The Effort Rating screen–a tool for motivating students

The effort rating screens, shown above, pop up every time a student logs into Rocket Math Online Tutor.  It shows the number of sessions the student has started and completed in the last 14 days. It’s a rolling mini-calendar.  Students see a letter for any day (SMTWTFS) when there was no session.   On days when they start sessions, students instead see the number of sessions they started.  On days when they complete sessions, students instead see the number of sessions they completed. For every two sessions completed in the last 14 days, they earn one-half a star and four sessions a full star.  The more stars they have, the more effort they are making.

It’s powerful to recognize students based on their effort.

Every student can put in effort regardless of their academic prowess.  The really bright students, who learn easily, get a lot of recognition, sometimes with little effort.  If you want to be fair and if you want to help and motivate all of your students focus on their effort rather than their level of success.  Some students have to work harder than others to achieve, but you want to recognize and reward students based on their effort when you can.  This will help them later in life as well. Rocket Math Online Tutor makes that easy with the effort rating screen shown above that pops up after they log in.

Our goal should be for students to complete a session each school day and one more at home for homework.  Over the previous 14 days that would normally amount to 20 sessions which would earn them five stars.  If they only complete a session per day at school that would be ten sessions or 2 1/2 stars.  You’ll want to aim at getting students to do Rocket Math as homework as well.

Your enthusiasm signals what is important.

When students log in, the effort screen comes up first before they start working. You need to show interest in how much effort your students have been exerting.  You and the student can view this when students log into Rocket Math.  If you publicly praise students with stars for  effort, then students will know that effort is important.  Just walking around and exclaiming something like, “Wow, Julie, you got one and a half stars for effort!  I’m impressed!” will cause other students to look at their star effort screens.  Soon, students will show you if their effort rates more stars, so you can see it and praise them.  Looking at a few students’ effort rating screens should become a daily routine when Rocket Math begins. But wait, there’s more you can do.

How to find out who has done the most sessions?

On the Review Progress tab, in the part with individual student data, you can sort by the “Total” column.  Click twice until the arrow is pointing down.  You will then have sorted to the top the students who have done the most number of sessions in the last 14 days.  By doing this you can find the 10-20% of your students who are doing the most sessions.  Recognize them, put their name on the board, call their parents, point out how you are impressed by their hard work and how smart they are going to become by working so hard. You can see in the pictured example that the four hardest working students completed 12 or more sessions in the last 14 days. When you see that in your class, there’s even more you can do for them.

Star effort awards available to give out to hard-working students.

If any of your hardest-working students have done 8 or more sessions in the last 14 days, you can give them the “2 Star” effort award.  Give these out with a lot of fanfare, as soon as anyone has completed enough sessions to earn them.  Everyone can put out the effort, so all of your students should be able to earn these!

Completing sessions every day at school and then doing some as homework will earn more stars.  Doing twelve sessions in 14 days will earn three stars. Doing 16 will earn four stars and doing 20 will earn five stars.  These awards are available under tab (K) Award Certificates.

Of course, it would be better to earn the “4 Star” award, so you’ll want your students to strive to earn one of those.  Award that with even more fanfare, once someone earns the “4 Star” award.  And eventually, you may be able to reward some students with the “5 star” award, which is the best of all.

When most of your class is earning these awards you’ll be on your way to really helping them become fluent in math.  Way to go!

 

 

 

 

Want parent support? Start with positive phone calls!

Teaching is hard work, (at least to do it well), isn’t it?  One of the hard things to do is call parents.  But you can make it easier and more productive by calling parents proactively, before their child does anything wrong.

  • Tell them about positive things their child has done such as participating in class or encouraging others.
  • Tell them about positive attributes you see in their child such as kindness or helpfulness.
  • Tell them things you just like about their kid, such as a ready smile, a cooperative spirit, or a respectful attitude.
  • Tell them about an achievement their child has accomplished, such as finishing work, acing a test, passing a level in Rocket Math.

Positive phone calls require planning

Make a list of all the students in your room.  You can then make notes during the day when you see achievements, good behaviors or traits that you like.  (While you’re in the business of noticing good behavior, go ahead and praise the student out loud for those things as well as writing it down.) Keep going until you get something noted down for every student.

