I decided to focus on the math intervention program at my school because it is a new program. The first elementary math interventionist was hired for all students in kindergarten to fifth grade during the 2018-2019 school year. I was hired as the second math interventionist for the current school year. When I was hired, my colleague and I brainstormed how to improve the math intervention program so that it was more beneficial for all students. The math intervention program initially targeted the lowest performing students (tier 3) in grades K-5. However, school data proves that our highest population of math students are tier 2, or close to proficiency. The school is also under state orders to follow a School Improvement Plan (SIP). This year, the SIP goal is to increase proficiency on the PSSA for students in grades 3-5. We scrapped the model from the previous year and initiated a completely new model with a target goal and a clear focus. As we began working with our students using the new model of intervention, we realized we wanted to reach a broader range of students. For this reason, I chose to research successful math intervention models to influence the math intervention program for the 2020-2021 school year.

 

Before I began my research I did not know much about successful math intervention programs. I wanted to find key components of successful math intervention models to improve the intervention program for next year. As I began reading articles about math intervention programs I noticed each one was slightly different. Each article implemented math intervention using different groups (student ability, frequency, class size) and different strategies (instruction, progress monitoring, and assessments). My curiosity began to grow even more. Am I going to find a definitive answer to the best model of math intervention?