The Number Fluency Program

Over the past year I have been busily working on a project that I am very excited about! In this week's blog I wanted to share a little more.

Ever since I was a graduate I have seen the importance of providing opportunities for students to develop fluency in mathematics. I know I am not alone here. I think most people would agree that fluency (accuracy, efficiency and flexibility) is a critical piece in the mathematics ‘puzzle’.

In the past 5-10 years the idea of ‘fluency’ practice has become overshadowed by a fear of ‘maths anxiety’, leading to a clear shift in practice. Let’s face it, no one wants to be responsible for making students feel anxious about maths, and as a result our maths instruction is now often built around helping students to develop their conceptual understanding of ideas.

Don’t get me wrong, conceptual understanding is critical and something we absolutely need to work on. I am NOT suggesting that we need to go back to rote learning facts without understanding… BUT fluency needs to be worked on alongside conceptual understanding.

Like Nemo and the Sea Anemone, conceptual understanding and fluency are intertwined in a symbiotic relationship, where each needs (and benefits) from the other.

While it is great (and necessary) to see a student draw an array to show that 3x8 is double 8 and one more group of 8, at the end of the day, they must get to the point where they are automatic with this fact. Conceptual understanding alone is not enough. Fluency is key.

Through my work in schools I have observed that we don’t provide students regular opportunities to become fluent in key mathematical skills. This leads their knowledge to be built on shaky foundations, dents their confidence and negatively impacts their motivation- a sure recipe for maths anxiety!

If we have learnt one thing from watching people on TV play ‘Survivor’ over the years, it is… if the bottom pieces on a tower are not in place, everything wobbles and eventually falls!

For me it is very important for teachers to be helped to recognise the difference between fluency and accuracy.

Accuracy is simply answering a question correctly. There is no timed element. A student who takes 1 minute to calculate 3X8 and comes up with ‘24’, is accurate. A student who automatically says ‘24’ is also accurate.

The only (critical) difference is that one student has automaticity and the other does not.

Most assessments we have (unless they are timed) assess accuracy, not fluency.

In schools we have an over-abundance of accuracy data and a lack of fluency data.

It is critical to note, that before we work on fluency in a skill, students must be accurate in that skill.

When I run PD with schools, I reinforce the need to have an agreed set of fluency skills to aim for in each year level. For example, we may want all our Year 2s to be able to halve even 2-digit numbers, or all our Foundation students to recognise dice patterns. This ‘Instructional Calendar’ with an agreed set of fluency skills expected at each year level, means that all staff are 'on the same page' and pushing in the same direction.

As teachers it is important to know the stepping stones we need to cover to ensure students are ‘on track’. The curriculum descriptors are too broad to provide this type of guidance. We need to break the knowledge down further into bite-sized pieces.

When each teacher knows what we are aiming for, we can design assessments to check who has or hasn’t reached the agreed fluency goals, and then work systematically towards the goals.

At the end of the year, we can then pass this information onto the next teacher so they can build on from this point (rather than having to find out for themselves what exactly their students need to work on). This whole school approach saves instructional time and takes the guess work out of maths teaching.

When I talk about having this whole school approach, teachers often ask if I have a list of skills I expect at each year level.

Research and experience has led me to have this list ‘in my head’(it is something I keep in mind when working with my own children at home), but being in my 'head' doesn’t really help enough people!

So, I decided to get it onto paper!

The lists I created include 20 number-based skills that are critical in each Year Level from Foundation to Year 5. These are built around the ‘threads’ of subitising, part-part-whole, place value, additive thinking, multiplicative thinking and partitioning.

But when I looked at my ‘lists’ I thought… this isn’t enough… I need to create a ‘one-stop’ program that supported schools to build these skills.

Enter…. my Number Fluency Program (NFP).

In the NFP every class within a school dedicates 15 minutes (on top of their normal Numeracy session) to work systematically through the 20 skills in each skill set. The NFP is designed to be very simple and uncomplicated. I appreciate how busy the classroom is, you don’t need another ‘thing’ that takes up time.

Basically, the program starts with teachers using screeners I have developed to determine the appropriate skill set for each student in their class. The screeners determine the skills in which the student has accuracy, so we know they are ready to work on their fluency. There is no use working on fluency, if a student is not yet accurate (this is maths anxiety inducing!)

In the NFP students are then given repeated opportunities to practice and develop fluency in one skill at a time in the form of a simple worksheet. Mini fluency assessments are provided for teachers to determine if the student is fluent in a skill, and then they are moved onto the next skill. Finally, links are then made with home as parents/caregivers are encouraged to help their children practice each skill (not all families will engage, but we send home a book to work on reading fluency, why not offer the same for maths?!).

Simple, systematic and straightforward!

Over the course of this year the NFP has gone through 2 trial phases with a total of 11 schools from all across Australia. The NFP has been trailed in Tier 1, Tier 2, private, catholic, government, special development and home-schooling contexts (and one school who is about to trial it in Canada)!

I am extremely proud of the Number Fluency Program because I am very confident it will be a 'game changer' for schools. While I am still putting the finishing touches on the program and finalising the feedback from the latest trial, if you are interested in finding out more click here.

Meanwhile, this week I encourage you to have a think about the fluency of your students. Is the assessment data you have indicative of their fluency, or is it more related to their accuracy?

Have a great week!

Ange🎓🎲

P.S. You can download the PDF version of this blog to print or share with colleagues here.