Professional Portfolio: Assessment of and Strategies for Improving a Middle School Student’s Mathematics Performance

This project explores strategies to help secondary students with disabilities improve their mathematics performance. With eighth-grade math scores trending downward and algebra serving as a critical gateway to higher education, target interventions are needed. The literature review highlights two main instructional methods: the Explicit Inquiry Routine (EIR) and the Concrete-Representational-Abstract Integration (CRA-I). Both incorporate physical and virtual manipulatives. These approaches have been shown to help students grasp algebraic concepts, retain what they have learned and apply the skills to new types of problems. In addition to the research review, this paper includes assessment and intervention reports for a seventh-grade student with ADHD and epilepsy who was struggling with fractions. Through a structured intervention focused on explicit instruction and visual models, the student saw improvement in his ability to multiply and divide fractions. Assessments showed his scores climbing from below 50% at baseline to over 80% by the end of the intervention. Feedback from both the student and his parents indicated an increase in his confidence and engagement with math.