Fact Fluency

Evidence-Based Practices to Increase Automaticity & Fluency

Below are four evidence-based practices for supporting fluency and automaticity. These procedures are taken from the article, Combining Explicit Strategy Instruction and Mastery Practice to Build Arithmetic Fact Fluency by Stephanie Morano , University of Virginia, Kathleen Randolph, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, Andrew M. Markelz, Ball State University,

and Naomi Church, Florida Diagnostic and Learning Resources System

note: mastery-practice activities can be used for fluency in areas other than math, i.e., letters, numbers, sight words, vocabulary, etc.

CCC (Cover, Copy, Compare)

CCC is a mastery-practice activity that students complete independently by working through a specially designed worksheet including one or two unknown facts and eight or nine known facts. CCC is an evidence based practice to improve fluency outcomes for students with disabilities in a number of studies. A CCC worksheet for fact practice has a column with up to 10 facts and answers on the left and two blank columns to the right. To begin, students read and recite the first fact and answer in the leftmost column, then fold the paper back to hide the fact and answer (i.e., cover) before writing the fact and answer in the next column (i.e., copy). Next, they unfold the paper to check their work (i.e., compare). If they made an error, they self-correct by repeating the process and writing the fact and answer again. They repeat the process until they have completed the CCC procedure for each fact on the worksheet. In order to use CCC effectively and efficiently, teachers must provide students with explicit instruction and guided practice with feedback in using the CCC procedure

CCC Procedure & Resources

Procedure & Resources

Intervention Central

Fill.io (fillable CCC worksheets from Intervention Central)

Rhode Island Intensive Intervention Math Project

New York State Response to Intervention

Research

Impact of Cover, Copy, and Compare on fluency outcomes for students with disabilities and math deficits: A review of the literature

IR (Incremental Rehearsal)

Incremental rehearsal is an effective flashcard practice technique that provides mixed practice of previously learned and new facts at a ratio of one new or unknown fact to seven, eight, or nine unknown facts (1:7, 1:8, or 1:9; Burns et al., 2019). A practice cycle using a ratio of one unknown to eight known facts includes eight sets of facts. In each set, the new fact is presented first and is followed by an increasing number of known facts. After students complete the cycle, the unknown fact becomes the first known fact and the final (eighth) known fact is removed from the set. Up to five new facts can be introduced during an incremental rehearsal session. With the introduction of each new fact, students complete another cycle. Each cycle takes 3 minutes or less, so if five new facts are introduced, the entire practice session should take no longer than 15 minutes total.

Incremental Rehearsal Procedures & Resources

Procedures & Resources

Intervention Central

New York State Response to Intervention

PATTAN

Intervention Express

Research, Procedures & Videos

Universe of Missouri Evidence Based Intervention Network

CTD (Constant Time Delay)

CTD combines a teaching sequence and a practice sequence using flashcards. When using CTD, the teacher or tutor presents a fact on a flashcard, and if the student is unable to respond correctly in a predetermined amount of time (e.g., 2–3 seconds), the teacher provides the correct answer. During the teaching sequence, the teacher or tutor presents each flashcard in a set to the student and reads the fact and answer aloud, then immediately prompts the student to repeat the fact and answer (0-second delay). During the practice sequence, the teacher or tutor presents the fact flashcards again. Rather than provide the answer, the teacher or tutor asks the student to state the fact and answer independently using a longer delay (e.g., 2–3 seconds). If the student responds correctly within the 2 to 3 seconds provided, the teacher or tutor provides affirmative feedback (e.g., “Correct!”), then advances to the next flashcard. If the student does not respond within 2 to 3 seconds or responds incorrectly, the teacher or tutor provides corrective feedback and asks the student to repeat the correct answer (e.g., “5 × 6 = 30. What is 5 × 6?”).

CTD Procedures & Resources

Procedures & Resources:

Intervention Central

Institute of Education Science

Model Teaching

Research Articles

THE EFFECTS OF CONSTANT TIME DELAY AND STRATEGIC INSTRUCTION ON STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES’ MAINTENANCE AND GENERALIZATION

Computer-assisted instruction with constant time delay to teach multiplication facts to students with learning disabilities

Taped Problems

Taped problems are a mastery-practice activity that can use constant or progressive time delay to provide math fact practice using practice sheets that are aligned with audio recordings of the same facts and answers. During taped-problem practice, students attempt to answer facts on their worksheet before they hear the fact and answer read aloud on the tape recording (i.e., they attempt to “beat the tape”). When combining taped problems and CTD procedures, the delay between each fact prompt and answer on the audio recording is held constant across problems. When using progressive time delay, the delay between fact prompts and answers gets incrementally shorter or longer.

Taped Problems Procedure & Resources

Procedure & Resources

Intensive Intervention

Intervention Express

University of Missouri Evidence Based Intervention Network

New York State Response to Intervention

M.I.N.D (free worksheets and taped problem audio)

Research

Using Taped-Problems and Rewards to Increase Addition-Fact Fluency in a First Grade General Education Classroom

Computer-Based (Digital) Mastery Practice

Reviews of the literature on computer based applications indicate that these tools can increase fact fluency for students with mathematics difficulties when they promote engagement and include important elements of effective practice, including ample opportunities to respond, immediate feedback and error correction features, customization features (i.e., the ability to individualize practice items or sets), and progress-monitoring features (Hawkins et al., 2017). In contrast, computer games and programs that do not contain these elements may not support growth in fact fluency.