Blitzer, Thinking Mathematically, 8e ©2023 NASTA
Core Code Alignment
Mathematics
Other Mathematics
07070000090: Mathematical Decision Making for Life
Other Mathematics
07070000090: Mathematical Decision Making for Life
Recommendation
Recommended Limited
Evaluation
Recommend as a Limited source, especially for the Mathematical Decision Making for Life core. There was limited resources to fully teach all the concepts of that core.
Educators Using These Materials
No educators found.
Rubric : Mathematics 2025
Compliance with State Law (Required)
| Item | 3 - Extensive | 2 - Adequate | 1 - Inadequate | 0 - None | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sensitive Materials and Prohibited Submission 53G-10-103, R277-628 | This item has not been graded. | |||||
| Prohibited discriminatory practices 53G-2-103-5, 53B-1-118 and 67-27-107 | This item has not been graded. | |||||
| Maintaining constitutional freedom in the public schools. 53G-10-202 | This item has not been graded. | |||||
| Free from advertising, e-commerce, or political interest | This item has not been graded. | |||||
Focus and Coherence: Non-Negotiable
| Item | 3 - Extensive | 2 - Adequate | 1 - Inadequate | 0 - None | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Non-negotiable materials must focus coherently on the Major Work of the grade in a way that is consistent with the progressions in the standards. | Student and teachers using the materials as designed devote the majority of time to the Major Work of the grade. | Supporting Work enhances focus and coherence simultaneously by also engaging students in the Major Work of the grade. | Materials follow the grade-by-grade progressions in the Standards. Content from previous or future grades does not unduly interfere. | Lessons that only include mathematics from previous grades are clearly identified. | ||
| The text does not align well to the Utah State Core for Mathematical Decision Making. Out of 14 chapters, there is one chapter dedicated to Personal Finance and one for statistics, but it is not sufficient to teach the core. Many topics are lacking depth. A teacher would need to supplement in areas. | ||||||
Rigor and Balance
| Item | 3 - Extensive | 2 - Adequate | 1 - Inadequate | 0 - None | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The materials support the development of students’ conceptual understanding of key mathematical concepts, especially where called for in specific standards or cluster headings. | Meets | Partially meets | N/A | Does not meet | ||
| The online videos help teach the concepts, but the videos are very short and do not develop the conceptual ideas well. The textbook looks like every other math textbook. The textbook has pictures, diagrams, and bolded vocabulary, there are also PowerPoint slides in Instructor Resources that the teacher can use or modify to meet their teaching needs. Teachers would need to supplement with tasks to develop the conceptual understanding. | ||||||
| The materials are designed so that students attain the fluencies and procedural skills required by the Standards. | Meets | Partially meets | N/A | Does not meet | ||
| The source has problem sets (online and in the textbook) that can be used, or the teacher can select similar problems in the online version that the students can use for problem sets. With the online problems, students can retry problems they missed. | ||||||
| The materials are designed so that teachers and students spend sufficient time working with applications, without losing focus on the Major Work of each grade. (Are there single and multi-step contextual problems that develop the mathematics of the grade, afford opportunities for practice, and engage students in problem solving?) | Meets | Partially meets | N/A | Does not meet | ||
| Each lesson has problems that are labeled practice, application, critical thinking and explaining. There are vocabulary questions, applied problems, etc. | ||||||
Standards for Mathematical Practice
| Item | 3 - Extensive | 2 - Adequate | 1 - Inadequate | 0 - None | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Materials address the practice standards in such a way as to enrich the Major Work of the grade; practice standards strengthen the focus on Major Work instead of detracting from it, in both teacher and student materials. | Meets | Partially meets | N/A | Does not meet | ||
| There are a variety of problem types the students can be assigned, but not all of the items in the Core are found in this resource, so the teacher will need to find supplemental material. More than half of the major works are not found. | ||||||
| Tasks and assessments of student learning are designed to provide evidence of students’ proficiency in the Standards of Mathematical Practice. | Meets | Partially meets | N/A | Does not meet | ||
| In the textbook there are test questions and students can check their answers from using the key in the back of the book. The online source has a personal study plan, tests, and quizzes where students are better able to see proficiency in the standard. No evidence of "alone tasks" or "project problems." | ||||||
| Materials support the Standards’ emphasis on mathematical reasoning. | Meets | Partially meets | N/A | Does not meet | ||
| There is a section in the textbook exercises that deals with explaining concepts, critical thinking, and group exercises. There is a variety of levels of difficulty throughout the practice problems. | ||||||
Access to the Standards for All Students
| Item | 3 - Extensive | 2 - Adequate | 1 - Inadequate | 0 - None | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Support for English Language learners and other special populations is thoughtful (evidence-based) and helps those students meet the same Standards (and rigor) as all other students. The language in which problems are posed is carefully considered. | Meets | Partially meets | N/A | Does not meet | ||
| No evidence of the text providing materials in a language other than English. The textbook does have the new vocabulary words bolded. There are video examples students can watch for extra help, but the only language available was English with English subtitles. | ||||||
| Materials provide scaffolding, differentiation, intervention, and support for a broad range of learners with gradual removal of supports, when needed, to allow students to demonstrated their mathematical understanding independently. | Meets | Partially meets | N/A | Does not meet | ||
| If the online assignments are given, the teacher can allow the students to try problems multiple times if they got it incorrect the first time so the student can keep practicing until they can do the problem type. There are video supports. There is also a "View an Example" and "Help me Solve This" the student can select for additional support. The teacher has the ability to enable or disable these helps as they deem appropriate. | ||||||
| Design of lessons incorporates strategies such as using multiple representations, deconstructing/reconstructing the language of problems, providing suggestions for addressing common student difficulties, etc. to ensure grade-level progress for all learners. | Meets | Partially meets | N/A | Does not meet | ||
| Various examples in the textbook use "shortcuts" of doing math without any explanation of why it can be done. Sometimes this reinforces student misconceptions without addressing them. No evidence of strategies for deconstructing/reconstructing the language of problems. | ||||||
| Ethnic Studies- (Ethnic studies in core standards and curriculum should be a narrowly tailored incorporation of age-appropriate opportunities that naturally arise through education without pretextual effort in courses, programs, or activities where ethnic studies is not a primary focus. The material should incorporate a curriculum of people and cultures that reflect the state’s various demographics without commentary that seeks to violate the neutrality standard established in codes: 53B-1-118, 53G-2-103, 53G-2-104, 53G-2-105, 67-27-107, | This item has not been graded. | |||||
| Shared Values and Character Traits | This item has not been graded. | |||||
Assessment
| Item | 3 - Extensive | 2 - Adequate | 1 - Inadequate | 0 - None | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Multiple measurements of individual student progress occur at regular intervals ensuring success of all students. | Meets | Partially meets | N/A | Does not meet | ||
| There are problem sets for each section, there are also Skills Checks reviews and quizzes that a teacher could choose to use. | ||||||
| Assessments measure what students understand and can do through well designed mathematical tasks and applications. | Meets | Partially meets | N/A | Does not meet | ||
| Plenty of application problems both in the text and online to choose from. No evidence of tasks or implementation of tasks are found. | ||||||
UTAH STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION
250 East 500 South
Salt Lake City, UT 84111-3204
Phone: 801.538.7807