9th Grade - Gateway 2

The materials reviewed for Grade 9 meet the criteria for Indicator 2a.

The materials reviewed for Grade 9 meet the criteria for texts are organized around a cohesive topic(s)/theme(s) to build students’ ability to read and comprehend complex texts independently and proficiently. Each unit is organized around a central theme and related guiding questions that connect overall to the unit topic. The texts, tasks, and materials for this grade level are grouped so that students investigate a Central Question when moving through the Foundation and Development units using the information they gather from analyzing the various texts to perform the culminating tasks. Throughout the process of analyzing multiple texts, students broaden their vocabulary and knowledge, strengthen reading comprehension, and develop independent-thinking skills as they dig into unit content and apply their learning to new readings they encounter. The course capstone includes an Application Unit in which students drive their investigation with an inquiry question of interest. The Program Guide provides additional information for teachers relating to the selection of classic and contemporary texts within each unit: “Text sets guide and focus student learning and knowledge development by examining a diverse body of authors, perspectives, and genres. While students develop strands of knowledge in units, they also extend their understanding across units in their year, and across all four years, of high school.”

Texts are connected by cohesive topics/themes to build students’ ability to read and comprehend complex texts independently and proficiently. Some examples include:

• Texts are connected by cohesive topics/ themes/lines of inquiry.

  • In the Foundation Unit, Who Changes the World?, texts are centered around a Central Question: “Who changes the world, and how?” Students analyze book excerpts, articles, and a speech to expand their knowledge of how people make an impact on the world. In Section 1, Lesson 1, students examine the central question to prepare for the remainder of the unit. Other unit texts that connect to this theme include “Agents of Change” by Phil Patton and “How to Start a Movement” by Derek Sivers. In the culminating task, students work in groups to research how change occurs in specific systems.

  • In the Development Unit, Photojournalism, students study the development and impact of photojournalism as a catalyst for change in the world, investigating the Central Question: “How do images change the world?” Examples of texts students study to explore a common line of inquiry include, but are not limited to “Introduction,” the book excerpt from Imprisoned in a Luminous Glare: Photography and the African American Freedom Struggle by Leigh Raiford and Eyes of the World: Robert Capa, Gerda Taro, and the Invention of Modern Photojournalism by Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos.

  • In the Development Unit, Romeo and Juliet, texts are centered around the Central Question: “Why do we still read Shakespeare?” Texts that connect to this theme include “Why Do We Still Care About Shakespeare?” by Cindy Tumiel and contemporary film adaptations of Romeo and Juliet.

  • In the Development Unit, The Book of Unknown Americans, tasks center around the Central Question: “How does perspective shape our understanding of events?” The culminating task asks students to “Write a vignette from the perspective of a different character in the novel.” Students demonstrate the knowledge developed through the examination of multiple texts around this theme when they answer, “Explain which narrative techniques were incorporated into the vignette and the rationale behind their inclusion.”

  • In the Development Unit, Global Food Production, texts are centered around a central theme: “How do we feed a growing world?” Texts that connect to this theme include “A Five-Step Plan to Feed the World” by Jonathan Foley, “The Case for Engineering Our Food” by Pamela Ronald, and “The Vertical Farm: A Keystone Concept for the Ecocity” by Dickson Despommier.

  • In the Application Unit, What Do I Want to Research?, students revisit readings from the Foundation Unit or any other texts they encountered throughout the academic year. Students answer questions related to the research they wish to continue as they prepare to deliver a presentation by their learning community.

• Texts build knowledge, vocabulary, and the ability to read and comprehend complex texts across a school year.

  • In the Foundation Unit, Who Changes the World?, Section 1, Lesson 3, students learn the term tipping point before reading selections from Malcolm Gladwell’s “Introduction,” from his book The Tipping Point. In this lesson, students also discuss the term change agents in preparation for reading Phil Patton’s piece “Agents of Change.”

  • In the Development Unit, Romeo and Juliet, students read the classic play Romeo and Juliet, along with supporting informational texts to expand students’ knowledge and understanding of the cultural relevance of the play. The unit also includes the classic poem by Ovid, “The Story of Pyramus and Thisbe.” These classic complex texts allow students to gather the necessary skills for reading throughout the school year.

  • In the Development Unit, The Book of Unknown Americans, students read complex texts to build knowledge around the Central Question: “How does perspective shape our understanding of events?” Examples of texts include, but are not limited to, the essay “My Mother Never Worked” by Bonnie Smith-Yackel and “Sixty-Nine Cents,” an excerpt from Little Failure: A Memoir by Gary Shteyngart.

  • In the Development Unit, Global Food Production, Section 1, Lesson 2, students explore the term food system as they review graphics such as the “Nourish Food System Map” and the reading “Food System Primer: The Food System.”

  • The Application Unit, What Do I Want to Research?, allows the opportunity for student agency when answering the questions: “What theme, question, or idea would I like to know more about?” and “How can the research process help my team arrive at a deeper understanding of a topic or idea?”

  • In the Application Unit, Section 2, Lesson 2, students investigate an inquiry of their choosing while revisiting complex texts from previous studies including, but not limited to, these Grade 9 appropriate texts from the Global Food Production Unit: “Why Industrial Farms Are Good for the Environment” by Jayson Lusk and “10 Things You Need to Know about the Global Food System” by Evan Fraser and Elizabeth Fraser.

The materials reviewed for Grade 9 meet the criteria for Indicator 2b.

Grade 9 materials provide opportunities for students to analyze the author’s word choice, structure, and point of view development as delineated in the grade-level craft and structure standards. Additionally, each unit in the Grade 9 materials includes guiding questions that students track throughout the unit; these questions are present throughout each lesson and within the written materials and tasks. In the independent reading lessons, students read texts related to the anchor texts and use the guiding questions to present their findings on how the texts relate to each other.

Students build knowledge by investigating a topic or anchor text through organized text sets in each unit. Throughout this process, students cite textual evidence and examine themes and complex characterization according to grade-level standards. To support student learning and literacy development, as students develop their projects they examine key ideas and details from texts, use texts to craft definitions of key concepts and themes through close examination of language used by the authors of the core texts read, examine choices made in film adaptations of literature and how these choices affect the overall meaning of the texts, and embed their learning into final products that take key details and structure into account as they compose their final drafts.

