SEPTEMBER 2023 | Washington, D.C. – Get More Math has earned the Research-Based Design for Instructional Learning Products: Product Certification from Digital Promise. This Product Certification serves as a rigorous, reliable signal for district and school leaders, educators, and families looking for edtech products with a confirmed basis in research about learning.

Get More Math submitted evidence to Digital Promise confirming a link between research on how students learn and the product’s design. Get More Math also demonstrated their commitment to making their research basis clear and accessible to the public.

Get More Math provides spiral practice sessions uniquely tailored to each student’s needs, supporting mastery of new skills and long-term retention. “If it seems like math skills and concepts go in one ear, then out the other, it may be time to incorporate daily spiral review,” suggests Josh Britton, Founder and CEO of Get More Math. “Get More Math makes it brain-friendly with interleaved, spaced retrieval.”

“Educators and researchers continue to uncover important insights about how people learn,” said Christina Luke Luna, Chief Learning Officer, Pathways and Credentials at Digital Promise. “Digital Promise’s Research-Based Design Product Certification recognizes the edtech products that incorporate research about learning into their design and development. Congratulations to Get More Math for demonstrating that research informs product design!”

Through Product Certifications, consumers can narrow their options as they select products based on research about learning before trying it out in their classrooms. Digital Promise launched the Research-Based Design Product Certification in February 2020 and has certified over 70 products to date.

The Research-Based Design Product Certification uses a competency-based learning framework, developed in consultation with Digital Promise’s Learner Variability Project advisory board, expert researchers in the Learning Sciences field, and nearly 50 educators across the United States. Further detail about its development can be found in Digital Promise’s reports, Designing Edtech that Matters for Learning: Research-Based Design Product Certifications (2020) and An Overlooked Indicator of Edtech Quality: The Use of Learning Sciences Research (2022).

All developers, educators, edtech investors, and families are also encouraged to sign the Research-Based Product Promise and demand high-quality, research-driven products that support each unique learner. More information on Digital Promise’s Product Certifications can be found at productcertifications.digitalpromise.org.

“More than 8,000 products are used in K-12 schools and fewer than 1 percent have earned this recognition,” said Rachel Schechter, Ph.D.,  Learning Experience Design (LXD) Research, who helped advise Get More Math in preparing the application. 

About LXD Research

Learning Experience Design Research is an independent evaluation and research firm within Charles River Media Group focusing on educational programs. We specialize in research communication, efficacy study validation, and the design and execution of ESSA-aligned research studies. Visit www.LXDResearch.com.

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December 6, 2022

Josh Britton is a former teacher and the founder and CEO of Get More Math, which helps teachers break the math forgetting cycle in grades 3–11 with targeted practice that combines new material with spiral review to enhance long-term retention.

Students entered the 2022–2023 school year at different levels of math achievement; this happens every school year, but the differences in students’ abilities have been made more evident as disruptions to learning caused by the pandemic widened the skill gaps between our highest and lowest achieving students even more.

The latest results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress reveal the extent to which the pandemic disrupted learning. In fourth and eighth grade, math scores showed the biggest decline since the assessments were first given to students in 1990, with eighth-grade students’ scores dropping 8 points and fourth-grade students’ scores dropping 5 points compared to 2019.

Teachers have their work cut out for them as they try to bridge students’ skill gaps in math. In addition, schools and districts nationwide are facing significant staffing shortages—with rural and under-resourced schools and districts suffering the most.

With fewer paraprofessionals, math specialists and other supporting staff in schools, teachers are carrying the burden of these additional responsibilities. This means teachers don’t have ample time to provide personalized, one-on-one support for students.

During my 18 years in the classroom, I struggled with assessing each of my student’s needs and finding the time to provide the personalized instruction needed for each of my students—all while sticking to my curriculum. Below are key insights I recommend education leaders consider as they address math achievement challenges and student needs.

1. Lead math achievement with data

To ensure students are set up for success, teachers need real-time data to see precisely where their students require additional support so they can target instruction appropriately. Yet, with classroom time at a premium, teachers can’t afford to spend the allotted time on assessing students to determine their math skills and knowledge gaps.

