Implementation of Intensive Intervention to Address Mathematics Essential Elements for Middle School Students in Tier 3

Abstract

Students performing more than two grade levels below mathematical expectations need effective and intensive intervention. Interventionists, including special educators, must identify and target mathematical skills that will support these students’ access to grade-level expectations. In this study, we used a single-case multiple probe across participants design to examine the efficacy of an explicit instruction intervention on the mathematical performance of five sixth-grade students with extensive support needs. Two participants met the criteria for intellectual disability, two participants met the criteria for autism, and one participant was identified with other-health impairment and anxiety. Researchers found the explicit instruction intervention led to increased accuracy for all five students across the three mathematical topics (ratios, geometry, and statistics) after three sessions, though within- and between-participant variance was observed. While the intervention was effective, especially for statistics, inconsistent maintenance effects indicate limited long-term effects.