The Foundation Unit provides data for teachers to make decisions about the support necessary in future development units and whether students might need additional guidance or differentiation. The scaffolding for students is consistent to support students in grade-level proficiency by the end of the year and to support comprehension of grade appropriate complex texts. By the end of the year, analysis of key ideas, details, craft, and structure are embedded into student tasks and routines.

Materials 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 the Foundation Unit, Who Changes the World, Section 1, Lesson 3, students analyze The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. Students work through a sequence of questions to develop their understanding of the key ideas and details in the text. At the beginning of the lesson, students “highlight the phrase that illuminates where Hush Puppies first made their comeback” to draw them to key details in the text. The sequence of questions increase in the level of details and complexity, leading students to “make meaning from the text regarding the characteristics of change agents and some common elements that are in place when change happens.”

    • In Section 2, Lesson 1, students use quotes from a collection of core texts to define a change agent. Students examine the key details and ideas presented in each quote to narrow a list of possible definitions to complete a template that defines the term change agent.

    • In the Development Unit, Photojournalism, Section 1, Lesson 1, students examine the ideas and work of famous photojournalists and discuss the Central Question: “How do images change the world?” Early in the unit, students examine Migrant Mother by Dorothea Lange, attending to details as they consider: “What stands out to you as you examine this photo?” In Section 1, Lesson 4, students attend to details about the role of the Farm Security Administration and its photographers by considering: “How do details from the text relate to or expand what you already have learned about the FSA and its photographers?” In Section 2, Lesson 2, students examine Robert Capa’s “D-Day Invasion, June 6, 1944” and consider: “What details in the photo stand out to you or strike you as interesting or important?”

    • In The Development Unit, Photojournalism, Section 2, Lesson 2, students study Eyes of the World by Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos to answer a series of scaffold questions to clarify the key ideas and details of the piece. The final prompt in the section asks students: “Why might the authors have chosen to title their book about Capa and Taro Eyes of the World? How did the photographers’ ‘invention of modern photojournalism’ change the world?”

    • In the Application Unit, Section 2, Lesson 2, students choose one of the texts from the Global Food Production Unit Reader to reread and assess independently using the Potential Sources Tool. The activity follows an opportunity to complete the task previously with a different text and a greater level of teacher support. Examples of questions include, but are not limited to:

      • “Does the text present ideas or information that I find interesting?

      • How does the information relate to other texts?

      • Does the text provide accurate, current and supported information?”

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

    • In the Development Unit, Romeo and Juliet, Section 3, Lesson 1, students have the opportunity to draft claims that explore the filmmaker’s choices in the Franco Zeffirelli, Paramount Pictures,1968 adaptations of Romeo and Juliet and whether these choices detract from the themes of the play. Students use their Film-Theme Note-Taking Tool to respond to the Act 1 Scene 5 adaptation by answering:

      • “How did the director’s choices enhance the theme? What details from the film support your claim?

      • Did any of the choices detract from the theme? If so, how? What details from the film support your claim?”

    • In Section 4, Lesson 4, students read William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet to analyze elements of craft and structure. In Activity 2, students annotate the text and answer questions such as: “How do both Juliet and Lord Capulet’s reactions conflict with what we had learned about their relationship in earlier scenes?” Students also examine how the structural choices and character actions contribute to the meaning. These questions prepare students for further analysis in Section 4, Lesson 5, in which they answer, “How do her [Juliet’s] thoughts and behaviors develop a theme in the play?”

    • In the Development Unit, The Book of Unknown Americans, students analyze the structure of a narrative and utilize the Narratives Reference Guide.

      • In Section 1, Lesson 2, students read the novel The Book of the Americans by Cristina Henriquez, reviewing the concepts of setting, conflict, and plot. Students read and listen to the text and question their understanding as they read. Following this analysis, the activity concludes with students writing an evidence-based personal reflection of the thoughts and emotions the text provokes.

      • In Section 2, Lesson 1, students examine a quote from The Book of the Americans, paying attention to word choice and imagery. Students use imagery later in the unit by including it in their responses during the Culminating Task.

      • In Section 2, Lesson 3, students have an opportunity to closely read “Immigrant in Our Own Land” by Jimmy Santiago Bace and to “Choose a different color and underline or circle phrases that represent imagery or descriptive language.”

      • In Section 4, Lesson 3, students compare two different voices in the text, answering:

        • “How does the Mayor’s use of imagery differ from Alma’s?

        • What effect does this difference in voice have on the reader’s understanding of the text?”

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

  • In the Development Unit, The Book of Unknown Americans, Section 1, Lesson 5, students create a Literary Elements and Narrative Techniques Note-Taking Tool for “The Wanderers” by Guadalupe Nettel after reading The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henriquez and practicing these skills. Students discuss the question: “Based on evidence from The Book of Unknown Americans and ‘The Wanderers,’ What connections can you make about the role of plot, setting, and conflict in narrative text?”

  • In the Development Unit, Global Food Production, Section 2, Lesson 1, students record key ideas and details from the article “History and Overview of the Green Revolution: How Agricultural Practices Changed in the 20th Century” by Amanda Briney. The materials include direct instruction and the use of the Evaluating Ideas Tool to guide students. By the end of the unit, students write an argumentative essay, using key ideas and details from different sources. Students must apply the skills from previous lessons and units, so direct instruction for the components is not included but embedded in the activity and questions. In Section 5, students complete a culminating task to create an argumentative product on current issues facing the food system. Some of the objectives students complete include:

    • Develop a logical sequence of claims that support your position, including at least one counterclaim to an opposing argument.

    • Support your position with evidence cited from relevant materials and research.

    • Include examples of the social, environmental, and economic issues in your subtopic and the implications of your proposed response or solution.

    • Express your claims, explanations, and supporting evidence with clear and powerful language in an appropriate tone for your purpose and audience.

  • The task embeds the use of language, key ideas, details, and applying a structure to a final product that requires students to present their position and thinking clearly.

  • In the Application Unit, What Do I Want to Research?, students complete a culminating task in which they “use the research portfolio you have built over the course of the unit a to develop a presentation for your learning community that shares your findings and conclusions.” By the end of the year, students choose their own topic for study and receive guidance in preparing their research by returning to guiding questions encountered in the Foundation Unit, Who Changes the World?, and throughout the Development Units. Students follow a Culminating Task Checklist and rubric to support their planning, pacing, and accountability to embed the required components within their work to demonstrate mastery of unit skills and standards.

The materials reviewed for Grade 9 meet the criteria for Indicator 2c.