Combining simultaneous spiral math practice and cumulative assessment offers a critical solution. This process can help teachers leverage student data more effectively—without taking valuable class time away from instruction—by providing individual, highly targeted math instruction and practice for students, while at the same time evaluating and reporting on their skills.

2. Produce actionable insight

When it comes to instruction, teachers should leverage the idea of “spiral review.” Simply put, this entails mixing new concepts and past materials to ensure students retain important concepts and continue growing as learners.

Technology is an important piece of this puzzle. It’s helpful to use a platform that combines practice and assessment so that educators can easily see where students are making mistakes as they’re working to correct those errors. At the same time, software can identify where gaps exist in students’ skills and generate a detailed, standards-aligned report for the teacher.

3. Review reports and student data

As educators, we need to determine each student’s progress and where additional support is needed. Actionable, meaningful data is crucial and essential for tailoring instruction to meet the diverse needs of each student—such as:

• Reteaching a skill or concept that students are struggling to grasp
• Arranging students by skill or ability to facilitate small-group instruction
• Working with students one-on-one to go over concepts that are still giving them trouble.

Collecting and reporting on this information while simultaneously offering individualized practice and instruction can accelerate math education in a highly efficient way. For example, I gathered real-time data to implement a “gradual release” strategy when transitioning students from a math lesson to independent practice.

Students showed their work on dry-erase boards during guided practice. As I identified students that consistently showed initial understanding, I released them to independent practice. I was then able to give more focused assistance to the students who needed it the most.

This is a key advantage at a time when students’ needs are acute—and school instructional staff are overburdened. A versatile platform that combines spiral math practice and cumulative assessment can help teachers make better use of their limited time to close math achievement gaps for everyone.

The post 3 ways teachers can make the most of data to boost math skills first appeared on Get More Math!.

Jeanette Nicholas is a math teacher at Belle Fourche Middle School in South Dakota. She has 35 years of math teaching experience.

As students return to class this fall, K–12 teachers and administrators face many challenges—and math instruction is high on the list.

Although state assessment data from the 2021–2022 school year suggest that students have begun to close pandemic-related learning gaps, the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) results reveal that students’ math scores dropped seven points—the first-ever score drop for math in the assessment’s fifty-year history.

Educators now face the daunting task of making up for lost instructional time from the COVID-19 pandemic, while at the same time, addressing drops in math achievement and teaching grade-level content. Where do educators start?

At Belle Fourche Middle School in South Dakota, we’re fortunate to be able to provide 50 extra minutes of math enrichment per day for the students who need it. We’re also using technology to provide highly targeted and personalized math instruction and practice for our students.

With these measures, we’re ensuring that students who have fallen behind in math make measurable gains so they achieve grade-level proficiency. Here’s our approach, and three key recommendations for educators as they seek to close the gaps in students’ math skills this year.

1. Get personal
Due to the disruptions to learning over the last few years, students are at different places in their learning trajectories. Using data to pinpoint each child’s specific skills ensures we are able to meet their unique learning needs.

At Belle Fourche, we utilize a math practice tool called Get More Math. This program uniquely tailors math practice sessions to each student based on their progress and comprehension of previously taught and newly introduced concepts. By personalizing the learning and practice process to each student’s needs, I can spend the valuable classroom time we have together directing my instruction accordingly.

2. Something old, something new
Educators must balance the need to catch students up and fill in the gaps with the need to teach grade-level skills and content. An approach that combines instruction of new content, with the practice and reinforcement of earlier skills, addresses these simultaneous requirements.

Math teachers can build cumulative math practice into their daily lessons, combining new grade-level content with a spiral review of previously taught concepts to ensure mastery and that the teach it, learn it, forget it cycle does not occur.

3. Trust the process
Educators, parents and students need to approach this school year with patience. A cumulative, “spiraled” approach to math instruction and review is an effective way to ensure students will continue to make progress toward grade-level proficiency by the end of the year.

With the right combination of tools, instructional strategies and student supports, K–12 teachers and administrators can overcome this challenge and get students back on the path toward math success this year.

