent opportunities for students to write in various modes and for various purposes, supports, and tools for monitoring student writing development, the structure lacks cohesion. Materials include the following Writing Workshops— four informative, one argumentative, one descriptive, two narrative—resulting in an uneven distribution of explicit instruction on the writing modes required by the standards. Test Practice Workshops do not include explicit instruction and their mode of focus differs from that of the Writing Workshops. It is unclear how writing instruction and tasks build upon each other to promote growth in students’ skills over the course of the unit and across the year.

  • While materials offer a number of writing opportunities, explicit writing instruction is largely absent. During the End-of-Unit Writing Workshops, students spend three regular schedule days or one and a half block schedule days transitioning through the writing process as they complete a process writing task on a specific mode of focus. Writing Workshop tasks include:

    • Unit 1—Informative Writing: Responding to a Short Story

    • Unit 2—Narrative Writing: Writing a Short Story

    • Unit 3—Argumentative Writing: Argumentative Essay

    • Unit 4—Informative Writing: Cause-and-Effect Essay

    • Unit 5—Narrative Writing: Personal Narrative

    • Unit 6—Descriptive Writing: Descriptive Essay

    • Unit 7—Informative Writing: Compare-and-Contrast Essay

    • Unit 8—Informative Writing: Research Paper

• Instructional materials include a variety of well-designed guidance, protocols, models, and support for teachers to implement and monitor students’ writing development; however, materials lack teacher guidance on the use of ancillary and optional writing supports.

  • In Unit 2, Facing Challenges, students complete a narrative Writing Workshop.  The Program Resource notes instruct teachers to refer to the Writing and Grammar ancillary for additional practice and guidance. These lessons follow the same model used in the textbook and also include some additional features: a literary model, an expanded Prewrite section, a Revision Checklist, a Grammar and Style box, a Writing Rubric, and original and revised/edited student drafts.  Teacher guidance notes the ancillary can also be used to “engage students in writing about literature,” “engage students in writing across the four modes,” and in combination with supplemental writing lessons to “create a comprehensive writing strand.” 

  • In Unit 6, Encountering Nature, the Descriptive Writing Workshop contains a Student Model. The Teacher Wrap in the Teacher Edition supports teachers with guiding students to pay close attention to the side notes that identify the major parts of the essay, the background information and impression, the clearly organized body paragraphs, sensory details, figurative language and the ending. Guidance also supports teachers with having students review sensory details and locate them in the model. 

  • In Unit 8, Seeking Wisdom, the Writing Workshop Model includes an Ask the Author Teaching Note. The Note includes teacher guidance for students’ small group work, during which students generate five questions they would like to ask the model author. Students can ask questions focusing on the content or focusing on the process used to write the report. Teachers model appropriate questions and after student groups write questions, teachers guide students to answer the questions or explore a source they could consult to find an answer.  

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 6 partially meet the criteria for Indicator 2f. 

While materials provide frequent opportunities for short research tasks connected to the texts students read, materials do not include a progression of research skills according to grade-level standards. The embedded Research Skills insets include research skills practice opportunities but rarely include explicit instruction of research skills. Some research skills repeat across grade levels and often do not align to grade-level standards. Where appropriate, research tasks include resources to develop students’ knowledge of different aspects of a topic. Most short research projects occur during Extend Understanding tasks. These tasks are optional and may not occur during core instruction. Students have one opportunity in each grade level to conduct a long research project—during the Unit 8 Writing Workshop. During this end-of-grade level task, materials include directions to guide students through each step of the research writing process but provide limited explicit instruction of standards-aligned research skills.

Materials do not include a progression of focused research projects to encourage students to develop knowledge in a given area by confronting and analyzing different aspects of a topic using multiple texts and source materials. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following: 

• Research projects are not sequenced across a school year to include a progression of research skills according to grade-level standards. 