The Grade 9 materials include questions and tasks to support students’ analysis of knowledge and ideas via sets of coherently sequenced higher-order questions and tasks that require students to analyze the language, knowledge, and ideas within a text or texts to make meaning and to build an understanding of a text or a topic.

Throughout the year, students read a variety of selections for analysis and annotation while investigating a topic. The sequences of text-specific and/or text-dependent questions support students in their ability to analyze across multiple texts and within single texts. The materials juxtapose texts strategically to build student knowledge around a common topic or theme. Lessons build to a unit culminating task or project through which students demonstrate understanding of the core body of knowledge and skills built into the unit. By the end of the year, integrating knowledge and ideas is embedded in student work.

Materials require students to analyze the integration of knowledge and ideas within individual texts as well as across multiple texts using 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.

  • Sets of questions and tasks provide opportunities to analyze within single texts.

    • In the Foundation Unit, Who Changes the World?, Section 2, Lesson 2, students read “Agents of Change” by Phil Patton and complete a Note-Taking Tool to record moments of change that occur in the text, how the change happens, and how this could connect to a pathway they are studying in the unit.

    • In The Development Unit, Photojournalism, students closely examine “Letter From Birmingham Jail” by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to explore the idea of direct action and gain a solid knowledge of the period. This knowledge will then be applied to a photograph students will carefully examine. In Section 3, Lesson 4, Activity 1, the Teaching Notes state, “Reading this response [‘Letter From A Birmingham Jail’] helps to frame the context of not only this letter and the argument that follows, but also the events that Charles Moore photographed.” Students read and gain knowledge and understanding of King’s claims about direct action being the only option in Birmingham by describing the steps of a nonviolent campaign. The knowledge gained in the study of this letter allows students a thorough understanding of the individual text and a better understanding of the photograph they will examine at a later date. Students build an understanding of the background and context of the civil rights movement by considering: How does King use an emotional appeal (pathos) to develop his justification for direct action?

    • In the Development Unit, Romeo and Juliet, Section 3, Lesson 2, students read Act 2 of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. Students answer a series of questions in the Section 3 Question Set that include:

      • “Where does Shakespeare use dramatic irony in this scene?

      • What effect does Shakespeare’s use of dramatic irony have in this scene?

    • Students also complete the Character Note-Taking Tool to analyze characters within the text.”

    • In the Application Unit, What Do I Want to Research?, Section 2, Lesson 2, students select a text to revisit, including but not limited to: “History and Overview of the Green Revolution: How Agricultural Practices Changes in the 20th Century” by Amanda Briney or “Impossible Foods, Impossible Claims” by Anna Lappa. Students assess the text utilizing the Potential Sources Tool, answering questions such as:

      • “Can I corroborate the information with other sources?

      • How extensive and supported is the information it provides?

      • The lesson prepares students to assess potential sources of their choosing as they continue to build and integrate knowledge around a topic of inquiry and prepare for the culminating task.”

  • Sets of questions and tasks provide opportunities to analyze across multiple texts.

    • In the Foundation Unit, Who Changes the World?, students use the Note-Taking Tool to track moments of change that occur in the multiple texts read throughout the unit. In Section 1, Section Diagnostic, students construct a multi-paragraph essay using the texts they have read in the unit to demonstrate their understanding of “change agent.” Students respond to the following set of questions to create the essay:

      • “What are the characteristics of a change agent?

      • How are these characteristics universal?”

    • In Section 2, Lesson 2, using evidence from “Agents of Change” as well as evidence from other unit texts, students share and discuss self-developed, open-ended questions from the readings to demonstrate their understanding of the topic and critical thinking about the text set.

    • In the Development Unit, Photojournalism, Section 3, Lesson 3, students read “Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics” by Society of Professional Journalists and “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King, Jr. Students consider the code of ethics in conjunction with a quote by Dr. King, Jr. as he reprimands Flip Schulke, a photographer for Life magazine. Students discuss the connection between the code of ethics document and the quote as well as write an explanation of their position in response to the question: “Is it the job of the photojournalist to be a witness and the ‘eyes of the world’ or to ‘join the fray’?” In Section 3, Lesson 4, students respond to additional questions about the author’s purpose and how he establishes credibility, including:

      • “According to King, what is the purpose of direct action?

      • How does King describe the usefulness of tension in this paragraph?”

    • In the Development Unit, The Book of Unknown Americans, Section 3, Lesson 3, students study the essay “My Mother Never Worked” by Bonnie Smith-Yackel. Towards the end of the lesson, students answer guiding questions regarding the key ideas and details of the essay to deepen their analysis such as: What is Smith-Yackel’s argument? Is it explicitly stated or implied? Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.

    • In the Development Unit, Global Food Production, Section 2, Lesson 3, students use the Delineating Arguments Tool to analyze the texts “Why Industrial Farms Are Good for the Environment” and “How Does Agriculture Change Our Climate?” and use the information they collect to discuss and examine similarities and differences between the texts.

• By the end of the year, integrating knowledge is embedded in students’ work.

  • In the Development Unit, Romeo and Juliet, students complete a culminating project comparing the development of themes in the film adaptations of Romeo and Juliet. Students use tools such as the Film-Theme Note-Taking Tool to analyze both film adaptations, applying their learning to their final products. In Section 5, Lesson 1, students use evidence gathered using the Film-Theme and Note-Taking tool to summarize their thinking on how filmmakers Zeffirelli or Luhrmann enhance or detract from the theme.

  • In the Development Unit, The Book of Unknown Americans, Section 1, Lesson 4, students explore the narrative “The Wanderers” by Guadalupe Nettel, making connections to The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henriquez. Students analyze a quote from Henriquez’s text to further their analysis of narrative elements in the text. As students read and annotate “The Wanderers,” they consider how the author uses setting and conflict to develop the plot in the story and record entries in the Literary Elements and Narrative Techniques Note-Taking Tool as an independent activity. The tasks and close analyses of texts empower students to synthesize what they have learned about storytelling elements and to “rewrite a vignette from The Book of Unknown Americans from the perspective of another character.”

  • In the Development Unit, Global Food Production, Section 5, Lesson 1, students synthesize their knowledge from multiple texts to create a final product for the Culminating Task. Student incorporation of multiple sources of information is embedded within the task as students complete the Organizing Evidence Tool to analyze multiple texts to support the claims in their writing.

