Rescuing Concrete Learners in the Middle School Math Classroom

Executive Summary: CORD has designed and developed a middle school mathematics curriculum package that can rescue many 7th and 8th grade students who are failing to succeed in mathematics. After one year of this activity-oriented additional, elective mathematics class, students are able to handle basic pre-algebra skills with confidence, rejoin their peers, and continue to be successful in regular mathematics classes.

Students with a history of poor performance in mathematics are typically characterized by a variety of socioeconomic, educational, and personal factors that tend to diminish their chances for scholastic success. Many of these students find mathematics, and especially algebra, the greatest perceived or real obstacle to school completion. In the United States, an estimated 380,000 students aged 15 and above leave school each year without attaining a high school diploma. Satisfying mathematics standards, meeting mathematics course requirements, and passing state-mandated mathematics exams often become the divide between those who graduate and those who leave school early.

In its most recent mathematics consortium project, CORD collaborated with teachers and other educators to develop a mathematics program that is especially motivating and effective for middle school students. We combined CORD’s expertise in developing materials for the concrete learner with the knowledge and best practices developed by teachers and administrators who have worked with students who are low achievers in mathematics. This program achieves academic rigor through a multiplicity of teaching strategies within a holistic approach to the student.

Research Base

There are many programs that deal with students who have already left school, however there are far fewer programs that deal with students before they drop out. Learning theorist David Kolb has observed that learners tend to perceive the information taught to them either abstractly (by conceptualizing and thinking about it) or concretely (by experiencing and feeling it). Traditional curricula, for the most part, work very well when teaching abstract learners—about 25 percent of students. However, the vast majority of students are largely concrete learners who often struggle or fail to learn with abstract teaching methods and materials.

This curriculum project developed and tested learning materials (Math That Works offered by CORD Communications) for middle school students who struggled with traditional approaches. By providing a highly active, concrete, and contextual experience, we demonstrated that these students can learn the mathematics they missed in late elementary grades and get back on the road to success in their secondary experience.

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