The Evaluation in Detail To provide a better sense of how the evaluation was conducted, the following describes in more detail each step in the curriculum-materials analysis procedure. The description includes examples of how the procedure was applied to obtain ratings of the textbooks. The method of analysis, including training reviewers, assigning textbooks to review teams, and other information about the review process is available in Appendix C . Analysts use a software utility to keep track of what they find.
Analysts determine the extent to which an activity addresses the benchmark concept or skill.
To evaluate the link between an activity's content and the content of selected mathematics benchmarks requires analysts to pay close attention to the precise meaning of the benchmark on one end and the precise intention of the textbook on the other. If we study the benchmark carefully, however, we see that it is really about how equations summarize changes in quantities. To address the substance of the benchmark, an activity would need to involve students in using equations to represent and describe how a quantity such as daily temperature changes over months of the year, explaining patterns in the changes, or using the equation to make predictions. Activities that involve students only in writing, simplifying, evaluating, or solving equations do not necessarily align with this benchmark. An activity or lesson may align with a benchmark at an earlier or later grade level rather than the intended one.