  • In the Application Unit, What Do I Want to Research?, students complete a Culminating Task using “the research portfolio you have built over the course of the unit a to develop a presentation for your learning community that shares your findings and conclusions.” By the end of the year, the students choose and prepare their own topic of study, returning to guiding questions encountered in the Foundation Unit and throughout the Development Units. Students follow a Culminating Task Checklist and rubric to support their planning, pacing, and accountability to embed the required components within their work to demonstrate mastery of unit skills and standards.

The materials reviewed for Grade 9 meet the criteria for Indicator 2d.

The Grade 9 materials include multimodal and summative unit Culminating Tasks that provide various ways for students to communicate their understanding among smaller peer groups and to the larger learning community. Unit Culminating Tasks are varied and include the following: Narrative Essay/Group Presentation; Fictional, Personal, or Historical Narrative; Literary Analysis; Explanatory Essays; Argumentative Essay; and Portfolio/Group Presentation. Session Diagnostics at the end of each unit section provide formative opportunities to assess student readiness of the discrete skills required to complete each Culminating Task. According to the Program Guide: “Written diagnostics tasks span a range of task types, including literary analysis, argument, narrative, and expository. Oral diagnostics may be tasks done by an individual (e.g., participation in a Socratic Seminar) or in groups (e.g., presentation of an analysis with teammates).”

Culminating tasks require students to demonstrate their knowledge of a unit’s topic/theme through integrated literacy skills. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

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

  • In the Foundation Unit, Who Changes the World?, students answer the unit Central Question: Who Changes the World? In Section 1, Lesson 3, students read the Introduction from The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell and the TED Talk “How to Start a Movement” by Derek Sivers. Using these and other texts, students prepare to complete the two-fold Culminating Task, an oral presentation incorporating speaking and listening skills and a written reflection demonstrating reading and writing skills to address the question: “What are the conditions that caused or allowed change to occur in your pathway topic, and who were change agents?”

  • In the Development Unit, Photojournalism, Section 5, Lesson 1, students begin working on the unit Culminating Task, an expository essay that addresses the prompt: “How does photojournalism highlight and define important moments in history and culture? Support your claims with textual evidence by citing one or more written texts and at least two photographs and photojournalists.” The task requires students to demonstrate mastery of several standards, including writing expository texts, citing textual evidence, using inferences to support central claims, and using precise language and domain-specific vocabulary.

  • In the Development Unit, Romeo and Juliet, Section 4, Lesson 12, after reading Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare and viewing film adaptations by Franco Zeffirelli and Baz Luhrmann, students engage in the Section Diagnostic, a Philosophical Chairs Discussion, in which they create and defend a claim about the directors’ choices in transforming the story. To facilitate the discussion, Teaching Notes in the Teacher Edition provide possible statements for students to debate, such as:

    • “Zeffirelli’s choice to remove Paris from the final scene enhances the thematic idea of love.

    • Luhrmann’s choice to have Juliet awaken as Romeo takes the poison detracts from the thematic idea of fate.”

  • In addition to supporting students’ speaking and listening skills, the discussion prepares students for the unit Culminating Task to write a literary analysis explaining how the directors’ choices in their adaptations enhance or detract from the development of a theme in the play. Teaching Notes in the Teacher Edition state:

    • “The statements for discussion are all connected to the directors and the choices they made in order to prepare students for the Culminating Task. If you add or change statements, make sure you include statements that have students think critically about the choices the directors made.”

  • Teachers may also use the Section Diagnostic to inform instructional decisions and assess how students progress in their understanding.

  • In the Development Unit, The Book of Unknown Americans, Section 4, Lessons 5 and 6, students participate in a two-part Section Diagnostic focused on the tasks of reading, writing, and speaking. In Lesson 5, students write a response comparing themes found in The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henriquez and a companion text. Student-facing materials prompt students to answer:

    • “What is a theme in the novel, and how is it similar to a theme in one of the other texts in this unit?

    • What literary elements and narrative techniques did the authors use to convey the themes?”

  • In Lesson 6, students write a short narrative inspired by a protagonist from an excerpt from Little Failure: A Memoir titled “Sixty-Nine Cents” by Gary Shteyngart. Students share their work within their writing groups and exchange feedback through discussion.

  • In the Development Unit, Global Food Production, as the unit Culminating Task, students write an argumentative essay in which they develop a perspective and argumentative position in response to a current issue facing the food system. In Section 3, Lesson 7, students collaborate in a peer review team to complete the Section Diagnostic, an argument proposal and research plan utilizing speaking, listening, and writing skills to explain and defend the argument they plan to develop. In Section 4, Lesson 3, students write a multi-paragraph synopsis of their arguments as the Section Diagnostic. The various tasks provide students with multiple opportunities to demonstrate an understanding of the texts they are examining through reading, writing, speaking, and listening.

  • In the Application Unit, What Do I Want to Research?, Section 6, Lesson 1, students finalize presentations after compiling comprehensive research on a specific question. During the unit, students collaborate in teams to develop and deliver a presentation of their findings to their learning community. Students use the Culminating Task Checklist to assist their completion of the task, which includes the following categories for assessment: Reading & Knowledge Goals, Writing Goals, and Speaking & Listening Goals. Students complete the checklist by answering prompts, such as: “How well does our presentation use visual media and technological tools in an effective way, building the audience’s interest and illuminating our findings?”

• Earlier text-specific and/or text-dependent questions and tasks are coherently sequenced and will give the teacher usable information about the student’s readiness (or whether they are “on track”) to complete culminating tasks.

  • In the Foundation Unit, Who Changes the World?, Section 1, Lesson 3, students read Section 1 of The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell and discuss key distinctions in two events that illuminate different pathways of change. Student-facing materials provide guidance and a series of questions to support student comprehension and building knowledge, such as:

    • “In the fourth paragraph, the author provides three characteristics of an epidemic, and he says that the third characteristic is important to understand modern change. What is the third characteristic, and how does it relate to modern change?”

  • Such questions and activities prepare students for the unit Culminating Task, a collaboratively researched, developed, and delivered oral presentation addressing the unit theme and Central Question, Who changes the world?, that includes an individual self-reflection on the research process. Teaching Notes in the Teacher Edition provide guidance, such as:

    • “You might model how a question can lead a reader to specific details in the text, and walk through how you make meaning, or synthesize, across those details with respect to the question. Students might then practice this process and skill with the second question.”

  • Teachers may use these opportunities to inform instructional decisions and to assess student understanding of the texts throughout the unit.

