Hard data to support the effectiveness of 'QuickSmart' Numeracy

Abstract

The availability of structured intervention programs for students with learning difficulties in mathematics has always lagged significantly behind the availability of intervention programs for literacy. In the past decade, however, concern has grown in Australian schools and in the community about the high number of students who fail to develop adequate numeracy skills and who lose all motivation to persevere with middle school and high school mathematics (Commonwealth of Australia, 2008). The problem is not unique to Australia; similar concerns have been voiced in reports on educational standards in the US and in Britain. The general consensus from existing evidence is that some 5 per cent to 10 per cent of school-age children have significant difficulties mastering even the most basic number concepts and skills, and an even larger percentage of students finds mathematics a difficult and frustrating subject. Unfortunately, the achievement gap between these students' numeracy skills and the expected standard for their age group widens over time. In many cases, their problems are still evident when they become adults, often placing limitations on employment options (House of Commons Public Accounts Committee: UK, 2009) ... With these issues in mind, in 2001 a team from the University of New England's National Centre of Science, Information and Communication Technology and Mathematics Education for Rural and Regional Australia (SiMERR) designed an intervention program – titled 'QuickSmart' – to reverse the trend of ongoing poor academic performance for students who have been struggling at school for several years and who are caught in a cycle of continued failure. 'QuickSmart' targets students with learning difficulties in the middle school years and focuses on increasing their fluency (automaticity) in basic numeracy skills. The implementation of 'QuickSmart' in Australia has been supported by research grants from the Australian Research Council, the Federal Government, project funds from SiMERR, and extensive cash and in-kind support from the Northern Territory and New South Wales. Since 2001 'QuickSmart' has been implemented on an increasingly expansive scale. In 2008/2009 the program extended to more schools in New South Wales and the Northern Territory and was introduced into South Australia, Victoria, and the Australian Capital Territory. To date, the total number of schools that have had involvement in the implementation of 'QuickSmart' programs is 148.