How do you best support students who are below grade level in math? How do you meet their needs, without holding back the rest of the class?
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Many of the new math programs include differentiated practices and suggested groups/ing. These programs often include Tier 2 intervention pieces and/or resources for easy implementation. Most of this is applicable to elementary students, though. There is also a wonderful online program called Delta Math that supports MTSS & RTI processes for meeting the varied needs of students. https://www.deltamath.com/
I support struggling students by allowing time to give them extra support. I do this by assigning assignments on Freckle math that target specific skills. I also meet with them individually to check for understanding.
We have a 1/2 hour daily for tiered supports. I would pick 1-2 skills to target with this student and track data. The targeted skills would be based from assessment data.
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My number one go to would be small group differentiated instruction. However, if small group time is not in your schedule or if you are not confident in running small groups, my next suggestion is differentiate tier 1 (core) instruction.
This might look like setting aside 5 minutes after core instruction to meet with struggling students to check for understanding before sending them off to work. It could also be adjusting number sets. For example, you might be teaching addition/ subtraction in 2nd grade and instead of giving them numbers within 100, they might add/ subtract with numbers to 20.
This way students can focus on the action and strategies for addition and subtraction vs. computation.
I also want to add that if you are unsure of how to find gaps in student learning or don't know where to start to fill in gaps, the Numeracy Project is a free resource that we have used in our district for our tiered math intervention.
The Georgia Department of Ed has done a wonderful job of making the original Numeracy Project more user friendly! This is a good place to start if you are unsure of how to work with struggling math students.
Ask me for help if you need more information!
