Date of Award

4-2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education, Leadership EdD

Department

Education

First Advisor

Tonya Thompson

Second Advisor

Jenny Hernandez

Third Advisor

Montana DeWeese

Abstract

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to implement math fluency interventions with intention and fidelity to increase student math achievement. Recent studies have reported a decline in students' mathematics achievement scores, calling for an urgent redesign of instructional practices. Aligning with strategic organizational change, the scholar-practitioner designed math fluency activities to be implemented during math instructional time, embedding the strategies within the current curriculum, which lacked sufficient resources. The researcher then collected data from student reflections, end-of-unit assessments, and the beginning-of-year math diagnostic to design a specific implementation of math fluency activities that would help students increase their mathematical achievement. By exploring and applying various math fluency strategies and activities, the scholar-practitioner focused on making improvements to math fluency instruction actionable and aligned with the district curriculum and goals. Goal setting and progress tracking were incorporated into the test phase, so that students could also monitor their progress and relate it to their assessment performance, along with the researcher. Student reflections offered valuable insights into the effectiveness of specific strategies and interventions, as well as identified additional instructional support students felt they needed to succeed on end-of-unit and standardized assessments. Upon completion of the study, there was a significant increase in student achievement scores from the pre-intervention benchmark assessment to the post-intervention assessment. As a result of this study, the researcher has designed math fluency activities to be embedded within the current curriculum to build a better working knowledge of math fluency, which can help students solve more complex math problems.

Research Highlights

  • The Problem: Fifth-grade students at a Midwestern school district exhibited declining mathematics achievement and a lack of foundational math fact fluency, scoring below the state average on complex topics such as geometry, measurement, and fractions. 

  • The Method: This design-based mixed-methods study utilized empathy generators (observations, shared journaling, and focus groups), a "how might we" design thinking framework, and a two-month test phase involving 14 fifth-grade students and five educators at School One. 

  • Quantitative Finding: Student pre-test average mean scores of 26% increased to a post-test average mean of 52.50% after the intervention; 13 out of 14 students demonstrated significant growth ranging from 1 to 63 percentage points; the mean increase was 26.50 percentage points with a very large effect size (Cohen's d = 1.69). 

  • Qualitative Finding: Teacher participants identified a lack of consistent fluency resources in the current curriculum; students reported that non-timed, digital, and hands-on interventions increased their self-efficacy and ability to select appropriate strategies for complex problems; goal-setting boards and weekly reflections significantly fostered student motivation and accountability.

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