Teaching Math in Middle School: Using MTSS to Meet All Students’ Needs

Make all your middle schoolers confident and competent mathematicians with this book, your accessible guide to teaching math to every learner in Grades 6-8. Focused on knocking down roadblocks to learning, this reader-friendly resource shows you how to use multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS)—a powerful, widely adopted framework for meeting each student's individual needs. You'll learn how to deliver high-quality, evidence-based math instruction; combine your instruction with meaningful assessment; and provide just-right supports that help students conquer their specific math struggles.

An essential guide for in-service educators—and an important resource for teachers in training—this book gives you the in-depth knowledge and practical tools you need to support every student's success in middle school math.

Discover how to:

• Implement MTSS to benefit all students. Develop and use tiered supports across your whole school, promote collaboration between general and special educators, and troubleshoot your MTSS.
• Build foundational numeracy skills. Help your students strengthen the three pillars of numeracy that build algebraic proficiency.
• Design and deliver effective math instruction. Use today's recommended practices to teach all students, and develop Tier 2 and Tier 3 interventions that really help struggling learners.
• Choose and use effective supports. Distinguish between differentiation, accommodation, and modification, and learn when and how to use them.
• Use data to make decisions. Learn how to select and use screeners, diagnostic assessments, progress monitoring tools, and summative assessments—and use results to shape instruction.

Practical Materials:

• More than a dozen downloadable forms help you plan for MTSS and implement what you learned from the book
• vignettes and sample problems model best practices
• interviews with real-life educators brim with valuable advice on implementing MTSS in math education.

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Table of Contents

About the Downloadable Materials

About the Authors

Foreword Robert Q. Berry, III

Preface

Section I: Building Numeracy in Middle School Students

1. Laying the Foundation for Algebra
2. Supporting All Students Through Multi-tiered Instruction
3. Supporting All Students Through Differentiation, Accommodation,and Modification

Section II: Designing and Delivering Effective Mathematics Instruction

4. Aims for Effective Mathematics Instruction
5. Evidence-Based Practices for Instruction and Intervention
6. Instructional Practices to Support Problem Solving
7. Designing Interventions
8. Implementing Interventions Within a Multi-tiered Framework

Section III: Using Data to Make Decisions

9. Why Should We Assess?

Appendix : Team-Building Activity

10. Who Needs Extra Assistance, and How Much? Universal Screeners
11. Why Are Students Struggling? Diagnostic Assessments
12. Is the Intervention Helping? Progress Monitoring
13. Have Students Reached Their Goals? Summative Assessments

Section IV: Implementing MTSS to Support Effective Teaching

14. MTSS in Action
15. Assessing Your School’s Readiness for MTSS Implementation
16. Collaboration as the Foundation for Implementing MTSS
17. Implementing MTSS: Voices From the Field

References

Index

"As a researcher and national consultant focused on supporting struggling students in mathematics, I support the principles and recommendations outlined in this book. This is a valuable resource for middle school leadership teams."
- Paul Riccomini, The Pennsylvania State University