Then sit down in the evening and call the parents of those students.  Keep going until you have called everyone two or three times with good news*.  When you make positive phone calls, the parents know you’re a good person and you don’t “have it in” for their child.  Positive phone calls will pave the way for parents to be willing to listen when you have a problem to report or a request to make.   But you will have to keep doing it–you’ll have to keep calling and telling their parents positive things.  That may be a challenge for some students, but if you want to win their parents over to your side, you have to do it.

A general rule for dealing with other human beings

If you want to be heard, keep your ratio of positives (compliments) to negatives (criticisms) at least three to one.  That goes for students, parents, other teachers and even the principal.  If your negatives outweigh your positives, you will be seen in a negative light and you won’t be listened to or heard.  You’ll just be tuned out.  It works the same with students as well as adults.  If you want your students to do what you want, be sure to recognize and compliment or praise those who are doing it the right way–and do it at least three times as often as you hand out negative criticisms.

To get cooperation, you must be positive

I’ve often been called in to observe a student who was being uncooperative.  Almost every time, as I would sit behind that student, I would see them starting out doing the right thing.  That student would not be recognized for that, but as soon as they did something wrong, the teacher would ding them (say something critical or corrective).  The student would shape up, and guess what?  They wouldn’t be praised or noticed at all–until they messed up.  The teacher is creating that problem.  No one will be cooperative when all they get is negatives.  The teacher has to start noticing and praising that student for good behavior if the teacher wants it to continue.

The same goes with parents.  If you want them to support you, they need to get three times as many good reports as they get negatives.  Try it this year and you’ll be amazed. And you know what else?  It’s a lot more enjoyable to make positive phone calls than negative ones.

* You might have to use the same compliment with several parents, but try to be unique as they may talk with each other.

Help your kid get fast at math facts

Your kid wants to go fast at math.

Having to count out all your math facts is simply painful.  There is no need for it.  Every child is capable of memorizing math facts so that they can be recalled within less than a second.  Like any other facts we know and use daily, math facts, once learned, can be brought to mind instantly.  This makes math assignments easy and fast.  It enables students to easily recognize many things about numbers that teachers call “number sense.”  It gives them confidence.  And frankly, they like going fast much better!

The usual kind of practice will not make them fast.

I used to think, as a teacher, that just giving students practice with math facts would help them to get faster.  Years of teaching proved me wrong.  Students will count and count and count and fill out worksheet after worksheet and never get faster.  They hated it and I was discouraged.  This is why veteran teachers are most interested in Rocket Math.  They’ve learned the hard way that just any old practice sheet won’t work.   Then in grad school I learned a simple fact about memorizing.

You can only memorize a handful of math facts at a time.

If a task presents any more than a handful of facts, your brain gives up.  Your brain won’t even try to remember, it will just focus on a strategy for figuring it out.  However, if you have a small handful of thing to remember, and you get asked right away, you can remember.  “Oh, I can remember this. I’m having to come up with this fact again.  I should try to remember it.”  Rocket Math only presents two facts and their reverse to remember at a time.  And that makes all the difference.  Well, most of it.

Calling math facts to mind again, before they are forgotten, is key.

Many teachers and parents think that struggling to remember is valuable.  Not so much.  Instead, just calling to mind the answer, quickly and easily, before it is hard, is all that is necessary.  Correctly recalling a fact is what strengthens the neural connections.  Forgetting it and having to figure it out again does not help.  In fact, it teaches students that the job is figuring it out, rather than remembering it.  That’s why the correction in Rocket Math is to simply tell the student the answer.  The message is to “just remember it” rather than having to figure it out over and over.

Practicing math facts fast requires recalling them.

Once your brain is focused on calling to mind a small handful of facts, you can recall them quickly.  Now, you can go fast and you should be required to go fast.  First, requiring you to go fast ensures that you are recalling.  Second, it’s more fun.  Third, you can get a lot of practice done in a short amount of time.  This is why Rocket Math only has students practice for a few minutes at a time.  That’s all that’s needed if you are going fast.