The post Students are still behind in math–what needs to change? first appeared on Get More Math!.

In the study, researchers found that math-anxious students – even if they are good students overall – spend more time passively studying the textbook than engaging with real-world math problems, which is a better use of study time. 

This study confirms what Jeanette Nicholas, a math teacher at Belle Fourche Middle School in Belle Fourche, South Dakota, and many others have long known about the negative role anxiety can play in regard to math. With her students, Nicholas uses a variety of strategies to help students overcome their anxiety and form a more positive relationship with math. 

Inspire Students with Math Anxiety By Showing Them Success 

“They need to see success,” Nicholas says of students who are anxious about math. Nicholas teaches a supplementary math class that offers additional support. To build student confidence, she’ll often have them start off by solving types of problems for which they’ve already demonstrated proficiency. “So if the teacher’s starting a unit on fractions, and I know that she’s going to be teaching some concepts like adding and subtracting unlike denominators, we’ll go back and review adding fractions with like denominators.” Students then move on to tackle more difficult problems.

Technology can help with this process. Nicholas’ uses Get More Math, math practice software that lets students track their progress through a color-coded system. For example, when students revisit an old skill, the teaching tool reminds them of their previous mastery. As students learn new skills, they can see their progress, further boosting confidence and dispelling anxiety. “Even if they think, ‘I’m not very good at this,’ they suddenly realize, ‘Hey, I’m getting some points off it,’” Nicholas says. 

Correct Mistakes and Encourage Students Not to Label Themselves as Bad at Math 

In middle school, many students start to form lifelong associations with certain topics and can grow to hate math. “Usually by seventh grade, they know they’re not good at math,” Nicholas says. However, encouraging them to try anyhow and providing them with those initial opportunities for simple success can encourage students to change their perceptions of their abilities. 

In addition, it’s important to give real-time feedback and chances to address mistakes. Nicholas favors math learning tools that have students correct the problems they got wrong. She also makes sure to offer extra help to struggling students and encourages peer mentoring as well. “It’s cool to see the students who know how to do that problem, they can help each other,” she says. 

Ultimately, for Nicholas, combatting math anxiety is all about building student self-confidence. With enough practice, this becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Erik Ofgang is Tech & Learning’s senior staff writer. A journalist, author and educator, his work has appeared in the Washington Post, The Atlantic, and Associated Press. He currently teaches at Western Connecticut State University’s MFA program. While a staff writer at Connecticut Magazine he won a Society of Professional Journalism Award for his education reporting. He is interested in how humans learn and how technology can make that more effective. 

The post Ways To Reduce Math Anxiety in Students first appeared on Get More Math!.

Brenda Lynch is a retired math specialist. She spent the last eight of her 40 year-career in education at New Caney Independent School District in Texas.

Picture this: a student enters your classroom, a negative attitude at the ready. They are distant during class, uninterested in engaging with the material, and their beliefs confirmed every time they get a question wrong – “I can’t do math.” How can teachers combat this belief?

The culture that schools foster through the messages, beliefs, and behaviors that educators promote can help create a positive attitude among students that leads to better math achievement. Furthermore, research suggests that having a positive attitude toward math can boost math achievement.

In my 40-year tenure, where I concluded my career as a math specialist at New Caney Independent School District (ISD), I employed the following five strategies to help educators foster a strong math culture that leads to greater success for their students.

1. Make math relevant.

Connecting math to the everyday world that students live in helps them understand the relevance of what they’re learning, which can be very motivating. In addition to driving engagement, this approach can also help students build confidence.

For instance, if a student who is a basketball fan knows that a player who’s six for 10 from the free throw line is a 60-percent free throw shooter, that student already understands the concept of percentages without even realizing it. This awareness might convince students that they can, indeed, succeed at math.

2. Develop a growth mindset.

Fostering a growth mindset, in which students believe their abilities can be developed through hard work, is critical to overcoming the myth that some people are just better at math than others.

At New Caney ISD, educators would develop this mindset by emphasizing the growth that students made on common assessments. We challenged students to get a few more questions right on the next assessment they took, and we celebrated this growth more than we celebrated earning As or Bs in class.