  • While there are frequent opportunities for students to complete informal research tasks, materials lack explicit, standards-aligned research skills instruction. While the Teacher Edition includes embedded Research Skills insets throughout each unit, explicit instruction is lacking and the progression of skills often repeats across each grade level and, as a result, does not align to grade-level standards.  During most Research Skills sections, students practice a research skill but do not receive explicit instruction on the research skill. The progression of research skills and activities is as follows:

    • Unit 1: identify research questions, conduct keyword searches, generate questions for possible research topics

    • Unit 2: evaluate search results, evaluate sources, use reference books to research a topic, use the Internet, use reference books to research statistics

    • Unit 3: write a research report

    • Unit 4: primary and secondary sources

    • Unit 5: no evidence found

    • Unit 6: research topics

    • Unit 7: no evidence found

    • Unit 8: research report (Writing Workshop) 

  • During the one in-depth research project per grade level, students complete research tasks as outlined in the standards but receive limited explicit instruction when doing so. While the research-focused Writing Workshop provides detailed process steps to complete the task, the Workshop rarely includes explicit instruction or scaffolding during each step of the research writing process.

• Materials support teachers in employing projects that develop students’ knowledge of different aspects of a topic via provided resources. 

  • In Unit 1, Finding a Place in the World, students read “The All-American Slurp” by Lensey Namioka. Teacher guidance in the Teacher Wrap of the Teacher Edition directs teachers to “[r]emind students that the history of Chinese immigration to the United States spans more than 150 years.” Students then reread the Social Studies Connection text about Chinese immigration. Students work in pairs or small groups to generate questions about Chinese immigration, select a single topic for further research based on their questions, ensuring the topic is neither too broad nor too narrow, and “articulate a research topic based on the questioning process.” 

  • In Unit 2, Finding a Place in the World, while reading “President Cleveland, Where Are You?” by Robert Cormier, students use the Internet to find interesting facts about U.S. presidents of the last fifty years.” Materials suggest students consult the ‘Kids’ pages of the U.S. government’s whitehouse.gov site,” as well as other reliable sources. 

  • In Unit 3, Defining Freedom, students work in small groups and “revisit the portion of [“Abd al-Rahman Ibrahima'' by Walter Dean Myers] that describes Ibrahima’s escape to the backwoods.” Students ``research the Fugitive Slave Act'' and “outline information to include in a report on this law.” 

  • In Unit 4, Testing Limits, the teacher uses visual media from “Earth from Space,” photographs from NASA  to point out a primary source and a secondary source and discusses reasons for using both during research. Students then identify each item in a list of five items as a primary source or a secondary source.  

• Materials provide many opportunities for students to synthesize and analyze content tied to the texts under study as a part of the research process.

  • In Unit 1, Finding a Place in the World, students complete a short research project following their reading of “The Circuit” by Francisco Jiménez. Students research Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers Association.(UFWA). Materials direct students to use the internet and the UFWA website. Students also search for a timeline of Cesar Chavez’ life. Students summarize the information and present it to the class.

  • In Unit 3, Defining Freedom, students read an excerpt from “There is No Salvation for India” by Mohandas Gandhi and “An Old Language Lives” by Rachel L. Swarns. After reading, students may complete an Extend Understanding research task in which they research the status of English-speaking in India. Students make an argument for those in India learning English by researching the population that currently speaks it, how they benefit from it, and how English supports a global language of business. This task is one of four options from which the teacher selects and may not occur during core instruction, as a result. 

  • In Unit 5, Expressing Yourself, students read “Life Doesn’t Frighten Me,” a lyric poem by Maya Angelou. Afterwards, students research the author’s life, analyzing that information and using it to create a timeline or other visual display during the Lifelong Learning option in the Extend Understanding section. This task is one of four options from which the teacher selects and may not occur during core instruction, as a result. 

• Students are provided with opportunities for both “short” and “long” projects across the course of a year and grade bands. 

  • In Unit 1, Finding a Place in the World, students read about global warming in “The Forecast: A Warmer World,” a news article from Time for Kids. During the Lifelong Learning Extend Understanding assignment, students “research how global warming affects animals, and choose a specific animal and habitat.” Students write a report for a website on how “the animal and habitat are affected by climate changes.”

  • In Unit 5, Expressing Yourself, students read “The Walrus and the Carpenter'' by Lewis Carroll. Students ``[c]onduct research online or at the library to find out more about the text, what inspired the poem ‘The Walrus and the Carpenter’?, and does its place in the novel change your interpretation of the poem?” Because the Extend Understanding section contains four activities from which the teacher may choose, this activity may not occur during core instruction.

  • In Unit 8, Imagining the Fantastic, during the End-of-Unit Writing Workshop, students write a research report on a “specific, narrowed subject.”  Students must use at least four different “credible, reliable and unbiased sources,” including primary and secondary sources.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 6 partially meet the criteria for Indicator 2g. 

