Welcome to Math-a-Minute©, the easy-to-manage, fun and effective math facts mastery program for elementary schools.

Math-a-Minute© (MAM) is an individualized progressive math facts program designed to bring mastery of the math facts to students in school classrooms or home schooling. MAM has shown tremendous success in getting students to master their basic math facts and improve their scores on local, state, and national assessments. MAM is a great supplement to concept-based math programs such as Trailblazers and Everyday Math. The Everyday Math curriculum states: "Carrying out multi-step computational procedures without automatic recall of the basic facts can result in cognitive overload and errors." After students understand the basic math facts concepts and algorithms, MAM provides the practice for automatic recall of all the math facts.

MAM© presents a series of 15-problem one-minute daily quizzes beginning from the lowest and moving to the highest. MAM successfully moves the bulk of responsibility for teaching the facts to parents. MAM is also fun for students, individualized for and tracked by each student, effective, and easy to use. It's all on a $450 CD which contains all the print masters but it is a basic daily paper and pencil program. One computer is needed once for only printing the masters for all the materials in the program. While MAM has fundamental key components, it can be customized for each school and their individual resources and needs.

The information on this site will explain and elaborate on the following overview of MAM©:

Quotes About MAM© and Teaching Basic Math Facts:

"Both my sons have used the Math-a-Minute program at Serene Lake Elementary. I welcomed the opportunity for them to practice basic skills and improve their math fact recall through the one-minute drills. As a parent volunteer, I assisted with record keeping and found the system very easy to maintain. Finally as an educator, I see the value in complementing my school district adopted curriculum with daily math fact review offered through Math-a-Minute" - Kathleen Hodges, Maplewood K-8, Edmonds, WA.

"Our Iowa Test of Basic Skills math computation scores went from the 39th percentile to the 66th percentile in one year. I am certain that MAM© was major reason for that improvement." - Don McPherson, Principal, Hillside Elementary, Clover Park, WA.

"We have been using Math-a-Minute© for two years and have experienced an appreciable increase in our ITBS scores in computations. Our teachers love the program and kids are excited about learning math facts! I highly recommend it." - Robin Logan, Principal, Gildo Rey Elementary, Auburn School District, Auburn, WA.

"We have employed Math-a-Minute© at all grade levels in the North River School District. Math scores have improved across the board. Every 4th grade student passed the Washington Assessment of Student learning in math this year." - Gene Avey, Superintendent, North River School District, Cosmopolis, WA

"Knowing the math facts is a litmus test for grade school students. Those who know the facts believe they are good in math and they approach all math skills with greater confidence and greater willingness." - Neal Kirby, creator of MAM©

Everyday Mathematics (2002), developed by the University of Chicago School Mathematics Project, states: "Carrying out multi-step computational procedures without automatic recall of the basic facts can result in cognitive overload and errors."

Adding It Up: Helping Children Learn Mathematics (2003, National Academy of Sciences) written by the Mathematics Learning Study Committee of the Center for Education at the National Research Council states: "Computing includes being fluent with procedures for adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing mentally or with paper and pencil and knowing when and how to use these procedures appropriately…..Students need to compute number combinations (6 + 7, 17 - 9, 8 X 4, and so on) rapidly and accurately. They also need to become accurate and efficient with algorithms - step by step procedures for adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing multi-digit whole numbers, fractions, and decimals, and for doing other computations."

Basic Information on MAM©

MAM© has been shown to increase math scores on standards based and norm referenced tests.
MAM© is supported strongly by research on teaching the facts. It is short (15 problem quizzes in one minute), daily, individualized, and focused on only a few facts at a time. There's fast feedback, reviews of previously learned facts, and big increases in the speed and accuracy (automaticity) of the facts.
MAM© has been recognized by the Washington State Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development.
MAM© is a great supplement to Everyday Math, Trailblazers, Investigations, Success for All Math, and other math curricula.
MAM© is endorsed by many school principals in buildings now using the program.
MAM© takes less than 5 minutes of classroom time per day.
When run by parents and classified staff, MAM© empowers them in management of a fundamental program with a decided impact on achievement while relieving teachers of the need to drill students in the facts.
MAM© engages parents and students in practicing math facts nightly for 10 minutes in a program parents overwhelmingly understand and support, transferring most responsibility for fact memorization to the home.

MAM© follows research compiled on teaching math facts in the Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction pamphlet "Teaching and Learning Mathematics", March, 2000:

The research shows students need a conceptual understanding of math fact operations and algorithms before drills in each operation begin; after the concepts and algorithms, fact instruction requires brief drills on a daily basis; students need to know the goal is memorizing the facts; students should focus on a few facts at a time; students need immediate feedback; two key aspects of facts recall are accuracy and speed; and teachers need to praise students on progress in memorizing facts, recording individual progress. MAM© follows these guiding principles.

For more data, other endorsements, how the program works, and other information, click on the links in the navigation bar at the left.

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