3. Integrate cumulative review.

Long-term success in math is dependent upon students’ ability to retain fundamental precursor skills because new concepts almost always build upon prior lessons. If students don’t commit this knowledge to their long-term memory, they won’t succeed—and their confidence will suffer.

The key to ensuring long-term math retention is to review prior content as students are learning new material. In the New Caney schools, we used a program called Get More Math to provide cumulative math practice that included a mix of new material as well as older skills and concepts—all tailored to each student’s needs.

Get More Math personalizes the review process for every student by determining exactly what practice they need, based on which problems they’ve gotten wrong before and which concepts they haven’t reviewed in a while. Teachers would build time into each class period for this spiraled review. At New Caney ISD, we set class time aside for students to work within Get More Math, and for teachers to provide additional, tailored support.

4. Have students keep a math journal.

When working with students one-on-one, our teachers would use scratch paper to demonstrate a problem-solving approach. However, if students still had questions about a particular problem or procedure the next day, they couldn’t refer back to the previous day’s work because it was in the trash or stuck in a backpack somewhere. Teachers were having to reteach skills, and that wasn’t practical or an efficient use of time every day. 

To solve this challenge, we started requiring students to keep a math notebook or journal with all of their problems from the course. That way, if students had a question, they could go back and refer to their previous work to find the answer. These notebooks helped students learn important study habits that contributed to their overall success in math.

5. Tap into students’ competitive spirit.

New Caney ISD also held competitions between schools to see which campus could answer the most questions correctly within Get More Math on the first try. The students loved the competitive nature of these contests, and they were highly motivated to succeed. 

With the help of these strategies, our schools developed a strong math culture that led to promising results. In fact, in my last year with the district, three of our four middle schools were recognized by the state of Texas as distinguished campuses in math—and the fourth received an overall distinguished award, in part, because of its math scores.

A strong math culture can help students develop positive habits and mindsets that improve their math competency. When students believe they can do math, and this belief is reinforced with a taste of success, there is no limit to what they can achieve.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:

https://www.eschoolnews.com/2022/07/15/5-ways-to-create-a-strong-math-culture-in-your-schools/

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SONORA, CALIF. (PRWEB) JUNE 23, 2022

Get More Math, a tool designed to break the math forgetting cycle, introduces Student Standards Reports, providing administrators, curriculum coordinators, coaches, and teachers with real-time insights into every student’s mastery of important state math standards. 

Based on data gathered from daily spiral review, the Student Standards Reports help educators assess mastery based on every student interaction over time. While other tools rely on point-in-time mass diagnostic exams, the Student Standards Reports provide up-to-the-moment precision for understanding each student’s progress—without taking any valuable class time. 

“Educators often lack tools to monitor long-term mastery of a whole year’s worth of math content,” said Josh Britton, CEO of Get More Math. “The Student Standards Reports help educators not only understand and measure where their students are pacing on each state standard, but better target instruction throughout the school year to set students and their districts up for success during state testing in the spring.”

These reports will be available to select beta customers in Texas by July 1, 2022. Get More Math will release additional reports summarizing aggregate data throughout the summer and the Student Standards Reports will be available to schools and districts nationwide this fall. 

To learn more about Get More Math, see https://www.getmoremath.com/ or visit the Get More Math team at booth #3127 during the ISTE 2022 conference in New Orleans, LA. 

About Get More Math 
Get More Math software helps teachers break the math forgetting cycle in grades 3–11 with targeted practice that combines new material with spiral review to enhance long-term retention. More than 3,100 skills help teachers implement scaffolding, provide remediation, and gain an understanding of prior grade level exposure. Get More Math is designed to complement—not replace—existing math instruction and integrate with curricula. Get More Math is used in all 50 states. To learn more, please visit https://www.getmoremath.com/.

From PRWEB

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Donald Spangler is in his 17th year of teaching high school algebra and is the math department chair at Lampeter-Strasburg School District in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

Even the best math teachers have had students who ace the chapter tests just to go on and struggle with that same content on the final exam—or students who have a hard time grasping more advanced concepts because they’ve forgotten the foundational learning that came before. As a high school math teacher for more than 15 years, I’ve seen it happen again and again.