Instruction, practice, and assessments are based on teacher selection from a list of options. As a result, there is no true core instructional path. The Lesson Plan for each text includes the following sections: Before Reading, During Reading, After Reading. Within each section, teachers select or choose activities from a list of core and ancillary resources. Most ancillary resources, such as Unit & Selection Resources, do not provide explicit instruction nor do they identify correlated standards for the provided content. Some questions and tasks align to grade-level standards while others do not align or do not meet the full intent of the standards. Because assessments do not identify the standards addressed, it is unclear if the majority of assessment items align to grade-level standards. Although the Correlation to Common Core State Standards document lists page numbers covering the standards in each strand, without a true core instructional path and because the majority of questions and tasks do not align to grade-level standards, there is no guarantee that materials repeatedly address grade-level standards within and across units to ensure students master the full intent of the standards.

Materials do not spend the majority of instructional time on content that falls within grade-level aligned instruction, practice, and assessments. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Over the course of each unit, some instruction is aligned to grade-level standards.

  • In the Digital Teacher Edition, the Grade 6 Correlation to Common Core State Standards document lists page numbers for each standard in Reading: Literature, Reading: Informational Text, Writing, Speaking & Listening, and Language; however, the page numbers listed do not always contain opportunities for explicit instruction or address the correlated standard. 

    • For example, the Correlation to Common Core State Standards document lists pages 4–5 in the EMC Pages That Cover the Standards column for RL.5 Analyze how a particular sentence, chapter, scene, or stanza fits into the overall structure of a text and contributes to the development of the theme, setting, or plot.These pages contain information that introduces students to the genre of study for Unit 1, fiction. Materials provide information on types of fiction, including types of popular fiction, and elements of fiction. While theme, setting, and plot are defined in the Elements of Fiction section, students do not receive instruction on what is required in the standard.    

• Over the course of each unit, some questions and tasks are aligned to grade-level standards. 

  • Questions often focus on comprehension strategies, such as Make Connections, Ask Questions, Draw Conclusions, and Visualize. These comprehension strategies do not align to grade-level standards. Some Extend Understanding tasks align to grade-level standards, while others either do not align or do not meet the full requirements of the standards. Because post-reading questions and tasks do not have correlated standards identified, it is not always clear which question or task addresses the standard listed on the Correlation to Common Core State Standards document. 

    • In Unit 4, Testing Limits, students read the diagram, “Noise Levels” by Bob Ludlow along with the magazine article, “Hearing Under Siege” by Bob Ludlow. As part of the Use Reading Skills focus on skim and scan when reading “Noise Levels,” students “skim the title and list of sounds on the left side of the diagram. Sketch a chart like this for recording what you learn.” Students respond to the following Close Read question addressing skim and scan: “What does each horizontal bar represent?” This question and task does not address the full intent of the standard: “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.” While reading “Hearing Under Siege,” students respond to this Make Connections prompt: “Ask students if reading the article will change their behavior or make them more cautious about the type of environment in which they work or ‘hang out.’ Why or why not?” In another Make Connections prompt, students “suggest what information they would include or omit if they were writing the article.” These questions do not align to grade-level standards. 

• Over the course of each unit, it is unclear whether the majority of assessment questions are aligned to grade-level standards. 

  • Materials do not identify assessed standards on Selection Quizzes, Lesson Tests, Unit Exams, or Formative Surveys. As a result, it is unclear whether the majority of assessment questions are aligned to grade-level standards. 

• By the end of the academic year, standards are not repeatedly addressed within and across units to ensure students master the full intent of the standard.

  • Because the page numbers listed on the Correlation to Common Core State Standards document for each standard in Reading: Literature, Reading: Informational Text, Writing, Speaking & Listening, and Language are not always the standard addressed and because the majority of questions and tasks do not align to grade-level standards, materials do not consistently provide students with multiple opportunities to address standards within and across units to ensure mastery. It is also unclear which items address the correlated standard, because standards are not identified at the question or task level.  