Cumulatively adding more facts needs to be done carefully

To get beyond that initial handful of facts, you have to learn more.  But we have to be careful not to add too many, too soon.  First, make sure everything introduced so far is well mastered without any hesitations.  Then and only then are you ready to get another handful.  A small handful, lots of practice, so they can be recalled, and then add them into the mix of mastered facts.  As the saying goes, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.”

Practicing fast math facts needs to be daily

There are a lot of math facts to learn.   A lot students take four years to learn all four operations.  The task should begin early and continue until all are learned, so daily practice is a must.   Also, spreading the learning out over time means it is learned more fully.  Learning something in a day, it’s forgotten in a week.  Learning something over a year, it’s remembered as long as it is still being used.  A few minutes a day is all we ask, but it is very important to make math facts practice a daily regimen throughout elementary school.

Sign up for a 30-day free trial of the Rocket Math Online Tutor.  It works in ten minute sessions. And kids like it!

Improving math achievement: what’s unique about Rocket Math?

Rocket Math is dedicated to improving math achievement. Long-time educator Dr. Don Crawford founded Rocket Math because of his passion for effective educational tools. He believes all students can succeed in math and dedicated his company to making it happen. Their achievement and success motivate students more than anything else. Rocket Math’s mission is to help students succeed in math.

Motivated by success.

Rocket Math’s Online Game educational app teaches and develops fluency in basic math facts. The app is unique in a couple of respects. First, the game focuses students on their progress in learning math facts rather than distracting them with a cutesy game format. As students fill in their individual Rocket Chart, they become motivated by their progress in learning the facts and developing fluency. Moreover, they also develop confidence and improved self-esteem as a by-product of the process.

Evidence of effectiveness in teaching.

Second, the rocketmath.com website uniquely provides real-time evidence of its effectiveness. Rocket Math charts all its users, showing they are learning and developing fluency with basic math facts. Go to their Evidence of Effectiveness page, and you can see students’ results on fluency tests. The tests are given four times in each learning track (pre-test, 1/3 through, 2/3 through, and post-test). For example, over 55,000 students have completed the Multiplication learning track. The chart shows they began with an average fluency of 11 problems per minute at the pre-test. Those students finished the Multiplication Learning Track with an average of 21 problems per minute. Student scores show they are more fluent at each milestone in all 16 learning tracks, from beginning Addition to Fraction and Decimal Equivalents.

The most powerful thing you can do to improve math achievement.

Helping students develop fluency with basic math facts is the single, most powerful thing school administrators can do to improve student math achievement. There’s no excuse for allowing students to struggle and count on their fingers or rely on multiplication charts while trying to do math. Rocket Math has the mission of fixing that for anyone who uses their app. They even offer a 30-day initial, complimentary subscription so you can see that it works before paying a dime. Rocket Math has a money-back guarantee that using their app will improve student fluency in math facts. Rocket Math continues to grow thanks to the enthusiasm of its customers.

Rocket Math pioneer program–pilot it for your school or district

Are you a Rocket Math pioneer?

If you’re the first to try Rocket Math in your school, you’re a pioneer.  You are blazing the trail for others to follow. Congratulations!  We have an offer for you–a pilot test of Rocket Math. 

Pilot test offer

Are you willing to run a pilot test of Rocket Math?   Would you share your success with an administrator who could choose to purchase Rocket Math next year?  
Contact Lisa@rocketmath.com to tell us you want to run a pilot.  Then tell us who is the decision-maker who needs to see the success of Rocket Math. 

If the decision maker will write an email to Lisa expressing interest in the results you get with Rocket Math, she can set you up for a free til-the-end-of-the-school-year pilot subscription. We’ll add the decision-maker as a co-owner to your account so they can see the student success as it happens.  

Things-to-look-for (any time of day) for Rocket Math implementation

Evaluating a Rocket Math implementation when you aren’t observing Rocket Math in action.

Most of the time when you go into classrooms, something other than Rocket Math® will be going on. These are the things you can check on even when there are no students in the room. There are eight indicators you can see by looking at student folders.  There are four indicators while looking at the Rocket Math filing crate.  There are additional indicators to look for if there is a Wall Chart being used or if there are Race for the Stars games in the room.  Here’s a link to the checklist.