  • In the Development Unit, The Book of Unknown Americans, Section 1, Lesson 2, students begin reading The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henriquez and answer text-dependent questions, including:

    • “How has the author structured and used the elements of plot (exposition, complication, climax, falling action, and resolution) to develop the work?

    • How does the literary element or narrative technique shape the reader’s understanding of the text?”

  • These prompts and activities align to the Lesson 6 Section Diagnostic, an expository essay addressing the question: “How do authors engage readers through setting, plot, and conflict?”

  • In the Development Unit, Global Food Production, Section 3, Lessons 1 and 2, students listen to a podcast and participate in a fishbowl activity to gather and organize relevant and sufficient evidence to demonstrate an understanding of different perspectives and identify counterclaims, reasoning, and evidence. In Lesson 1, students listen to “‘Fate Of Food’ Asks: What’s For Dinner In A Hotter, Drier, More Crowded World?” an interview of environmental journalist Amanda Little by Terry Gross and answer questions such as:

    • “What was the most compelling idea or argument discussed about the future of food?

    • What are some challenges Little addresses? Have we discussed these challenges in the unit? Is there one challenge that seems most pressing?

    • What are some potential solutions to the challenges facing the food system Little discusses in her interview?”

  • These questions help prepare and scaffold students to participate in the fishbowl, after which students answer:

    • “What were some of the most compelling arguments about the future of the food system introduced in our discussion?

    • What are some potential solutions that Little discusses in her interview that might directly address one of the challenges listed in the infographic?

    • Which challenges to our future food system are the most immediate? How does Little portray these challenges in her interview?”

  • The series of questions and student answers allow teachers to assess student readiness for both the Section Diagnostic and unit Culminating Task.

  • In the Application Unit, What Do I Want to Research?, students work in groups to submit research portfolios the instructor uses to assess their progress toward the Culminating Task, a collaborative research presentation that demonstrates their findings and conclusions of their group-developed research questions. In Section 1, Lesson 7, students submit their preliminary research portfolio, including their completed Exploring a Topic Tool, Central Research Question Checklist, Potential Sources Tool, and individual reflections. The Potential Sources Tool asks students text-specific questions, such as:

    • “What is the purpose of the text with respect to the topic?

    • Does the text provide accurate, current and supported information?”

  • In Section 3, Lesson 8, students resubmit their portfolios, including the Research Frame Tool, Potential Sources Tool, Research Note-Taking Tool, Forming Evidence-Based Claims Tool, Organizing Evidence Tool, Research Evaluation Checklist, and three claims about their inquiry questions or research problem. The Organizing Evidence Tool prompts students to state claims from their research and to cite supporting evidence from the resources they collected. In both portfolio submissions, the teacher provides feedback and students self-assess, answering a series of guided questions:

    • “How well did you take necessary action to prepare for the task?

    • What went well for you during the completion of this task?

    • What did you struggle with during the completion of this task? How did you push through that struggle?”

The materials reviewed for Grade 9 meet the criteria for Indicator 2e.

The Grade 9 materials provide writing tasks across the grade level that increase in complexity. The program’s design provides practice through Section Diagnostics to allow teachers to monitor student progress of grade appropriate writing activities and to prepare students for completing the unit summative tasks. The program also offers a final Application Unit as a capstone in which students can follow a self-selected topic of inquiry and apply writing skills they acquire and practice throughout the year. The student-facing materials include guidance as students complete writing tasks, and the teacher-facing materials provide additional support for scaffolding, including opportunities for modeling and using exemplar or model texts students read during the unit. The Literacy Toolbox includes Reference Guides and Tools to support student writing tasks. These tools are incorporated purposefully throughout the course materials.

Students encounter a Culminating Task at the beginning of each unit and perform a series of formal and informal writing activities addressing grade-level standards to build their knowledge and writing skills over the course of each unit. The materials provide students a wide range of writing tasks, including short-response questions, guiding questions, and formative writing opportunities throughout the year. Writing tasks vary in length and purpose and help students to develop their analytical, argumentative, informational, and narrative writing skills. The lessons provide a cohesive design so that students apply and expand the skills they learn from previous lessons to perform on later lessons throughout the units. Culminating tasks walk students through each stage of the writing process and allow students to monitor their progress with rubrics, checklists, and graphic organizers. Writing instruction and assignments scale up in difficulty throughout the year. Writing instruction supports students’ growth in writing skills over the course of the school year, building students’ writing ability to demonstrate proficiency at grade level at the end of the year.

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

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

  • In the Foundation Unit, Who Changes the World?, Section 1, Lesson 3, students make and record connections to the term “tipping point” by responding in their Learning Logs to the prompt: “If you could create or cause an important change what would you like to change?” Students then share their written responses with a writing partner. This activity is one of several scaffolds that prepares students for further writing throughout the unit and across the school year.

    • In Section 1, Lesson 9, for example, students complete the Session Diagnostic, a multi-paragraph explanatory essay that demonstrates their understanding of “change agents.” Lesson Goals for this activity include writing standards that require students to:

      • “Compare and Connect: How well do I recognize points of connection among texts, textual elements, and perspectives to make logical, objective comparisons?

      • Organize Ideas: How well do I sequence and group sentences and paragraphs and use devices, techniques, descriptions, reasoning, evidence, and visual elements to establish coherent, logical, and well-developed narratives, explanations, and arguments?”

  • In the Development Unit, Photojournalism, to complete the unit Culminating Task, students write an expository essay that supports their claims using citations from one or more written texts and at least two photographs and photojournalists. Students develop their writing skills throughout the unit through informal and formal writing opportunities. In Section 2, Lesson 2, for example, students read the introduction to Eyes of the World: Robert Capa, Gerda Taro, and the Invention of Modern Journalism by Marc Aronson, Marina Budhos, Henry Holt, and Company, and write a summary of the prologue using the Summarizing Text Tool. In Section 3, students complete the Section Diagnostic, a multi-paragraph response addressing the prompt: “How did the photojournalism of Charles Moore and others push the agenda of civil rights leaders into public discourse and serve as a catalyst for change?” Lesson Goals for this activity include writing standards that require students to:

    • “Form Claims: How well do I develop and clearly communicate a meaningful and defensible claim regarding the influence of photojournalism during the civil rights era using valid, evidence-based analysis?

    • Develop Ideas: How well do I use devices, techniques, descriptions, reasoning, evidence, and visual elements to support and elaborate on coherent and logical explanations?”