    • The Correlation to Common Core State Standards document lists page numbers for SL.3: Delineate a speaker's argument and specific claims, distinguishing claims that are supported by reasons and evidence from claims that are not. On page E74, students respond to this Make Judgment question after reading “The Need for Solidarity Among Ethnic Groups” by Aung San Suu Kyi: “Compare her explanation with Edmund Burke’s quote, ‘The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.’ How does this quote support the main idea of this selection?” On page 232, students respond to the following Make Judgment question after reading an excerpt from Mohandas Gandhi’s speech, “There Is No Salvation for India:” “What do you think Gandhi means when he says, ‘Our language is the reflection of ourselves”? Do you agree? Explain.” Neither of these questions address the full intent of the correlated standard.  

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 6 partially meet the criteria for Indicator 2h. 

The Visual Planning Guide for each unit includes suggested pacing for each text, but there is no suggested timeline for the pacing of units nor for the curriculum as a whole over the course of the year. The suggested pacing for texts does not take into account the extension opportunities or end-of-unit Speaking & Listening, Writing, or Test Practice Workshops. While materials provide a large variety of optional tasks, the amount of material cannot reasonably be completed within the suggested amount of time and is not viable for a school year. Similarly, as teachers use the editable lesson plan templates in the Program Planning Guide Editable Lesson Plans resource, materials do not provide direction as to what the suggested optional tasks are, which should be used in conjunction with one another, or the pacing for the tasks. Although these resources are provided, the curriculum lacks clear directives to explain how to incorporate core instruction, found in the Teacher’s Edition, and ancillary resources. Furthermore, the curriculum fails to provide teacher guidance on when and how to incorporate reteaching and remediation within the provided pacing suggestions. The Program Planning Guide includes the Mirrors & Windows College & Career Readiness Curriculum Guide Level I (Grade 6), an alternative implementation schedule that focuses on selections and workshops necessary for students to “master critical skills that appear on state and national assessments.” 

Materials do not regularly and systematically balance time and resources required for following the suggested implementation, as well as information for alternative implementations that maintain alignment and intent of the standards. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Suggested implementation schedules and alternative implementation schedules do not consistently align to core learning and objectives. 

  • In Unit 1, Finding a Place in the World, students read the short story “The All-American Slurp” by Lensey Namioka. The Scope and Sequence Guide outlines the lesson components, including the Reading Skill: drawing conclusions/key ideas, the Literary Element: theme, and the Mirrors & Windows theme: adaptation. The text overview page sets a purpose for reading that focuses on voice, defines the terms theme, stated theme, and implied theme, and provides a sample chart to record key ideas and supporting points from the story. Objectives include, but are not limited to, “use reading skills such as analyzing cause and effect” and “appreciate a story about adapting to a new culture.” Before reading, students respond to a prompt addressing the Mirrors & Windows theme. During reading, students respond to one prompt addressing the importance of details, one analyzing cause and effect, one on theme, and two on drawing conclusions. After reading, students respond to the Mirrors & Windows question addressing adaptation, six Text-Dependent Questions, and an Analyze Literature prompt addressing theme and drawing conclusions. Students may also complete Extend Understanding tasks. Each of the four Extend Understanding options aligns to core learning and objectives for the text. 

  • In Unit 4, Testing Limits, students read the anchor text, “The Five ‘Wanderers’ of the Ancient Skies” by Dennis Brindell Fradin. The Scope and Sequence Guide outlines the lesson components, including the Reading Skill: take notes, the Literary Element: informational text, and the Mirrors & Windows theme: explanations. The text overview page sets a purpose for reading that focuses on skimming the article for proper nouns and making predictions about one or two things students might learn from the article and provides a sample chart to take notes on details. Objectives include, but are not limited to, “use Reading Skills such as taking notes,” “define informational text and recognize this literary technique in the selection,” and “explain how understanding the ancient skies tested the limits of human knowledge.” The lesson plan is separated into Before Reading (Preview and Motivate), During Reading (Teach the Selection and Differentiate Instruction), and After Reading (Review and Extend and Assess) sections. Before reading, students read through the text overview page and respond to a Mirrors & Windows discussion prompt. During reading, students respond to four Use Reading Skills questions on taking notes and two Analyze Literature questions on informational text. After reading, students respond to a Text to Text Connection prompt in which students reflect on how “scientists build on each other’s work” and “appreciate the early history of beliefs about our solar system. Students also respond to an Analyze Literature: Informational Text prompt in which they analyze the article using a K-W-L chart. While most of the Extend Understanding task options connect to the text, the Creative Writing and Critical Literacy: Explore Space options do not address the core learning objectives.   

