I agree that this is probably just a case of a teacher following an answer key too closely and some curriculum company rushing out something that could have a sticker on it that says “Common Core aligned”. (Lots of that going around…)
The Smarter Balanced (Common Core) tests are supposed to be set up to accept multiple correct answers for the math performance tasks.
Maybe it’s just that I went to school in the Dark Ages and at a very “traditional” school even back then, but I learned the multiplication facts pretty much as an abstraction–lots of flashcards and timed tests. I don’t recall any talk about what it was for until well after learning the facts. (Maybe it was explained, and I didn’t pay attention.)
Skip counting by 5s is a Common Core standard for 2nd grade. Skip counting by 3s isn’t specifically on the list for any grade. So, the answer the student provided would be expected based on which numbers are easier to add multiple times. A general 2nd grade standard is “Work with equal groups of objects to gain foundations for multiplication.” The standards do call for more “using models” to understand the math, so that’s where drawing the arrays comes in.
3rd grade standards treat multiplication more abstractly after the model-based foundation in 2nd grade:
– Represent and solve problems involving multiplication and division.
– Understand properties of multiplication and the relationship between multiplication and division.
– Multiply and divide within 100.
– Solve problems involving the four operations, and identify and explain patterns in arithmetic.
@sylvan8798 That is surprising regarding setting up the equation even for calculus students. My daughter is currently doing more complicated word problems than that (add inequalities and multi-step to the mix) in 7th grade Common Core compacted math. (But, my husband tells the story of teaching a discussion section for freshman physics for premeds. He was trying to break down a problem students were having, and asked “How do you find the slope of a straight line?” and a student said “Oh, it’s been so long, I don’t remember.”)