  • In the Development Unit, Romeo and Juliet, Section 4, Lesson 1, students have the opportunity to address the Lesson Goal, “Can I develop and clearly communicate a meaningful and defensible claim about how a theme is developed during the course of multiple acts in Romeo and Juliet?,” by completing four activities that address the revision writing standards. Students revise their Section 3 Diagnostic multi-paragraph expository responses by revising to form a clear and strong claim, include strong textual evidence including relevant quotations, thoroughly explain the significance of the textual evidence through clear connections among ideas, and include effective integration and proper citation of quotations.

  • In the Development Unit, The Book of Unknown Americans, Section 1, Lesson 6, students complete the Section Diagnostic to draft a response to the question, “How do authors engage readers through setting, plot, and conflict?” Lesson Goals for this activity include writing standards that require students to:

    • “Develop Ideas: How well do I use devices, techniques, descriptions, reasoning, evidence, and visual elements to support and elaborate on coherent and logical narratives, explanations, and arguments?

    • Use Conventions to Produce Clear Writing: How well do I apply correct and effective syntax, usage, mechanics, and spelling to communicate ideas and achieve intended purposes?”

  • Teaching Notes in the Teacher Edition provides additional guidance to support students, including: “As students might still be mastering the concepts they try on this Section Diagnostic, you might consider using their sentence-level writing as formative data that you can build upon in the next section.”

  • In the Application Unit, What Do I Want to Research?, students develop their writing proficiency through a series of portfolio submissions as Section Diagnostics. In Section 1, Lesson 7, students submit their portfolios, including their Exploring a Topic Tool and Central Research Question Checklist, which help students develop their research topics and inquiry questions that drive their research. Lesson Goals for this activity include writing standards that require students to:

    • “Generate Ideas: How well do I generate ideas, positions, and solutions to problems?

    • Develop Ideas: How well do I formulate questions and lines of inquiry that lead me to deepen my knowledge of important themes?

    • Collaborate: In my research team, how well do I brainstorm creatively, present my thoughts clearly, and listen to my peers’ perspectives to generate new ideas?

    • Communicate Effectively: How well do I write a clear, precise statement that communicates my team’s inquiry question or problem and its relevance to our learning community?”

  • In Section 3, Lesson 8, students submit their portfolios, including tools, including the Research Frame Tool, Potential Resources Tool, and Research Note-Taking Tools. Students use these tools to develop their ability to identify and evaluate resources that address the inquiry pathways they developed. Here we see each portfolio requiring increasing complexity of student writing as they progress towards the Culminating Task. Lesson Goals for this activity include writing standards that require students to:

    • “Form Claims: How well do I use sources I’ve collected to form strong, credible claims based on clear textual evidence?

    • Organize Work: How well do I take meaningful notes that inform my further research, my writing about my inquiry question, and my team’s final presentation?”

• Instructional materials include a variety of well-designed guidance, protocols, models, and support for teachers to implement and monitor students’ writing development.

  • In the Development Unit, Photojournalism, Section 3, Lesson 5, students utilize their Mentor Sentence Journals to compile powerful and interesting sentences. The student-facing materials guide students through the process through prompts including:

    • “What does this sentence contribute to the author’s ideas in the text?

    • How does it expand your understanding of the text or author?”

  • Teaching Notes in the Teacher Edition provide additional guidance to support students, such as choosing at least one mentor sentence worthy of careful study in advance and offering students suggestions.

  • In the Development Unit, Romeo and Juliet, Section 1, Lesson 10, students “write one-paragraph expository responses that identify a theme and how it is developed in Act 1 of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare.” The Teacher Edition provides the following guidance:

    • “Sentence frames are used in this Section Diagnostic because it is the first place in the unit in which students are required to write a formal structured response. As students master the structure of an evidence-based claim, you might choose to taper off the use of sentence-frame models.”

  • In the Development Unit, The Book of Unknown Americans, students complete the Culminating Task during which they “Rewrite a vignette from The Book of Unknown Americans from the perspective of a different character from the book. Consider plot, conflict, setting, character traits, theme, structure, and point of view.” The Culminating Task Checklist provides a list of requirements for the vignette and a rubric that addresses the following areas of writing development:

    • “How well do I use devices, techniques, descriptions, reasoning, evidence, and visual elements to support and elaborate on coherent and logical narratives?

    • How well do I sequence and group sentences and paragraphs and use devices, techniques, descriptions, reasoning, evidence, and visual elements to establish coherent, logical, and well-developed narratives?

    • How well do I use language and strategies to accomplish my intended purpose in communicating?

    • How well do I apply correct and effective syntax, usage, mechanics, and spelling to communicate ideas and achieve intended purposes?”

  • Students revisit their Culminating Task Checklist by completing the Culminating Task Progress Tracker throughout the unit to determine their progress towards the Culminating Task. In the Teacher Edition, the Teaching Notes encourage instructors to record students’ responses to make necessary changes to instruction in the next section based on student progress.

  • In the Development Unit, Global Food Production, Section 1, Lesson 1, the materials provide teachers and students with specific tools to help students work through a multistep analytical process. Students examine visuals to see how food is grown, harvested, and processed across the United States. Teachers have the option of providing the Visual Analysis Tool with “questions provided for students in the activity sequence come directly from this tool in order to help deepen their understanding of each image and begin to think about connections among the images. Teaching Notes in the Teacher Edition outline the tools available to support students writing development in this lesson and throughout the unit and year as follows:

    • Tools are graphic organizers that support students’ reading and writing by helping them think through text, find pertinent textual details, and develop ideas for their writing. Note that many, such as the Analyzing Relationships Tool and the Forming Evidence-Based Claims Tool, are text agnostic—they are designed to be used with any text.”

The materials reviewed for Grade 9 meet the criteria for Indicator 2f. 

Grade 9 materials build skills throughout the year, including opportunities for collaborative research, evaluating sources, synthesis and analysis of texts, and applying those skills in a unit-long research project as a capstone for the course. The Program Guide provides details relating to active learning through inquiry: “In the Foundation and Application units, students investigate a topic through recursive and iterative cycles of inquiry in which they work in learning communities to explore significant issues and topics, refine research questions, find and assess sources for relevance and credibility, and present their research in various forms.” Students compile comprehensive research on specific questions during the final Application Unit and present their findings to their learning community. The student-determined text set during the final unit provides students with an opportunity to explore topics they have been learning more deeply and demonstrate the research skills they acquire.

