In one study, it was reported that 2/3 of community college students and 40% of undergraduates in four-year colleges had to start their college career with at least one remedial class.
Another study revealed that most college students need “developmental education courses” to strengthen essential skills, not just in math and reading, but throughout their college experience. This challenge may be growing, as research by NWEA indicates that the average student now requires more than 4 additional months of schooling to recover pre-COVID learning levels.
Taking remedial math at the college level is not without its drawbacks. Research shows that having students take college level remedial classes can lead to a higher rate of students dropping out. Students get frustrated when they have to study and pay tuition just to catch up.
To curb the dropout rate, and save expenses for both the student and the school, administrators are looking for alternative approaches. One approach, as outlined in one oft-discussed study, is to take college students out of remedial math and put them into a different math course. Specifically, that study saw promising results when students were taken out of remedial algebra and put into a non-remedial college-level math course, like statistics.
Of course, that approach doesn’t work for every student. For some, the problem runs deeper than switching from algebra to statistics. There may be issues with foundational arithmetic or other key mathematical concepts that they need to know, but never mastered.
For other students, their struggle in math is rooted in a lack of executive functioning skills, such as time management, organization, and self-monitoring. Without developing these skills, these students will continue to struggle in math and potentially other courses. Finally, for some students, depending on their majors, switching from algebra to college statistics isn’t an option.
We think two key factors can boost math remediation success for students:
- Start before the student finishes high school. It’s better to give a student the remedial education and developmental education they need before they arrive at college / finish their high school career. This not only sets up the student for a better chance of success, but also limits the financial stress a student may feel when taking college courses. We know this isn’t possible for all students, as some who will benefit from remediation are already at the college level. However, when possible, it’s ideal.
- Use a personalized approach that integrates both the math curriculum and the development of executive functioning skills. A remediation program shouldn’t follow a “one size fits all” approach. For instance, placing a student struggling with Algebra I into a pre-algebra program may not be effective. The program must identify both areas of struggle and strength, while also focusing on improving executive functioning skills. It’s not just about teaching math — it’s about helping the student develop the skills needed to master new topics.
In this post, we explore different types of remedial programs, including in-school, after-school, and summer programs. Then, we explain how Fusion Academy applies its one-to-one learning approach to remedial math.
At Fusion, we offer a remedial math program for middle school students and high school students, designed to fill any education gaps, get them on the academic path that’s right for them, and empower them by improving their executive functioning.
To learn more about Fusion Academy, request more information here.
Different Types of Remedial Math Programs
We can group most remedial math programs into three categories:
- In-school programs
- After-school programs
- Self-paced software programs
In-school programs take place within a student’s current school program. The benefit here is that a student does not have to schedule a class outside of school (as they would with an after school program) nor do they have to catch up over the summer (like they would with summer programs).
Depending on the level of intervention needed, an in-school program can involve keeping a student in their normally scheduled math class. For example, if a student is taking pre-calculus but is struggling to keep up with the rest of the class, then a school may assign an extra teaching assistant to that class who can help the student — this is generally for students on an IEP (individualized education program). It may even be a small group of students within a classroom who work together. This is a more common approach for students who, while struggling with some concepts, are not significantly behind in the curriculum.
Another approach, more commonly reserved for students who need significant help with math, takes place outside of the classroom but still within the school day. A student will get individualized instruction (either one-to-one or more commonly with 2-3 other students) in a separate area of the school, where distractions are fewer. This gives the instructor more freedom for their teaching.
After school support programs are generally run by companies outside of the school. Common examples are Kumon and Mathnasium. For these types of programs, a student is going to a 1-to-1 or small group math class on site (off of campus) a few times a week. These programs are a blend between full-blown math remediation and more straightforward tutoring. They can work well if a student needs help completing assignments and needs to go at their own pace (and is feeling overwhelmed by trying to keep up with their class). But they’re often not the best approach for students who need significant math remediation or students who need help learning how to manage their time, organize their day, and steady their emotions.
Then, there are self-paced software programs such as Khan Academy, Mathplanet, and HippoCampus. These are online resources (videos, lessons, quizzes) that a student can use to help them master specific concepts that they’re struggling with.
However, for math remediation, these programs are likely not enough. Math remediation often requires taking concepts and re-framing them in a new way. If a student is struggling with a concept delivered to them over self-paced software, they’ll get frustrated listening to the same framing each time.
How Fusion Academy’s Remedial Math Program is Personalized To Each Student
In our experience, the best remedial programs are:
- Tailored specifically to the student’s current math skill level.
- Flexible enough to adjust as a student makes progress in the program.
- Focused on helping students improve their executive functioning skills (such as time management and reflection).
And that’s what we focused on when creating our remedial math program at Fusion Academy. Fusion Academy is a private school for middle schoolers and high schoolers, where classes are one-to-one. That means there’s just one teacher working with one student. This structure is what allows us to fully customize the learning experience for each student — from their class schedule to the classroom environment to how concepts are taught. This is an ideal environment for remedial math. While our school is for middle school students and high school students, our remediation program can help students who are at the 4th grade math level.
Before a student is placed in our remedial math program, we thoroughly assess their needs. We want to know about the student’s experience with schooling and learning math, focusing on both the areas where they excel and where they’re struggling. We want to find out if they have any learning differences (such as ADHD or dyslexia) or school-related anxiety and emotional disorders. Knowing these factors up front will better help us create a personalized plan for the student.