Look at several Student Folders

(1). Students all have folders that appear to be used daily. The folders are the heart of the organizational system. Students should keep their materials in the folders and keep track of their progress on the folders. Whether the students keep folders in their desks, cubbies, or are collected each day, there should be some signs of wear and tear.

(2). Rocket Charts on student folders show dates of each attempt to pass a level. Each day when students take a 1-minute timing test to try to pass a set of facts, they should write the date of the “try” on the Rocket Chart on the front of their folder. Without this record you cannot tell if a student is stuck because he or she has missed two weeks of school, or if students are only doing Rocket Math® twice a week (not recommended!), or if a student has exceeded six tries without intervention.

(3). Rocket Charts on student folders are colored in when passed. Coloring in the row on the Rocket Chart for the fact set that was just passed is the primary reinforcer of all that hard work. It is essential that students are given the time (and the colored pens, pencils, or crayons) to celebrate their success. Don’t get fooled by the older students or the students who are “too cool” to color in the chart. Even if they only want to color in the row with their regular pencil, students need to be told that they have accomplished something important, and giving them the time to color in their chart is a critical component of the program. This is way more important than you might think. You can also praise students who have accomplished a lot or who have just passed a level. Hearing from an administrator or coach about progress in math facts sends a huge message regarding the importance of the task.

(4). Student folders include packets of answer keys on colored paper. In order to practice correctly, each student’s partner needs to have an answer key in front of them when practicing. Each student needs their own answer key packet (so they can practice with someone who doesn’t have that answer key or with a volunteer who has no answer key). All the answer sheets for their operation should be copied and stapled into a booklet so students don’t have to go hunting for answer keys. Having the answer keys copied onto a distinctive color is important for teachers to be able to monitor paired practice. When students are practicing, each pair should have one student with answers (in that distinctive color) and the partner without the answers (on white paper). Any variation of this means the students are not practicing correctly—and that should be easy for the teacher to spot. Additionally, if a teacher is ready to begin testing and sees a hot pink paper on a desk, the teacher knows someone has answers in front of him or her.

(5) Student folders have the next sheet ready before starting practice time. Some system needs to be put in place so that the limited amount of time available for students to practice is NOT taken up with all students trooping up to the crate to get the next practice sheet each day. The recommended system in the Teacher Directions is to refill student folders when they pass a level, after school, with a packet of six sheets. That way the only time teachers have to handle folders is when students pass and they check the “pass” for errors and refill with a new packet. Many other ways of refilling student folders are possible, but no matter the process, students should have a blank practice sheet or set of practice sheets in their folder—which you would see when you check folders.

(6). Students have clear goals indicated on goal sheet. After students complete the Writing Speed Test, they are to have goals set for their daily 1-minute timing. The goal sheet should be stapled to the inside left of the student folder, the goal line circled, and the 1-minute goal written at the bottom of the sheet. The goal may be crossed out and a higher goal written in if the student has consistently demonstrated the ability to write faster than the original goal. Sometimes, teachers also write the goal on the front on the Rocket Chart, but the student’s goal should be clearly indicated. If not, it may be arbitrary or inappropriate (the same for all students, for example).

(7). Individual graphs are filled in because 2-minute timings are happening. Every week or two, students should be taking the 2-minute timings. These timings are a progress monitoring measure. They could be used for RTI or for IEP goals, or for any other time when a curriculum-based measurement is useful. At least they can demonstrate to us (and to the students) whether they are making progress in learning math facts in a given operation. As students learn more and more facts in the operation to a level of fluency and automaticity, they will be able to write answers to more facts in the operation on the 2-minute timing. Each time they take a 2-minute test, they should count the number correct and graph that on the graph stapled on the inside right of their folder. Each test is graphed in the correct column for whichever week of the month the test was taken.

(8). Individual graphs show upward trends as students are learning facts. Once students are taking the 2-minute timings regularly, it should be easy to see a trend. It should be going up, even if somewhat unevenly. For example, scores might go down after the long December break, but they should recover after a couple of weeks. If these graphs do NOT show an upward trend, something is wrong. Practice may not be being done for long enough (less than 2 minutes a day), or frequently enough (only three times a week), or students may not be practicing correctly (not fixing hesitations and errors). If only one or two students have flat graphs, those students will need something more. The individual graphs will be your indication that there is something amiss. You will just have to figure out what could be wrong. This should lead you to do some observations during Rocket Math® practice in that classroom.

