FASTT Math Program

Gemm provides math help in a multi-pronged approach that builds foundational math skills such as sequencing and working memory, along with math fact practice using FASTT Math.

It is available with remote tutor service at home or at a Westchester, NY or Fairfield County, CT learning center.

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FASTT Math Overview

Fluency & Automaticity through Systematic Teaching with Technology FASTT Math combines research-validated methods and technology to help struggling students develop fluency with basic math facts in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Using built-in, ongoing assessment, the software provides a continuously adaptive program that efficiently increases fluency in customized, 10-minute sessions.

Instructional Content and Design

FASTT Math delivers individualized instruction and practice that helps students develop automatic recall of basic math facts from numbers 0-9 or 0-12. Computer- based, customized practice activities and worksheets help students achieve math-fact fluency.

FASTT Math employs a proven approach called �expanding recall� to help students move newly acquired math facts from working to long-term memory. No more than three new facts are introduced during any given 10-minute session. Students practice holding new facts longer and longer in working memory until they make the leap to automatic retrieval.

Developing automatic recall of basic facts provides the foundation needed for later development of higher-order math skills. Unlike traditional drill and practice software, standards-aligned FASTT Math assesses which facts a student doesn�t know and focuses instruction on those, requires recall from memory by controlling response time, and provides corrective feedback during review and practice.

Intervention Strategies

Research has shown that the adaptive program is especially effective for students with mild disabilities and those who are at risk of school failure. Students receive the targeted instruction and systematic, repetitive practice they need to develop accurate and automatic recall of facts.

Gemm can customize software features to support children with special needs: The 1.25-seconds monitored response time can be lengthened for students with processing difficulties. The number of problems presented during instruction can be reduced for students who need more time to absorb new information. The audio function can be turned on or off. Students can listen repeatedly to any instructions they may have missed. Problems can be spoken aloud in English and Spanish.

Program Design

Designed for children in Grades 2 and above, FASTT Math can be done at home or in center. Students use the program daily during 10-minute sessions. The software individualizes instruction, practice, and review of facts based on students responses. On the Fact Grid, students can readily see which facts they have mastered and which they are still learning.

FASTT Math uses this effective procedure:

1. The student is introduced to two or three non-fluent facts to study. Typically, but only when possible, the session Study Facts appear as a commutative pair. He/she is encouraged to read the facts aloud. The student can also watch an animated representation of each fact to help remind him/her in a more concrete way of what the fact represents.

2. After seeing and speaking the new Study Facts, the student is asked to type each number sentence into the computer. If he/she fails to type the facts correctly, the facts are redisplayed, and the process is repeated. This helps establish a memory relationship with the fact in the student's mind.

3. Once the student can correctly type the number sentences of the new Study Facts, the program then presents a practice session with these facts. The program mixes presentations of the two Study Facts with a gradually increasing number of fluent facts. The student builds the capacity to hold the fact in memory for a longer and longer period of time. FASTT Math limits the allowed response time to prevent the student from employing non-automated strategies.

4. When the student is able to recall the current Study Facts consistently, the facts are added as Focus Facts to the student's Fact Grid. The software provides extra practice to help the students solidify them in memory and increase recall speed.

5. Once a student is able to recall his or her Focus Facts in less than .8 of a second, those Focus Facts are changed to Fast Facts on the student's Fact Grid. FASTT Math also provides students with customized worksheets to practice their math facts in a paper-and-pencil environment. Teachers can print out problems in a horizontal or vertical format and in single- and multi-digit operations. These worksheets only include the math facts that a student is fluent with or is currently studying.

Screening and Diagnostic Assessments

For each operation, FASTT Math begins with a placement quiz to determine the student's baseline fact fluency with all facts in the operation. This quiz diagnoses exactly which facts a student can retrieve automatically from memory (in less than .8 of a second) and which are either unknown or being processed using an inefficient strategy. Educators can compare results with state or district grade-level expectations to see which students are on track and which have fallen behind. The software also measures a student's typing speed to avoid penalizing those who are slow typists.

FASTT Math periodically assesses students learning through two instruments:

Fast Fact Challenge (Mastery): After every 120 minutes of instructional time spent in the software, this tool determines which Focus Facts students can retrieve in .8 of a second or less.

Fast Fact Challenge (New Level): This challenge determines whether the student is now able to respond fluently to a fact in the next level, even if he/she was not able to do so during the placement quiz. It accounts for facts the student may have learned outside the software, and keeps the instructional focus where needed.

Motivation and Engagement

The Fact Grid provides milestones for achievement that both the software and the teacher can use to reward and motivate students. A selection of engaging games provides students with intelligent practice, and improved performance leads to increased speed challenges. Students compete with their own previous scores, focusing on progressive self-improvement.