We are excited to share that EdReports recently completed its review of our 6th–8th grade math curriculum, and has awarded Fishtank perfect scores for alignment to the Common Core State Standards.
EdReports is a nonprofit that convenes teams of expert educators to conduct independent reviews of K–12 instructional materials. They use a rigorous rubric to measure the quality of year-long curricula, and provide teachers and school leaders with valuable information about the materials they use in their classrooms.
Read the full report at EdReports.org
The review process for middle school math focuses first on two gateways—Focus & Coherence and Rigor & Mathematical Practice—that gauge a curriculum’s alignment to college- and career-ready standards.
Peruse the K–8 math rubric and evidence guides at EdReports.org
“We've spent the last few years writing and refining the Fishtank math curriculum to be what you see online today,” says Jami Therrien Wells, Managing Director of Math Curriculum. “We knew that alignment to the Common Core needed to be a top priority throughout our curriculum. We made that our focus as we developed pacing guides, curated and created high-quality problems, and wrote guiding questions and notes for teachers. Receiving the highest possible rating from EdReports on alignment is an exciting honor, especially knowing that it comes from actual educators!”
A third gateway measures Usability, and our 6th–8th grade math curriculum partially met expectations in EdReports' initial review, scoring 27 out of a possible 38. For this review of our core, free curriculum, we did not expect to meet expectations for usability.
The recently launched Fishtank Plus is designed to provide features and content that will support teachers in their implementation of the curriculum, and meet more of EdReports' requirements for usability. Their feedback during this round of reviews is helping to inform the ongoing development of Fishtank Plus, and we plan to submit the updated materials for review again in 2020.
For Claire Kaplan, Executive Director of Match Export, the strong reviews of our core curriculum reinforce what our users are already experiencing. “Teachers all over the country are using our middle school math curriculum. It is our most downloaded content,” says Kaplan. “These high ratings by EdReports confirm that the content is high-quality, rigorous, and aligned to the Common Core.”
Of the 39 middle school math curricula that EdReports has reviewed, only a handful of other publishers have achieved perfect alignment scores, and among them only one is a free, open educational resource (OER) like Fishtank.
“With so many curriculum options out there and lots of publishers spending huge sums to promote their products, having a positive EdReports review helps level the playing field for nonprofit OER organizations,” reflects Kaplan. “It shows educators that our OER product is as good, if not better than, many expensive alternatives.”
Learn more about our highly rated middle school math curriculum, and explore the full library of teachers resources, including unit and lesson plans, vocabulary, and assessments, all available for download with a free account.