Evaluating the QuickSmart Numeracy Program: An Effective Australian Intervention that Improves Student Achievement, Responds to Special Educational Needs, and Fosters Teacher Collaboration

Abstract

'QuickSmart' is a long-running intervention and research project originating in Australia. It is a structured intervention program designed for middle-school students (10 to 13 years) with significant learning difficulties in basic literacy and numeracy. The program aims to increase fluency in the most basic skills that underpin proficient performance in reading and in mathematics calculations and problem solving. The guiding principle is that building fluency and confidence in basic skills enables students to devote much more cognitive effort to the higher-order processes involved in reading for meaning and in solving mathematics problems. The 'QuickSmart' project also includes a research component that investigates the effectiveness of the intervention and observes the effect of improved fluency on students' performance on standardised achievement tests. A professional training and support component is an essential component of 'QuickSmart' for those involved in delivering the program in schools. This paper reports data from the ongoing evaluation of the numeracy component from 2001 to 2008. The data indicate that, so far, the intervention has improved the numeracy performance of more than 2,000 students with learning difficulties from over 90 schools in Australia. Data from the literacy component are still undergoing analysis.