learning

Does research show that student achievement increases from timed daily drill?

Posted on by Dr. Don

Students memorize math facts by practicing a limited set of problems with a partner who corrects all errors and hesitations.

A teacher writes:
Could you point me toward some research showing student achievement increases from timed daily drills. My superintendent is a hard sell and will ask me to prove the strategy works from independent research.

Dr. Don answers:
Your superintendent is right to be skeptical. Student achievement does NOT increase from timed daily “drills.” The typical “mad minutes” program is generally worthless in improving student knowledge of math facts.

Students memorize math facts by practicing a limited set of problems with a partner who corrects all errors and hesitations. In Rocket Math students practice with a partner and become fluent with only two facts and their reverses at a time. They take a one-minute test to see if they have learned those facts to the level of fluency. Only then, once they have learned those fluently, are two more facts added on the next sheet. [Here’s a 3-minute video that explains how practice works in more detail.]

Once students finish learning the facts in an operation you can measure that by giving them a test of all the facts in that operation and they will be able to answer far more facts in a timed test than students who have to figure out and count on their fingers to answer those facts.

General achievement in math is improved by ready knowledge of math facts to the extent that one measures students’ ability to do computation. Nonetheless the Common Core includes fact knowledge in these standards:

CCSS.Math.Content.2.OA.B.2 Fluently add and subtract within 20 using mental strategies. By end of Grade 2, know from memory all sums of two one-digit numbers.
CCSS.Math.Content.3.OA.C.7 Fluently multiply and divide within 100, using strategies such as the relationship between multiplication and division (e.g., knowing that 8 × 5 = 40, one knows 40 ÷ 5 = 8) or properties of operations. By the end of Grade 3, know from memory all products of two one-digit numbers.

I would recommend a test of Rocket Math within a few classrooms, compared to an equal number of classrooms that don’t use Rocket Math. Measure each class by means of the two-minute timings of all the facts in the operation and see if there is a large difference (over time) between the students who learn using Rocket Math and the students who continue to do whatever the district is doing now. Be sure that the same ten-minutes a day is used to study math facts in both groups.

Here is my offer from my “Studies and Results” page of my website:

NOTE TO TEACHERS, SCHOOLS, DISTRICTS: While I am waiting for others to conduct and publish research on Rocket Math, I make the following offer.

If you conduct research comparing Rocket Math to some other method of practicing math facts and share your results–I will refund half of the purchase price of the curriculum.
If you find some other method is more effective, I will refund 100% of your purchase price.

I am certain it is the best math facts practice curriculum available but I have to wait for more researchers independent of me to confirm that fact.

What if students become stuck?

Posted on by Dr. Don

 

Something is wrong if any student cannot pass a sheet within the six tries shown on the Rocket Chart. Do not allow this condition to persist. Intervene with one of the ideas below.

  1. If the student has never passed a timing, perhaps the child can’t really write that fast. Try testing the student orally, with the student telling you the answers. In oral testing the student says only the answers—not the whole problem. If the student can orally answer at least 40 facts in one minute, then the student is satisfactorily fluent with those facts. The handwriting goals must be too high. Reset his/her goals at the previous best and let the student move on to the next set.
  2. The most frequent reason a student does not progress is because the student does not practice the right way. In other words he/she avoids saying the problems out loud or skips the correction procedure when they are hesitant. Or they will simply go on after a hesitation or error rather than going back three problems and trying again to see if they are faster now. The remedy is for the teacher to practice with these students as recommended and see if that makes a difference. It often does. Let us tell you: This is typically the “magic bullet.” It is fascinating really. Carrying out the practice procedure as I have written it, is VERY powerful. I wouldn’t lie to you. If the teacher practicing with these students does help, arrange to see that they practice the right way consistently during peer practice. You may have to change partners or watch over them daily until they start practicing the right way. Consider increasing motivation through more rewards and recognition to keep students practicing the right way.
  3. The student may not be trying because he/she is unmotivated. Watch to see if the student is doing practice correctly or giving the test their best effort. Most often this is a result of failing to succeed rather than a cause. [That’s really a very important understanding for you to have, so I’m going to say it again!] Lack of student motivation is most often a result of failing to progress rather than a cause. Consider practicing with the student. Think about ways to increase student motivation, including use of student achievement awards and social recognition for success.
  4. Watch to see that the student is “on-task” throughout the timing. Some students fail to realize that looking up around the room during a timing will slow them down so much they won’t pass. [Really, I kid you not. I’ve seen kids, who stopped to check the clock several times during a one minute timing, be surprised that they didn’t pass!] If a student really cannot stay on task for 60 seconds you might try cutting the goal and the time in half—give a 30 second timing with a goal cut in half as well. That may do the trick. It is often necessary to point out to younger students that erasing takes too long. Have you ever watched a second grader erase something? One could grow old waiting. Point out to students that perhaps putting a line through a mistake and writing the correct answer would save time.
  5. If practicing with a student the right way doesn’t make a big difference, then the student may be stuck because he/she is “in over his/her head.” The student has officially passed several sets without completely mastering them. This should not happen if students always have to meet or beat their previous best—but sometimes it happens anyway. A sign that this has happened is that they have several facts in the set with which they are hesitant. You can tell just by watching over their shoulder as they complete a timing—there will be hesitation on several of the facts.
  6. The basic remedy for kids who are stuck is to back up in the alphabet until you find a letter they can pass. You can either test back all at once or have the student move back one letter a day until they do pass after one day’s practice. Get them a new Rocket Chart to start over. Once you find out where the student is successful, make sure their goals are as fast as they can write—that you’re not letting them pass even though they are hesitant on some facts. If you announce a policy of “six tries and then you have to move back” and you announce this policy ahead of time, fewer students will get to six tries without passing! Being proactive is the key here. It is important to cover all of your bases prior to bad things happening. It is much better to pre-correct for something than to have to go back and re-teach a procedure or try to introduce one when a student is upset and losing motivation.

Warning (Yep, another warning. I am being proactive too!): Do not reduce the criterion to pass each sheet, as that will make working through the sets in Rocket Math increasingly difficult for the students! They will not be learning each small set as well as they need to and you’ll be adding more facts faster than they can handle. The cumulative task will get more and more difficult. Only reduce the criterion if the student simply cannot write that fast—otherwise (with enough practice) they can learn all the facts to the same speed as they learned the first set.