Look at the Rocket Math file crate

(1). There is a crate or set of files for each operation practiced in the room. Each operation fills a crate and requires a different set of files. In any classroom where not all students are working on the same operation, there will need to be more than one set of files. Sometimes, teachers who have only one or two students in an operation may use the files of a neighbor teacher, but that should be only a temporary fix. The rule is that there must be a crate for every operation being practiced in that class.

(2). Rocket Math® crate is filled and organized from A–Z, complete with tabs. As of the 2013 version of Rocket Math®, every operation goes up to the letter Z. So each crate should have hanging folders with tabs showing the letters A though Z. Tabs are important to save time finding sheets and filling folders. If the files are a mess, out of order, no labels, or some letters are empty, valuable practice time will be used up trying to find the right sheets. If everything is labeled, and there are sheets in each file, then efficiency is a possibility. The Rocket Math store has tabs for sale if you need them.

(3). Rocket Math® crate has 2-minute timings numbered 1–5. In order to make sure that teachers do the 2-minute timing and monitor progress readily, they need to have class sets of the 2-minute timings (1 through 5) available in the crate. This is easy for you to check. If they are not there, it is likely that the 2-minute timings won’t be done as regularly as they should be. It is important for those timings to be done so you can see if all the students are making good progress.

(4). Teacher has a hard copy of the directions available for reference. The best place to keep the directions is right in the crate, so they are handy at any time. We have found that most of the time, when teachers are not doing things as they should in their Rocket Math® implementations, they don’t have a copy of the directions. When teachers don’t have the directions handy, they will ask a colleague how to do things. Unfortunately, this is like a game of telephone and typically doesn’t end well. Being sure that every teacher has the directions available for easy reference goes a long way toward proper implementation. It also allows you to pick up the directions when you are in the room and point something out to the teacher or to reference an appropriate page number in the directions in your notes to the teacher.

You can print the Teacher Directions from the virtual filing cabinet, in the Forms and Information drawer, under Rocket Math Teacher Directions.  You can buy printed copies from RocketMath.com/shop.  There are additional things to look for on the form but they are optional and go with supplemental parts of the curriculum.

Seven steps to an exemplary Rocket Math Worksheet implementation

You know already what should be happening.

This article assumes you have read the Rocket Math Teacher Directions yourself, so you know how things should run.  You can also read the Administrator and Coach Handbook for more ideas on how things should be running.  These helpful manuals can be purchased at their link, or available for free in the virtual Rocket Math Worksheet filing cabinet–in the Forms and Information Drawer. You’ll also need to have done observations using our observation form and checklist.    You should already know what things need to change–this is about how to make that happen.

How to make change happen.

These are recommendations as to how to get an implementation of Rocket Math® running smoothly, correctly, and effectively—without unduly annoying your teachers. How can you get every teacher in your building to abide by all the critical features of Rocket Math®? If teachers feel criticized, they will begin to resent the program and you. On the other hand, teachers (especially good teachers) are highly self-critical and, if they understand what should be happening, will enthusiastically self-correct a lot of details without you having to point out their errors. So here are seven steps to getting more of the enthusiasm and less of the resentment.

1. Choose one procedure to change at a time.

There may be several things not being implemented the way you would like (or as is outlined in the Teacher Directions). The temptation is to assign everyone to read the Teacher Directions and then follow them. Ask them to read the directions, yes, but they will need help to actually improve. To begin, just pick one concrete procedure that you want everyone to be sure to do the right way. Pick the most important one—as best as you can. Start with the top four of the observation form (shown here).

2. Talk about it first.

Always talk about needed details or techniques in a staff meeting before “noticing” the problem in any particular teacher’s room. If you see a problem in one or more classrooms, don’t ask those teachers to change as your first response. Instead, talk about what should be happening, in a staff meeting, without saying anything about those who weren’t doing it right. Describe clearly what you want teachers to do. Consider writing it down and passing it out as you talk about it. You may even need to have teachers practice it in a role-play scenario in small groups. This can be done for just a few minutes.

