Running head: ENVISION TEXTBOOK ALIGNMENT

enVision Textbook Alignment

Martha C. McMillan
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
EDAS 5740 Dr. Totten
3 August 2014

ENVISION TEXTBOOK ALIGNMENT

Introduction.
A few years ago, Hamilton County adopted a new math textbook the enVision Math series from
Pearson. Not more than two years later, Hamilton County partly adopted the Common Core State
Standards (CCSS). With the adoptions so close together in time, it seems logical to me that they would
align together. Knowing that the state would be adopting the CCSS, one would think that Hamilton
County would want to ensure that the new textbook adoption would match the incoming standards.
However, this does not seem to be the case.
Common core state standards.
For this alignment project, I was focusing on fifth grade. Hamilton County has partly adopted the
CCSS in the intermediate grades. Fifth grade teaches four focus clusters from the CCSS. The focus
clusters are:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Understand the place value system.

Perform operations with multi-digit whole numbers and with decimals to hundredths.
Use equivalent fractions as a strategy to add and subtract fractions.
Apply and extend previous understandings of multiplication and division to multiply and
divide fractions.

Each cluster contains two to five standards. The alignment of standards to focus cluster is below.
Focus Cluster
Understand the place value system.

Standard
5.NBT.1
Recognize that in a multi-digit number, a digit in
one place represents 10 times as much as it
represents in the place to its right and 1/10 of what
it represents in the place to its left.
5.NBT.2
Explain patterns in the number of zeros of the
product when multiplying a number by powers of
10, and explain patterns in the placement of the
decimal point when a decimal is multiplied or
divided by a power of 10. Use whole-number
exponents to denote powers of 10.
5.NBT.3
Read, write, and compare decimals to thousandths.
5.NBT.4

ENVISION TEXTBOOK ALIGNMENT

Use place value understanding to round decimals to
any place.
Perform operations with multi-digit whole
5.NBT.5
numbers and with decimals to hundredths.
Fluently multiply multi-digit whole numbers using
the standard algorithm.
5.NBT.6
Find whole-number quotients of whole numbers
with up to four-digit dividends and two-digit
divisors, using strategies based on place value, the
properties of operations, and/or the relationship
between multiplication and division.
5.NBT.7
Add, subtract, multiply, and divide decimals to
hundredths, using concrete models or drawings and
strategies based on place value, properties of
operations, and/or the relationship between
addition and subtraction.
Use equivalent fractions as a strategy to add and
5.NF.1
subtract fractions.
Add and subtract fractions with unlike
denominators (including mixed numbers) by
replacing given fractions with equivalent fractions
in such a way as to produce an equivalent sum or
difference of fractions with like denominators.

Apply and extend previous understandings of

multiplication and division to multiply and
divide fractions.

5.NF.2
Solve word problems involving addition and
subtraction of fractions referring to the same
whole, including cases of unlike denominators.
5.NF.3
Interpret a fraction as division of the numerator by
the denominator. Solve word problems involving
division of whole numbers leading to answers in
the form of fractions or mixed numbers.
5.NF.4
Apply and extend previous understandings of
multiplication to multiply a fraction or whole
number by a fraction.
5.NF.5
Interpret multiplication as scaling by comparing
the size of a product to the size of one factor on the
basis of the size of the other factor, without
performing the indicated multiplication.
5.NF.6
Solve real world problems involving multiplication
of fractions and mixed numbers.
5.NF.7
Apply and extend previous understandings of
division to divide unit fractions by whole numbers
and whole numbers by unit fractions.

ENVISION TEXTBOOK ALIGNMENT

Using these focus clusters and standards, I walked through the fifth grade math enVision textbook to see
how well it really matched up.
Understand the place value system.
The CCSS included in the first focus cluster include the relationships between the places, powers
of ten, reading/writing/comparing decimals to the thousandths, and rounding decimals. Topic 1 in the
enVision book covers the place value system. enVision covers reading/writing/comparing whole numbers
and decimals to the millionths place. Topic 2 of enVision teaches rounding decimals. However, the
enVision book is lacking any instruction on the relationships between the places and powers of ten.
Perform operations with multi-digit whole numbers and with decimals to hundredths.
The CCSS included in the second focus cluster include multiplying whole numbers with the
standard algorithm, dividing four digits by two digits using multiple strategies, and performing all four
operations with decimals using multiple strategies. Topic 3 of enVision is over multiplying whole
numbers. It includes lessons that use the standard algorithm. Topic 5 of enVision teaches dividing whole
numbers. It does cover four digits divided by two digits. However, it teaches division using the standard
algorithm only. Topic 2 of enVision teaches adding and subtracting with decimals and topic 7 of enVision
teaches multiplying and dividing with decimals. However, again, just like with the division of whole
numbers, enVision teaches using the standard algorithm only. It does not reference inverse strategies,
place value relationships, or the properties of the operations.
Use equivalent fractions as a strategy to add and subtract fractions.
The CCSS included in the third focus cluster include adding and subtracting fractions (in and out
of word problems) using equivalent fractions to find like denominators. Topic 10 of enVision teaches
adding and subtracting fractions and mixed numbers. It includes lessons that teach replacing the unlike
denominators with equivalent fractions. The third focus cluster and topic 10 of enVision are fully
aligned!

ENVISION TEXTBOOK ALIGNMENT

Apply and extend previous understandings of multiplication and division to multiply and divide
fractions.
The CCSS included in the fourth focus cluster include dividing whole numbers that lead to
fractional quotients, multiplying fractions by fractions and fractions by whole numbers, interpreting
multiplication as scaling, multiplying mixed numbers in real world problems, and dividing unit fractions
by whole numbers and whole numbers by unit fractions. Topic 11 of enVision teaches multiplying
fractions and mixed numbers. It includes lessons on multiplying fractions by whole numbers, multiplying
fractions by fractions, multiplying mixed numbers, and dividing whole numbers by unit fractions.
However, enVision does not teach dividing whole numbers that lead to fractional quotients, interpreting
multiplication as scaling, or dividing unit fractions by whole numbers.
Closing thoughts.
Out of the four focus clusters that fifth grade teachers are expected to teach, only one fully aligns
to the enVision math textbooks that fifth graders use. The other clusters all have missing links. As a
result, the Hamilton County math coaches are required to work every summer on creating, editing, and
modifying supplemental lessons to go with the enVision series. In the 2013-2014 school year, fifth grade
teachers taught upwards of sixty supplemental lessons about a third of the school year. I am glad that
we, as a county, have only partially implemented the CCSS in fifth grade. There are lots of CCSS that we
do not teach but, if we did, I can only imagine the number of supplemental lessons that we would have
to have written.
References.
Charles, R.I. (2012). Envision math. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
Common Core State Standards Initiative. (2012). Retrieved from
http://www.corestandards.org/Math/Content/5/