Diagnostic Interview as a Tool in Math Instruction

When students are underperforming in math, teachers start the intervention process by asking them, “Why?”

Many teachers want feedback, formally or informally, from their students. And according to a new article in Teaching Children Mathematics, the role of diagnostic interviews as a form of math intervention has been shown to be effective.

One-on-one meetings between a student and a teacher can help to determine what teaching techniques work best. The article points out that this approach is not about evaluating the student or teacher, but an opportunity to let the student speak. While diagnostic interviews may include an assessment of a student’s academic level, the goal is to discover the deficiency and the reason for it.

For help developing a diagnostic program that can be applied in your classroom, refer to: How Do My Students Think: Diagnosing Student Thinking published by the American Psychological Association. Scholastic offers information about incorporating diagnostic Interviews into math assessment as part of the Math Reasoning Inventory.

Have diagnostic interviews worked in your experience? How can they best be implemented in schools where personalized lesson plans and individualized assessments are more challenging to create?

Share your thoughts below.

College to start teaching high school level math

The University of Florida will teach high school level math next year because a third of its freshmen aren't ready for college math based on placement exams, according to an Arizona Daily Star report. The class will cover intermediate algebra to prepare students for college algebra. While it makes sense to the university's educators to not place students in courses they will likely fail, several readers have posted concerns on the article's discussion page.

Commenting on the root of the problem, reader Jean C. wrote: "I tend to believe that our society is largely at fault for these deficits. Instead of believing math is a crucial skill for boys and girls to learn, we tend to denigrate, call it hard, uncaring, and generally useless. We say things like certain people are bad at math, so it's okay to be bad at it. We obviously don't take that same stance with fluency in the English language, yet, for whatever reason, American society has decided that it is perfectly okay to be deficient in math."

One interesting twist to thinking about teaching high school level math in college was posted by Michael N., who said that a problem with "accommodating underperformance at a higher level is that it takes the heat off those at lower levels to do their job well."

This certainly has us thinking. Are we as a society enabling underachievement in math? What do you think?