Tammy M. Jones

50% of the fourth grade students are unable to master numeric operations as determined by a teacher made assessment. I believe this is occurring because there is not enough time spent on the understanding and memorization of basic facts in the classroom. Another possible reason is the type of assessment that is being used. My intervention plan will include incorporating cooperative base groups, and trying different types of authentic assessment. My intervention outcome will be 85% of my fourth grade students will master numeric operations as determined by a teacher made assessment.

Cooperative groups were used in two different types of activities in the classroom. The first activity was using cooperative groups during the time the students completed the daily Drops in the Bucket. Cooperative groups were also used during lessons to practice new skills learned. Another strategy used during this time was a think aloud. This is a strategy that has been used many times during reading and was found to be very useful during cooperative groups. Response cards, which are laminated cards that the students keep at their desk and are used with dry erase markers, were used during whole group instruction in hopes of getting more students involved during whole group time.

95% of the fourth grade students mastered the post assessment of basic fourth grade numeric operations including addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Students also showed a significant change in attitude about their own personal math abilities according to a pre and post survey about their favorite subjects. Only three of the 18 students entering the fourth grade class listed math as their favorite subject. At the end of the school year the completed another survey and 15 of the 19 fourth grade students listed math as their favorite subject. However, students did not show a significant increase on the math procedures portion of the SAT test. On both tests 45% of students on both the 2005 and 2006 test scored above 85%. On a positive side the class as a whole increased from 73% on math procedures to 77%.