The materials reviewed for this grade level include a progression of research skills according to the grade level standards by providing various opportunities for students to engage in online research and discussion of unit topics and to cite evidence from multiple sources in the Lesson Activities, Section Diagnostics, Culminating Tasks, and Independent Reading Presentations. Students also have the opportunity to synthesize work and analyze content through a variety of tools provided in the materials and are given opportunities to complete research projects of varying lengths. Materials sequence research projects throughout the year to help students progress in their research skills. At the beginning of the year, students begin to practice working in groups in the Foundation Unit with focused guidance from the instructor, and during the Application Unit at the end of the year students work collaboratively in self-directed teams with the instructor acting as coach or facilitator. Materials support teachers in employing projects that develop students’ knowledge of different aspects of a topic. The materials provide guidance and support to teachers, including but not limited to, questions to prompt student thinking, graphic organizers to assist students, and an option for teachers to provide various scaffolds for students.

Materials 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 sequenced across a school year to include a progression of research skills according to grade-level standards. 

  • In the Foundation Unit, Who Changes the World?, Section 2, Lesson 3, students join research groups that work collaboratively throughout the unit to complete the unit Culminating Task to research and create a 5–7 minute presentation about global, national, and local change agents and the conditions that caused or allowed change in one of the following pathways: technological, cultural, business and marketing, humanitarian, political, or scientific. 

  • In the Development Unit, Photojournalism, Section 2, Lesson 4, students collaborate in character-based expert teams to closely examine photographs and text passages that represent Capa’s and Taro’s developing styles as photographers in preparation for the unit Culminating Task to write an expository essay addressing the question: “How does photojournalism highlight and define important moments in history and culture?” Over the course of the unit, students gather ideas and information from multiple resources and support their claims by citing evidence from one or more written texts and at least two photographs and photojournalists. Students analyze and explain how and why the photos were politically influential, made history, or were catalysts for social change. 

• In the Development Unit, Global Food Production, Section 3, Lesson 7, students expand their research skills by identifying and focusing on a controversial subtopic issue and questions related to food systems and production, and by delineating the key elements of an argument, first in writing and then in a peer review defense. This research task and embedded activities prepare students for the unit Culminating Task to develop a perspective and argumentative position in response to a current issue facing the food system, including an argumentative thesis supported by a series of evidence-based claims and at least one counterargument to an opposing perspective or position. 

• In the Application Unit, What Do I Want to Research?, students collect, organize, and analyze relevant ideas and resources encountered throughout the year to complete the unit Culminating Task, a collaborative research project in response to a self-generated inquiry question. Students curate a portfolio throughout the unit to complete this task and develop a presentation sharing their findings and conclusions at a celebratory community event, school, or classroom event. Instructional materials direct student presentations to:

  • “Share your Central Research Question and tell the story of why you became interested in the question and how you arrived at your current understanding of your research topic.

  • Present a clear, engaging narrative of your research process, communicating the evolution of your critical thinking and learning, reflecting on the challenges and successes you experienced, and citing evidence from a wide range of perspectives to help your audience understand the context and conclusions of your work.

  • Tailor your final presentation to your audience, using auditory, visual, and digital aids, as well as public-speaking techniques that will keep them engaged.

  • Respond to questions from your audience respectfully and knowledgeably by citing your sources and expressing your conclusions.”

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

  • In the Foundation Unit, Who Changes the World?, Section 2, Lesson 7, students work in groups to select a source text about a local change agent, analyze the text to determine its relevance and credibility, and discern its value to their research. To support this task, students use the Attending to Details Tool to analyze the text for the central idea and the guiding questions in the Foundation Unit Research Guide to evaluate the text for bias and credibility.

  • In the Development Unit, Romeo and Juliet, Section 2, Lesson 2, students develop the skill of film analysis by viewing two film adaptations of Act 1 of Romeo and Juliet and analyzing the choices that each director made, comparing the theme development in Act 1 of the play with the theme development in Act 1 of the film adaptations and evaluating whether the directors’ choices enhance or detract from the themes developed in the play. To support student readiness for this task, students examine the reference table on the first page of the Film-Theme Note-Taking Tool to learn what director choices to consider when analyzing a film and use the Tool to capture their analyses. Student-facing directions instruct students as follows:

    • “As you view the prologue and Act 1, Scene 1, pay attention to the following director choices:

      • costumes

      • soundtrack

      • camera shots

      • acting (facial expressions and body language).”

In addition, Teaching Notes in the Teacher Edition provide additional guidance to support students as follows:

• “Film analysis is likely a new skill for students. For the first few scenes, it might be important to model for students how to complete the Film-Theme Note-Taking Tool during this activity.

• Paying attention to all four director choices on first viewing might be challenging for students. You might want to have students focus and take notes on one or two, and share their observations and notes with a partner.”

• In the Development Unit, The Book of Unknown Americans, Section 5, Lesson 6, students engage in a sustained recursive inquiry process as part of their research for the Culminating Task during which they rewrite a vignette from The Book of Unknown Americans from the perspective of another character from the book. During the lesson, students use the Culminating Task Progress Tracker to assess their own learning. Students also examine and discuss as a group the possible connections among the unit, other units from the year, and the research they might choose to do in the final Application Unit. The materials provide an Application Unit Potential Topics Tool for students to capture their reflections, and the student-facing materials provide questions for consideration, such as:

  • “What about each text or topic do you still want to study? What questions do you still have? Write these down in the Questions or Subtopics to Explore column.”

Teachers may use the Culminating Task Progress Tracker to conference with students and guide their questions when monitoring readiness for the unit Culminating Task and in the initial stage of planning for the Application Unit end-of-year research project. In addition, Teaching Notes in the Teacher Edition provide additional guidance relating to the Application Unit Potential Topic Tool as follows:

• “1. It provides a space in which students can capture their reflections about what they found intriguing in a unit and might want to explore further in the Application Unit. 

• 2. It serves as a repository of leads they might research when they arrive at the Application Unit.”

• 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 the Foundation Unit, Who Changes the World?, students work toward the Culminating Task during which they collaboratively participate in a research team to choose a pathway topic and create and deliver a 5–7 minute presentation about global, national, and local change agents and the conditions that caused or allowed change in one of the following pathways: technological, cultural, business and marketing, humanitarian, political, or scientific. In Section 3, Lesson 6, students refine and revise their Section 1 Diagnostic to “demonstrate how your understanding of change agents has expanded and changed after reading additional texts.”