3. Give the rationale.

Whenever you talk about a feature or a technique you want teachers to do, explain WHY it is important. Explain it in terms of student learning. (The rationale is in the Administrator & Coach manual and in the Teacher Directions also.) Teachers want their students to succeed, so if you explain why it is important for the kids, the teachers will see the reason for doing it the right way. Have some discussion with the staff to make sure everyone knows both what you want and why it is important to learning.

Note: If you have a staff that doesn’t readily discuss, give them the questions you would ask, break them into groups to come up with an answer for each question, and have the groups report out.

4. Give a “heads up” that you’ll be observing.

At the end of talking in the staff meeting about the change you want to see, let everyone know that you will be visiting classrooms during Rocket Math® to see how things are going. If the change that you are looking for requires preparation, give a week’s notice. If it is just a way of doing things that can be changed immediately, start observing in the next day or two.

5. Follow through with praise first.

After observations where you see people doing what you wanted to see, be sure to tell them personally how impressed you are with their ability to implement a new idea so quickly or so well or with such enthusiasm. At the next staff meeting, after the end of the first observations, praise the people who are doing things well. If more than ¾ of your staff is doing it correctly, you can move on to observing for something new. If less than ¾ of your staff is doing the one specific thing correctly, then revisit the change and let your staff know that you will be visiting again within the next few days. Be sure to follow through with your visits.

6. Follow through with individual help.

Once you are down to a small number of staff members who are NOT implementing the change you want to see, it is time to offer more help to each of them. Once you see for the second or third time that a teacher is not implementing what is expected, tell them what you saw instead, and ask what you can do to help.

Be genuine. More often than not, teachers do not implement correctly because they don’t exactly know how, but were afraid to ask. Ferreting out what the stumbling block is, finding out what’s getting in the way of a good implementation, is the best use of your time. Sometimes, just role-playing what to say or do is needed. Sometimes resources are missing or haven’t been requested. Sometimes a method of organizing better is the key. Often, another teacher will have the key as to how to implement something—so don’t hesitate to use peers to support one another.

You should know that Rocket Math® done correctly will work. If you can get a teacher to do this well, they will be reinforced by the results. Students will end up being more successful, and that is very rewarding to any teacher who really cares. Staying with a teacher until the details are right will end up being worth the time—for you, for the teacher, and, most importantly, for the students.

7. Celebrate 100% implementation.

Keep track of the new things you’ve asked to be changed. Keep track of how many teachers are implementing. Keep praising those who are coming on board. Finally, celebrate when everyone “gets it.” Find a memorable way to celebrate the victory. Some people even create a “bragging list” of all the new procedures that were implemented to mastery by all the teachers in the school.

Math Fact Fluency Expectations by Grade Level

Students should be automatic with facts. How fast is automatic? Well, it depends on which research you read and timing methods. In general, students should be able to answer 40 math fact problems per minute. Read on to learn why and see timed math fluency expectations by grade level.

Why Is Math Fact Fluency Important?

student struggling with math fact fluency expectations in schoolBeing able to recall math facts quickly and accurately is a critical skill for students as they progress through school. In the early grades, knowing the answers to math facts from memory serves as a foundation for more complex problem-solving. As students move on to higher grades, they will be expected to complete more difficult, multi-part math tasks. If students cannot quickly remember the answers to basic math facts by the time they reach these higher grades, it will interfere with their ability to concentrate on more advanced tasks. Students who must stop and think about, or count out, simple math facts get lost in the steps of multi-part, complex mathematic procedures. Not to mention the fact, that math work becomes a slow and onerous process when you have to look up or figure out most facts.

What Is Math Fact Fluency?

Knowing math facts from memory means being able to automatically recall the answers to these facts without hesitation. Most psychological studies have looked at automatic response time as measured in milliseconds and found that automatic (direct retrieval) response times usually range from 400 to 900 milliseconds (less than one second) from presentation of a visual stimulus to a keyboard or oral response.

In most school situations, students take tests on one-minute timings. Translating a one-second-response time directly into writing answers for one minute would produce 60 answers per minute. However, some children, especially in the primary grades, cannot write that quickly. In establishing mastery rate levels for individuals, it is important to consider the learner’s ability and writing speed.  

