A Multicomponent Tier 2 Fraction Intervention Targeting Misconceptions for Sixth-Grade Students with Mathematics Difficulties: A Quasi-Experimental Pilot Study

Fraction understanding is foundational for later mathematics learning, yet many students with mathematics difficulties struggle with fraction concepts, procedures, and misconceptions. This quasi-experimental pilot study examined the preliminary promise, social validity, and feasibility of the Project AIM (Algebra-readiness Intervention Modules) Fraction Module with 57 sixth-grade students across three Tier 2 mathematics intervention classrooms: 39 students in two treatment classrooms and 18 students in one comparison classroom. Existing Tier 2 mathematics intervention classrooms were assigned to treatment or business-as-usual comparison conditions based on teacher preference and school feasibility. The module included explicit instruction, multiple representations, misconception-focused instruction, flexibility, reversibility, and generalization questions, and self-graphing. Outcomes included two proximal measures—the Fraction Module Check and Fraction Misconceptions Test—and the distal easyCBM Numbers and Operations assessment. Analysis of covariance results indicated higher adjusted posttest scores for the treatment condition on both proximal measures with a statistically significant between-condition difference on the Fraction Module Check (p = 0.007). Difference-in-differences effect sizes also favored the treatment condition on both proximal measures (Hedges’ g = 0.62 and 0.98, respectively). However, these findings should be interpreted cautiously given the small sample size, confounding of classroom with treatment assignment, differential attrition, and group differences at pretest. No statistically significant between-condition difference was found on the distal measure. Student and teacher social validity findings were generally favorable, and fidelity data indicated adequate to high intervention and assessment fidelity. Future research should examine the Project AIM Fraction Module in a larger, more rigorously designed study with random or cluster-random assignment, more balanced treatment and comparison conditions, stronger procedures for minimizing differential attrition, and analytic approaches that account for classroom-level assignment and baseline differences.