Long-term math retention can be elusive. For students to succeed in math, they need to master precursor concepts—foundational, grade-level skills—yet traditional classroom routines focus more on cramming in new information. As a result, while students might be able to recall newly learned concepts for an immediate assignment or end-of-unit assessment, their grasp on these concepts fades over time.

Ensuring that math concepts stick is critical because so many new math lessons build on the information that has come before. If students don’t transfer this knowledge to their long-term memory, the consequences can be detrimental to their achievement in the future.

Luckily, there is a simple, proven strategy teachers can use to improve long-term math retention—cumulative math practice. I’ve used this strategy in my math classroom for many years and have seen phenomenal results. Here’s how to use cumulative math practice to improve long-term math retention.

The key to success: Cumulative math practice

To break the “learn-forget, learn-forget” cycle, educators can mix in a review of earlier content as students learn new concepts and provide targeted, individualized practice.

Cumulative review doesn’t have to take time away from instruction. For example, in my algebra classroom, I give students practice problems that focus not just on the latest skill or concept we’ve recently covered, but also on concepts from prior units of instruction.

I follow a similar process for exams: Every test I give is a cumulative assessment of students’ knowledge, with questions that pertain to their prior learning and items constructed around the current topic.

Because students are repeatedly practicing and reviewing everything they’ve learned to date in my course, there is no need for them to “cram” for the final exam. In a sense, they have been preparing for that moment throughout the entire year because I want them to retain what they’ve learned long after they take an exam.

Avoid surprises with highly targeted practice

There are a variety of programs and solutions available to support math instruction. I’ve found success using Get More Math—a tool designed to break the math forgetting cycle.

Get More Math provides targeted practice that combines new and previously learned material to enhance long-term retention. As the school year progresses, I choose the types of problems I want students to practice and master—while Get More Math integrates a spiral review of old concepts to ensure students retain their prior math skills.  

To improve upon the “typical day” I split class time between new and previously covered content. Here’s how I allocate time:

1. Teach that day’s lesson.
2. Provide any assignments related to that day’s lesson.
3. Allocate time for mixed review—dedicated, independent sessions for cumulative practice.

This cumulative approach has led to unbelievable gains in my students’ long-term math retention, and their confidence has soared.

At the end of one semester, I had a student ask me, “Why would somebody ever teach any other way? When I got to the final exam, it was just like any other test.” It was one of the best moments I have ever shared with a student. There weren’t any surprises on the final exam because my students had seen this material every day throughout the year.

A cumulative approach to math instruction that mixes in a review of earlier concepts as students practice new skills can break the “learn, forget; learn, forget” cycle. It helps build students’ knowledge and confidence in math, resulting in proven growth in student achievement. Most importantly, it sets the foundation for students to succeed—both now and in the future.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:

https://www.eschoolnews.com/2022/06/22/my-simple-strategy-math-retention/

The post My simple strategy for long-term math retention first appeared on Get More Math!.

June 13, 2022

Here it comes – the break your students have been itching to start, but the one that makes most teachers nervous. You’ve spent the last year getting your students to master foundational, grade-level math skills, and now summer vacation starts. How can you keep them from forgetting everything they’ve learned throughout the year?

Summer learning loss is a well-documented phenomenon. One study found that the average student lost between 17 percent and 34 percent of the prior year’s learning gains during summer vacation. While some degree of “summer slide” is inevitable, there are steps math teachers can take before, during, and after the summer break to minimize the impact. Here are three strategies to help students retain their math gains over the summer months.

#1: Integrate cumulative review into instruction.

When learning loss occurs, it is often a direct reflection on the quality of the gains students made throughout the school year.

For example, summer slide can be extensive following a year of a unit-based math system, where instruction, practice, and assessment are almost exclusively based on the current unit’s content. Often, students make temporary gains and pass the exam for that unit, then begin to lose those gains as they proceed to the next section, then the school year is usually capped off with a large-scale review before students take a final exam.