  • In the Development Unit, Global Food Production, Section 2, Lesson 3, students practice using the Delineating Arguments Tool to break down two texts related to the central idea of the unit: “Why Industrial Farms Are Good for the Environment” by Jayson Lusk and “How Does Agriculture Change Our Climate?” by Barrett Colombo et al. Students use the Delineating Arguments Tool to identify the issue/question, purpose, perspective, and position of the texts in addition to claims, counterclaims, and supporting evidence.

  • In the Development Unit, Romeo and Juliet, Section 5, Lesson 7, students synthesize and analyze the texts and films they have studied throughout the unit to write a literary analysis to answer the question: “How can adaptations enhance or detract from the themes of the original text?” Students select themes from Romeo and Juliet by William Shaekspeare and compare and contrast how those themes are developed in two film adaptations of the play. Students must research the information from the films and synthesize this information with what they have read while studying the text of Romeo and Juliet. The Culminating Task Checklist provides the following guidance to instruct students on how to synthesize the information to develop their literary analysis: “Write a literary analysis in which you explain how the directors’ choices in their adaptations enhance or detract from the development of that theme in the play. Be sure to state your response and logically and succinctly support your response with evidence from the texts and films. Support your claims with textual evidence, including direct quotations with parenthetical citations.”

• In the Development Unit, The Book of Unknown Americans, students complete a rewrite of a vignette from The Book of Unknown Americans from the perspective of a different character from the book. Students read a large array of stories within The Book of Unknown Americans as well as other story sources, including but not limited to “The Wanderers” by Guadalupe Nettel and “My Mother Never Worked” by Bonnie Smith-Yackel. Students analyze and then synthesize the various narrative techniques and themes in each of these stories and their sources. During their readings of the various texts, the student’s research and plan the realistic characters, events, and conflicts they will portray in their rewrite of a vignette from The Book of Unknown Americans. In Section 4, Lesson 4, Activity 1, students create expert and home teams during a jigsaw activity designed for students to research and then report elements of setting, plot, and conflict in the novel “The Wanderers” by Guadalupe Nettel. Students then use this information for research in creating their own elements of setting, plot, and conflict in their rewritten vignette.  

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

  • In the Foundation Unit, Who Changes the World?, Section 2, Lesson 2, students complete a short research project during which they read and analyze change agents using a presentation protocol to learn about the change agents in the text “Agents of Change” by Phil Patton. Working in groups, students use the Change Agents Note-Taking Tool to analyze one change agent from the reading and present their findings to the class in order to learn about all the individuals the author highlights. Later in the unit, Section 4, Lesson 1, students begin a longer research project, the unit Culminating Task during which they “to create a 5–7 minute presentation about global, national, and local change agents and the conditions that caused or allowed change in one of the following pathways: technological, cultural, business and marketing, humanitarian, political, or scientific.” 

  • In the Development Unit, Global Food Production, Section 1, Lesson 7, students write an “evidence-based multipart claim and supporting paragraph” addressing the question, “What is the greatest challenge facing the global food system?” In Section 3, Lesson 7, students present their ideas using the Delineating Arguments Tool and “present the issue, question, perspective, position, and major claims and counterclaims for [their] final arguments.” Finally, in Section 5, Lessons 1–6, students compose their Culminating Task of developing their argumentative thesis using evidence-based claims, revise their work, present their findings to the whole class, and reflect on the process. 

  • In the Application Unit, What Do I Want to Research?, Section 1, Lesson 1, students discuss the importance of a researched perspective and the research process. Students form small research teams and begin developing the research topics that they will explore throughout the unit. In Section 1 Lesson 2, 1, students begin the first section of a shorter research project using the Exploring a Topic Tool to identify one or two potential Central Research Questions that might lead to valuable questions and problems to explore in their research. The teacher discusses each phase of the Research Plan and the Research Portfolio Description section. The Application Unit provides students with an opportunity to self-direct their research process, build a research portfolio, and develop a presentation for their learning community that shares their research findings. Tools and Reference Guides students utilize in previous units are available for students in the Literacy Toolbox throughout the unit-long project. Students may choose topics and texts from any of the prior units: Who Changes the World?, Photojournalism, Romeo and Juliet, The Book of Unknown Americans, and Global Food Production.

The materials reviewed for Grade 9 meet the criteria for Indicator 2g.

The instructional sequence begins with a Foundation Unit, followed by teacher-selected Development Units, and concludes with an Application Unit. Materials include Model Yearlong Paths as suggested guidance. The Foundation Unit serves as the starting point of student-led inquiry; instructional content addresses a large number of the Reading: Informational Text, Writing, Speaking & Listening, and Language standards. The Development Units include opportunities to revisit these standards and also address the Reading: Literature standards. The Application Unit is the recursive conclusion to students’ inquiry, and instructional content revisits the standards addressed in the Foundation Unit.

As part of the program’s Monitor, Diagnose, Evaluate practice, instruction and assessments are closely linked. Instruction is coherently sequenced, preparing students to respond to standards-aligned, analytical questions and tasks based on the complex texts of study. Questions and tasks are coherently sequenced and prepare students for Section Diagnostics. Each Section Diagnostic builds to the end-of-unit Culminating Task.

Materials 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, the majority of instruction is aligned to grade-level standards.

  • The CCSS Alignment document illustrates coverage of each standard strand. During both model pathway options, materials address the majority of Reading: Literature, Reading: Informational Text, Writing, Speaking & Listening, and Language standards.

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

  • As students closely read and analyze complex text, they respond to standards-aligned, text-based questions. Questions and tasks require students to cite textual evidence and draw upon the text to infer what is not explicitly stated. Questions and tasks build to and prepare students for the Section Diagnostic and end-of-unit Culminating Task.

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

  • Section Diagnostics and the end-of-unit Culminating Task align to grade-level standards. Each lesson includes standards-aligned explicit instruction, as well as questions and tasks, that prepares students for the corresponding Section Diagnostic. Each Section Diagnostic prepares students for the Culminating Task.

• By the end of the academic year, standards are repeatedly addressed within and across units to ensure students master the full intent of the standard.

  • The instructional sequence begins with the Foundation Unit, progresses through three Development Units, and ends with the Application Unit. Instruction and assessments within the Foundation Unit and Application Unit address a large number of the Reading: Informational Text, Writing, Speaking & Listening, and Language standards. Development Units revisit these standards and address Reading: Literature standards.