Matific K-8
Core Code Alignment
Mathematics
Elementary Mathematics
07018800005: Mathematics Grade 4
Elementary Mathematics
07018800005: Mathematics Grade 4
Recommendation
Reviewed, Not Recommended
Evaluation
This product does not act as an instructional product. It may be a resource for supplemental use with a gamified approach to student practice of learned concepts, but even in that context, there are many loopholes within the program that potentially allow a student to clear levels without having any authentic mathematical understanding. Raters do not recommend the product.
Educators Using These Materials
No educators found.
Material Categories
Supplementary
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 | Does Not Violate Law | NA | NA | May Violate Law | ||
| No sensitive materials present as rated by all raters. | ||||||
| Prohibited discriminatory practices 53G-2-103-5, 53B-1-118 and 67-27-107 | Does Not Violate Law | NA | NA | May Violate Law | ||
| No discriminatory materials present as rated by all raters. | ||||||
| Maintaining constitutional freedom in the public schools. 53G-10-202 | Does Not Violate Law | NA | NA | May Violate Law | ||
| No violations found as rated by all raters. | ||||||
| Free from advertising, e-commerce, or political interest | Contains none of the listed items. | NA | NA | Contains one or more of the listed items. | ||
| One rater received a pop-up asking for a review of the materials while reviewing, and another had a cookies notice pop-up. However, actual advertisements or political interests were not evident. | ||||||
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. 1- Student and teachers using the materials as designed devote the majority of time to the Major Work of the grade. 2- Supporting Work enhances focus and coherence simultaneously by also engaging students in the Major Work of the grade. 3- Materials follow the grade-by-grade progressions in the Standards. Content from previous or future grades does not unduly interfere. 4- Lessons that only include mathematics from previous grades are clearly identified. Materials that do not meet the non-negotiable requirements for Focus and Coherence will not be recommended as primary resources. Please continue with the review to determine if the materials may be recommended for supplemental use. | Meets all non-negotiable requirements | NA | NA | Does not meet the non-negotiable requirements. *see narrative for determination of which requirement(s) was not met | ||
| All raters felt that Criterion 1 (student and teachers using the materials as designed devote a majority of time to the Major Work of the grade) and Criterion 4 (Lessons that only include mathematics from previous grades are clearly defined) were adequate WHEN USED AS A SUPPORT FOR THE STANDARDS. However, while the activities focus on grade-level skills, they are not necessarily presented with any scope or sequence and may not instruct students in the major work of the grade if not assigned by teachers in a way that does so. Students will likely engage in activities associated with the major work of the grade, but how much of the time is devoted to the major work will depend on the teacher and which activities are used. No raters identified clear indications of lessons that included only mathematics from previous grades (Criterion 4). However, it was noted that there are overlapping mathematical ideas in several of the activities. When this is the case, the lessons in later grades appear to be separate and distinct (though building on) the learning in previous grades. Raters felt that Criterion 2 (Supporting work enhances focus and coherence simultaneously by also engaging students in the Major Work of the grade) and Criterion 3 (Materials follow the grade-by-grade progressions in the Standards. Content from previous or future grades does not unduly interfere) were inadequate. The major work of the grade is disguised as play throughout the activities, and no direct instruction resources seem to be included. Raters felt that while this may be engaging to students, the activities are not ENHANCING the work of the grade (Criterion 2). Raters also mentioned that the level to which the activities follow the grade-by-grade progression (Criterion 3) will vary largely based on how the activities are assigned to students. | ||||||
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 | ||
| To be able to move through activities you need to have a clear understanding of the material PRIOR to attempting the activities. Activities did not give clear instructions and were expecting more abstract thinking to complete the lesson. As an educator going through this activity, teachers may experience frustration with the lack of instructions and the lack of usefulness for hints. Even beginning activities asked for deep conceptual knowledge that had not been previously taught or explained. The gamification aspect of activities supports engagement, but potentially artificial engagement that is separate from conceptual understanding. Some of the activities with a "Conceptual Understanding" tag did a better job of this, but often games could be played multiple times to improve scores meaning students could improve scores by memorizing the activities or lucky guesses. Activities do not ensure development of 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 | ||
| Activities seem more like supplemental practice, not a curriculum. On the teacher portal under 'find activities' there is a fluency section you can find for various topics and assign to students. But because there is so much free range with the adventure map, I can imagine it would be difficult to get students to actually complete an assigned activity over a preferential activity of their choosing. Attaining fluencies and procedural skills would be hard in this gamified platform because it is too easy to guess on the answer. If a question were to be answered incorrectly too many times students are simply given the correct answer. For students, the object then becomes beating the game and not learning mathematical skills. Thus, a student could progress through these activities without really developing skill fluency or understanding. | ||||||
| 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 | ||
