Math
My Learning Partners’ math program, Dr. Matt's Math, focuses on learning the basic operations. We begin with addition/subtraction and multiplication/division. We then progress to fractions, metrics, money, scientific notation and exponents.
Both written responses and verbal responses are assessed. When measuring written responses, students are assigned a mastery score that correlates to their age and the speed at which they write digits. This assures that we are measuring math skills and not writing speed.
There is great variability among students regarding writing speed. Student who are able to write numbers quickly have an unfair advantage over students who write numbers slowly. We adjust for this difference, resulting in higher mastery scores for those who write more quickly. When writing the answers to math problems we have standardized the counting system across math skills. This means students will have the same mastery score regardless of the skills on which they are working. We accomplished this by incorporating the concept of thought movements.
Because more complex problems involve more thought before answering, students are given credit for this additional thinking time. We call these thought movements. For example, if a student is presented with the problem 2 + 4 = __, then writing the answer 6 would be given a count of one. For the problem 2 + __ = 6, writing the answer 4 would be given a count of two; one for the digit 4 and one for the thought necessary to reorganize the problem into 6 - 2 = __.
You will not be responsible for determining the counts for the various levels because they are explained specifically in the math materials. Again, each student’s mastery score should remain the same across all tasks, changing only as that student’s digit writing speed increases. Every few months you will need to assess the digit writing speed and modify the mastery scores. The accompanying math manual, A Guide to Counting Movements for Math, explains in detail how to implement Dr. Matt's Math programs.