Following this methodology, students refresh their memories of skills covered in previous units–just enough to survive the big test–but their tenuous grasp on the content fades over the summer.

I suggest a more impactful approach: Math teachers can build cumulative math practice into their daily lessons, pairing new content with a spiral review of prior concepts, and deliver cumulative assessments to ensure mastery. Following this methodology can help educators reduce the likelihood of summer slide and improve long-term math retention.

Adopting a tool that supports cumulative math practice, like Get More Math, makes it easy for teachers to incorporate spiraled-mixed review into daily instruction. As the school year progresses, Get More Math provides review sessions that are tailored to each student’s specific needs–so teachers can promptly identify and address any gaps in learning.

#2: Encourage students to engage with math every day during the summer.

If students are engaging with math all summer, they’re less likely to forget what they’ve learned. Most educators would agree that practicing math over the summer break may be a tough sell to our students; I approach this by challenging students to review and practice key skills they learned during the prior school year and provide incentives for doing so. Make the experience fun, so that it doesn’t seem like extra work.

In addition, teachers can customize the skills they want each student to practice; for instance, you might ask a student to review skills they’re good at in order to boost their confidence. This confidence boost can encourage students to continue their practice and support their long-term math retention.

#3 Fill in the gaps when students return to school.

We’ve identified what to do before and during the summer break, but what happens when our students return to school and the inevitable summer slide has crept in?

Here’s my trusted prescription: Kick off the school year with simple, accessible, grade-level content. Capture students’ attention with new ideas–make an effort to sustain their early energy and enthusiasm. It’s unrealistic to expect every student to enter your classroom after the summer with no gaps to fill–but identifying and addressing those gaps doesn’t have to happen all at once. Rather, teachers can weave in intermittent gap-filling with as-needed lessons on critical precursor skills.

Encouraging students to engage with math over the summer and addressing the gaps in their knowledge when they return is critical. However, excellent instruction is at the core of long-term gains that can reduce summer learning loss. Students who have opportunities to explore math at the conceptual level and build their own understanding have stronger odds of retaining concepts and skills that persist throughout the summer–and beyond.

Donald Spangler is in his 17th year of teaching algebra and is the math department chair at Lampeter-Strasburg School District in Pennsylvania.

The post 3 key strategies to combat summer learning loss in math first appeared on Get More Math!.

Get there early to be sure to get a seat.

Indiana Convention Center, Room 132, 1:00 PM.

Session Description:

By the end of the school year, students have already forgotten many of their hard-won math concepts. How can we break the forgetting cycle and make math stick? In this session, veteran math teacher Josh Britton will share his proven model for driving long-term retention through use of Get More Math software.

Conference: https://www.nctm.org/indy2022/

The post Josh Britton to speak at the 2022 NCTM conference in Indianapolis on March 17. first appeared on Get More Math!.

While the Get More Math team appreciates teachers on a daily basis, this week is special. It’s Teacher Appreciation Week and we’ve been highlighting some GMM super users across the country who are using our math practice software to help their students make meaningful increases in concept mastery and long-term retention.

Here are some of our previous teacher profiles:

• Monday: Linda Yahr from Owen J. Roberts Middle School
• Tuesday: April O’Dell from Dover Elementary School
• Wednesday: Melissa Nolt from Manheim Central Middle School

Today, let’s head over to Everett High School to meet math teacher Jessica Volbrecht. Jessica is a Drexel University and Elizabethtown College graduate and has been teaching math for 16 years.

Thursday: Teacher of the Day!

Jessica - Why did you become a teacher?

I enjoy being able to help people become better problem solvers.

Jessica Volbrecht

9th-12th Grade Math

What was your most memorable teaching moment?

Any time when I see and hear students explain their thinking patiently and confidently to one another.

Who was your favorite teacher?

Mrs. Kline

What is your favorite GMM feature?

Personalized Mixed Review

Tell us something unique about yourself.

I was a tennis coach in my previous job.

More about Jessica:

Years of Teaching Experience

0

Works @ Everett High School

Drexel University Alumni

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