• Suggested implementation schedules cannot be reasonably completed in the time allotted.

  • The Program Planning Guide notes the overabundance of material: “To help you meet the diverse needs of your students, the Mirrors & Windows program offers a wealth of material—much more than you can teach in one school year. As a result, one challenge you will face is identifying the resources that are best suited to your particular situation.” 

  • As an alternative to the Scope and Sequence Guide provided in each unit, materials include the Mirrors & Windows College & Career Readiness Curriculum Guide Level I (Grade 6): “The selections and workshops listed here represent the core course of study students need to master critical skills that appear on state and national assessments. To ensure standards coverage, students who are having difficulty may concentrate on only these selections and workshops. Students on and above grade level may read more selections.” When utilizing this abridged course of study, the teacher must still select which instructional activities to enact during each Program Planning Guide lesson plan.

  • The Program Planning Guide contains lesson plans for each text selection and the three End-of-Unit Workshops. Text selection lesson plans include the following sections: Before Reading, During Reading, and After Reading. In the Before Reading: Preview and Motivate section, teachers “[c]hoose from the following materials to preview the selection and motivate your students.” The During Reading section contains two sub-sections, Teach the Selection(s) and Differentiate Instruction. Teachers choose from a list of resources to teach the selection and consider “alternative teaching options to differentiate instruction.” The After Reading section contains two to three subsections: Review and Extend, Teach the Workshop(s), and Assess. Teachers select activities from a list of options and resources to extend learning and teach the Workshop included, where applicable. Teachers do not select from a list of options during the Assess subsection. The lesson plan does not provide guidance on how many minutes each option should take or how long the lesson should last. Pacing guidance is limited to the number of regular schedule or block schedule days the lesson should take.

• Optional tasks distract from core learning. 

  • In Unit 3, Defining Freedom, students read “Why?,” a personal essay by Anne Frank. During the Creative Writing Extend Understanding option, students “[c]reate your own diary entry in which you ask a ‘why’ question about the world. Explore all the possible solutions to your question.” This task does not align to the Analyze Literature focus, personal essay, nor does it align to the Reading Skills focus, using context clues to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words.    

  • In Unit 8, Seeking Wisdom, students read a text set comprised of “Arachne” by Olivia Coolidge and “The Orb Weaver” by Robert Francis. The lesson plan for this text includes seven additional After Reading task options, ranging from Selection Quizzes to group discussion questions to vocabulary and spelling practice exercises. The optional tasks focus on a multitude of items, such as Greek and Latin roots, exploring word origins, creative writing, and further exploration of myths. Due to limited teacher guidance on selecting activities, the volume of optional tasks distracts from core learning.

• Some optional tasks are meaningful and enhance core instruction.

  • In Unit 5, Expressing Yourself, students read the narrative poem “Steps” by Naomi Shihab Nye. The teacher may utilize the Unit & Selection Resources ancillary to enhance core instruction. This resource includes four activities that the teacher may use to provide students with support before, during, and after reading. Activities include a worksheet that includes prompts to support students with analyzing text organization, a graphic organizer to support students with analyzing imagery, a quick writes worksheet containing prompts to which students respond as they make connections to the text, and a Selection Quiz. The first half of the Selection Quiz contains five true/false questions and the second half of the quiz contains five matching items during which students “[w]rite the letter of the word that best completes the sentence.” These task options do not align to grade-level standards, or the Reading Skills or Analyze Literature foci for the text. 

  • In Unit 6, Encountering Nature, students read “Spring is like a perhaps hand” by E. E. Cummings. After reading, optional Extend Understanding tasks include a critical analysis of the poem which must include textual evidence, a Creative Writing piece focusing on the same theme of the poem, a biographical sketch of Cummings, and an Ask the Author activity where students work with a group to develop questions to ask Cummings about his style. While the four Extend Understanding task options connect to the text and most of the tasks align to grade-level standards, the Ask the Author activity does not.

  •  In Unit 7, Discovering Other Worlds, students read the play “Do You Think I’m Crabby” by Clark Gesner. Students may complete two extension activities: a Collaborative Learning option, where they discuss Glesner’s use of humor in the play, or a Media Literacy option where they compare the characterization of the comic strip characters to those of the characters in the play. These tasks align to grade-level standards and serve to enhance student learning.