Then, we recommend that the student takes a standardized MAP test, which is one of the most widely used standardized math placement tests in the K–12 space. The test gives both a score and also shows what percentile the child is in for their grade. We will also assess a student’s math level based on parental feedback, recent standardized tests, and feedback from their most recent math teacher.
The goal of these assessments is to start the student at the most appropriate math level and give the teacher the information they need to help them better mentor the student.
Next, we look at:
- How our remedial math program is structured
- How student progress is measured
- Sample math problems from the program
How Our Remedial Math Program is Structured
Our remedial math program can be completed in either 30 sessions or 25 sessions.
Students typically meet with their math teacher twice a week for 50 minute sessions. These sessions can be on a Fusion campus or through Zoom, for a remote learning option. Sessions always start with the teacher checking in — how is the student doing? Where are they struggling? Then, the teacher and student work through the curriculum together.
Sessions are focused on solving practice problems together. Below, we take a look at an example of a practice problem. We use ALEKS, an adaptive learning math software, for our remedial program because it has the right features to continuously update a student’s learning path based on their comprehension level. During these one-to-one sessions, the teacher and the student will work together on math problems in the ALEKS program. This keeps all progress in one easy-to-access and reference space.
On-campus students will often go to the Homework Café right after a session. This is a dedicated space for students to do school work amongst their peers. There is always a teacher present who can help a student with any questions they have. By having this dedicated time at the Homework Café, many of our students are able to do the majority of their class work on campus and don’t have to take any work home.
While specifics will vary by student and their math level, it’s our recommendation that students do self-study — outside of the 1-to-1 teacher instruction — with ALEKS for 2 hours each week. That can be completed in our Homework Café or at home, if that’s where the student prefers to work on their math homework.
How Student Progress is Measured
Our math intervention program is aligned to the Common Core State Standards, but our intervention program doesn’t assign letter grades. Instead this is a pass/fail class, based on a student’s effort and progress.
Ultimately, whether a student passes or fails our program is determined by three things:
- Have they spent enough hours in classes with the teacher? We require a minimum of 30 hours, or 25 hours for the accelerated option.
- Have they spent enough time on ALEKS (independent of the teacher doing self-study)? Our minimum requirement is 30 hours.
- Their teacher’s notes about the student’s progress. Throughout the program, the teacher is keeping track of how the student is progressing, both in terms of their math level and also their executive functioning. After each session, a teacher will also send a recap to the student’s parents, so there’s no confusion on how the student is doing in the program.
We Maintain a Strong Focus on Executive Functioning Skills
Often students who need remediation are lacking in executive functioning skills which are holding them back from excelling academically.
This is why developing executive functioning skills is a key part of our remedial program. These skills include:
- Utilizing time management to progress throughout their intended modules.
- Communicating their own areas of opportunity within the program.
- Communicating their strengths throughout the program.
- Prioritizing areas of opportunity based on their progress within the program.
- Setting goals unique to their individual progress.
- Maintaining goals unique to their progress within the program.
- Discussing individual motivational or self-awareness goals.
- Activating prior knowledge toward learning new information.
- Applying metacognitive strategies to their learning.
- Building awareness of motivating emotions.
- Practicing self-monitoring strategies toward the progress of their goals.
Sample Problems from Our Program’s Math Learning Software
At Fusion, we often see immediate improvement for students simply by giving them a better environment to work in and by helping them with executive functioning skills. For example, with one-to-one instruction and a teacher who can help a student with key traits like time management, students who were previously struggling in math will start to see major leaps forward.
That’s one of the reasons why we made sure to work with an online learning platform that adapts with students — and that’s what ALEKS does. We first create a custom learning path based on the student’s current math level. This creates a curriculum for the student and teacher to follow.
As the student works in these areas, ALEKS will update the curriculum based on their performance.
This also helps the teacher see where a student is struggling the most, so they can choose which areas to focus on during their weekly sessions with a student. And, because a student is working ALEKS even when they’re doing self-study, all of their work is saved and their teacher can review it.
The process looks a bit like this within ALEKS:
Students can solve the problem and check their work after typing the answer into ALEKS.
From there, they’ll get a more detailed explanation of how the math problem was solved.
By pairing adaptive online learning software with one-to-one teaching, Fusion Academy is able to give students the tools they need to get back on track in their math education in the most effective way possible.
Other Fusion Academy Academic Programs
Above, we looked at Fusion’s remedial math program, but that’s just one of many programs that we offer.
We also offer:
- Full-time academic programs. You can enroll your student at Fusion full-time to complete their middle school or high school education.
- Part-time academic programs. Students can also attend Fusion Academy as a part-time student.
- Classes for credit. This is for students who need specific classes for credit, perhaps to make up for a class they previously did not pass or to get ahead in their curriculum.
- Tutoring & mentoring programs. In addition to our remediation programs, Fusion also offers tutoring and mentoring services for students.
- And more.
Next Steps: Finding the Right Approach to Math Remediation
Generally speaking, the right approach to math remediation for a student will depend on:
- Their age/current school level. Keep in mind that these will likely be different. For example, at Fusion we teach middle schoolers and high schoolers, but our math remedial program starts at the 4th grade level.
- The percentile they’re in for their grade. This can help determine which level of remediation they need.
The best approach varies depending on the student. College-level students who don’t require developmental education have different needs than high school students struggling to keep up in class. Meanwhile, middle and high schoolers who are a full year behind may face significant anxiety about attending math class, requiring a more tailored support strategy.
Above, we discussed different approaches that each type of student can take. If you think Fusion Academy’s one-to-one program is right for your child, contact us today to learn more.