| This entire application is based on extension of grade level concepts that have had prior instruction, most of the activities are based on the Major Work of the grade and the standards students need to learn. Because this is an application-based platform, with activities intended to teach or supplement teaching, whether or not focus is maintained on the major work of the grade depends largely which activities a teacher assigns. | ||||||
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 | ||
| Overall the materials seemed to be helpful in practicing materials that had already been taught. It seems like the adventure map and large array of choices from the initial opening game setting has options that take away focus from specific standards instead of focusing intentionally on them. Product provides a way to supplement the Major Work but would not be a good way to teach the Major Work. The games would be a fun addition to teaching the standards but the focus of learning the math standards could easily be lost in goal of getting through the games. The gamification inherent in these activities calls into question whether or not they detract from student and teacher emphasis of practice standards. Some raters expressed doubts as to whether the practice standards can "stay alive" amidst what feels like will become a student focus on "winning" a level or a game. | ||||||
| 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 | ||
| There is only one assessment raters could identify and that was a placement test to determine where students should start in the game world and on what skill levels. It is not clear if tasks accurately represent student understanding of necessary materials because little to no direction for tasks are given. Presumably, "beating" an activity represents an assessment of sorts, but it is not assessment tied to mathematical practices. | ||||||
| Materials support the Standards’ emphasis on mathematical reasoning. | Meets | Partially meets | N/A | Does not meet | ||
| Raters didn't feel like students would be doing a lot of reasoning. Some students may, but the games could be beat by pushing the answer button enough times. It would tell you the correct answer. Those needing the most help could look brilliant by finding the game loopholes. | ||||||
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 | ||
| Raters did not see any support for English language learners. The platform appears to leave differentiation up to the teacher to assign activities that are from different grade levels to support differentiation in ability levels. | ||||||
| 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 | ||
| There are some "extension" activities in each grade which appear to be decently rigorous, but the ability of the intervention and differentiation piece would be based on how a teacher assigns activities to individual students. So, this could be done, but is not inherent in the set up of the program pacing or presentation. | ||||||
| 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 | ||
| Limited feedback to students within activities. Although the activities themselves offer different representations through the gamification, there isn't really a platform for students developing and working with multiple strategies themselves outside of which activities they may be assigned to complete. | ||||||
| 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, | In addition to the content outlined in “Adequate,” this material offers multiple evidence-based supplemental resources and opportunities for learning about various forms of cultural philosophies and epistemologies from Utah, the United States, and worldwide. The materials provide cultural backgrounds, contemporary real-life experiences, and contexts that are relevant to local students. Some examples may include people with disabilities, various body types, and ages. | This material demonstrates respect for diverse socio-cultural identities. The material provides opportunities to acknowledge and integrate the histories, cultures, contributions, and perspectives of people from the United States and worldwide. The material accurately represents the cultures, languages, traditions, beliefs, values, and customs of people from diverse backgrounds through a variety of texts, examples, scenarios, imagery, and applications. | The material has limited themes of social and cultural histories within the United States and globally. The material provides limited examples of inclusive or cultural real-life experiences and does not include diverse characters. | The material does not meet the requirements within the ethnic studies core standards and curriculum requirements. (53E-4-204.1). | ||
| Not present | ||||||
| Shared Values and Character Traits | The material extends beyond the content outlined in "Adequate", it includes elements that connect Utahns to the world. The material offers multiple evidence-based supplemental resources and opportunities for cultivating character traits in students. The material offers multiple evidence-based supplemental resources and opportunities for cultivating character traits in students. Some examples may include characters with a variety of personalities, education, income, occupation, or behaviors that illustrate character traits. | The material focuses on the shared values of diverse people and communities, the common elements that unite Utahns, and displays some character traits in its imagery and content. It aims to cultivate character traits in students, such as courage, leadership, intelligence, integrity, honesty, respect, morality, civility, duty, honor, and service, along with principles found in the Constitution. | The material lacks a sense of shared values or common elements that unite Utahns. Furthermore, the material has limited resources addressing civic and character education. | The material does not meet the requirements within the ethnic studies core standards and curriculum requirements (53E-4-204.1) and civic and character education. (53G-10-204) | ||
| Not present | ||||||
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 | ||
| This is designed as a supplemental product not a Tier 1 product. | ||||||
| Assessments measure what students understand and can do through well designed mathematical tasks and applications. | Meets | Partially meets | N/A | Does not meet | ||
| Activities may act as assessments of a sort, but they are not high enough quality to provide concrete or reliable evidence of student understanding. | ||||||
UTAH STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION
250 East 500 South
Salt Lake City, UT 84111-3204
Phone: 801.538.7807