How To Account For Writing Speed

One way to take a student’s writing speed into account is to set math fact fluency expectations at a rate in digits per minute that is about 2/3 of the rate at which the student can write digits. For example, a student who writes 100 digits per minute should be able to write 67 math fact digits per minute. This translates to between 30 and 40 problems per minute.

Teachers should modify this expectation if a student writes less than 100 digits per minute. To modify expectations, treat the student’s digits per minute rate as a percentage of 100, and then multiply that percentage by 40 problems to give the expected number of problems per minute. For example, a child who writes 75 digits per minute would expect 75% of 40 or 30 facts per minute.  Here is a blog that helps set math fact expectations based on student’s writing speed.  

Timed Math Fluency Expectations by Grade Level

If measured verbally, a response delay of about 1 second would be automatic. When writing, students should be able to complete 40 math facts per minute. However, expectations vary by grade level and writing speed. 

In general, students should be able to complete 100 problems correctly in five minutes by the end of second grade, 150 problems correctly in five minutes by the end of third grade, 200 problems correctly in five minutes by the end of fourth grade, and so on. However, it is important to note that these are just general guidelines and only apply to students who can write at those speeds.

Timed Math Fluency Expectations by Grade Level
Grade Math Facts Per Minute Math Facts Per Five Minutes
End of Second Grade 20 100
End of Third Grade 30 150
End of Fourth Grade 40 200
End of Fifth Grade 50 250

There is noted research that indicates that students who can compute basic math facts at a rate of 30 to 40 problems correct per minute (or about 70 to 80 digits correct per minute) continue to accelerate their rates as tasks in the math curriculum become more complex. However, students whose correct rates were lower than 30 per minute showed progressively decelerating trends when more complex skills were introduced. The minimum correct rate for basic facts should be set at 30 to 40 problems per minute, since this rate has been shown to be an indicator of success with more complex tasks.

Sadly, many school districts have expectations as low as 50 problems in 3 minutes or 100 problems in five minutes. These translate to rates of 16 to 20 problems per minute. At this rate, students can count answers on their fingers. So, this “passes” children who have only developed procedural knowledge of how to figure out the facts rather than the direct recall of automaticity.

Conclusion

rocket math logoWith the right tools, any student can develop math fact fluency and have fun while doing it! Students use Rocket Math’s Subscription Worksheet Program to practice with partners, then take timed tests. Rocket Math also offers math facts practice online through the Rocket Math Online Game. Students can log in and play from any device, anywhere, any time of day! Start a free trial today.

Both the worksheet program and the online game help students master addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division math facts as well as identifying fractions, learning equivalent fractions and fraction and decimal equivalents.

Trophy for completing all 16 Learning Tracks

Dr. Don will send this trophy and a personalized certificate to any student who completes ALL 16 LEARNING TRACKS.  The first student in the world to earn this certificate and trophy for completing all 16 learning tracks in the Rocket Math Online Game was Addison H. of Whitehall, Wisconsin.

Export their completed Learning Track Summary.

To see if any of your students qualify, export the Learning Track Summary.  A student who has completed all 16 Learning tracks will show their username listed with all 16 Learning Tracks completed all the way to Z. 

A qualifying record would look like this, showing all 16 learning tracks and all with a fully completed level of Z.  

 

Please note, this includes the Addition and Subtraction Learning Tracks 1 through 6, so you may have older students who will have to go back and finish those learning tracks.  Encourage them to do so–it’s good practice for them and will help them doing computation later in life. 

First time through only.

The offer of the trophy and certificate applies only to the first time through the Learning Tracks.  After becoming fluent, students can zip through the Learning Tracks much more easily than when they are first learning the facts.  The second time through students should often earn Fluency promotion allowing them to skip through a Learning Track in a few minutes. 

Contact us to get the trophy and certificate.

Teachers, please send an email from your school account address to Angela@rocketmath.com.  Include your name or the name of the teacher who has worked with the student along with the student’s username and their actual first and last name, their grade level, and of course, the school mailing address so we can mail it to you.

Use this link to email it to Angela@rocketmath.com. When she confirms the data in your export Learning Track Summary, she will mail the certificate and trophy to you.

BONUS CHALLENGE–CAN YOU DO ROCKET MATH on the FAST SETTING?