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Math learning disabilities are often caused by visual-spatial-motor disorganization.

Math learning strategies described above are adaptable for all students with learning disabilities in mathematics. These math activities are also effective with special needs students who are also functioning at the appropriate grade level.

Using structured, concrete, and hands-on materials is important in tying these links between concepts. This strategy not only applies to elementary grades, it is also vital during concept development stages of higher-level math.

When these problems are accompanied by a need for strong conceptual grasp of mathematical and spatial relations, it is imperative that students are not focusing only on remediating computation.

Math learning disabilities are often caused by visual-spatial-motor disorganization.

experience a weak understanding or lack a comprehension of conceptshave very poor number sense skillsexperience difficulty with pictorial representationshave poorly controlled handwritingexperience confusion with arrangements of numerals and signs on textbook/workbook pages

Math teaching strategies include avoiding the use of pictures or graphics for conveying concepts, constructing verbal versions of math ideas, and using concrete materials in math activities.

math activities designed to assist teachers in reaching students with visual learning disabilities through use of a direct and explicit instruction using a challenging math teaching strategy, along with use of manipulatives.

Some adaptive-learning software, which tailors lessons and exercises to individual student progress, also uses visual representation to demonstrate relationships.

online drawing programs that allow students and instructors to draw and manipulate shapes and graphs—like the Geometer’s Sketchpad, made by Emeryville, Calif.-based Key Curriculum Press, or the independently run GeoGebra, which has established dozens of institutes across the globe—immediately give users a sense of the relationships that govern geometry, algebra, and even calculus.

While software from Bellevue, Wash.-based DreamBox Learning also uses visual approaches, it differs from MIND’s software because it lets students in grades K-3 choose their own visual representations. After completing a problem one way, students will often be prompted to solve the same problem by choosing a different visualization to reinforce the concept.

its ability to import data from thrice-yearly Washington state standardized testing.

content services like Learn360, from Woodbury, N.Y.-based AIM Education Inc., offer the ability to combine resources into playlists of media set specifically for the needs of individual students, to help give some of that multidimensional understanding of content.

That's particularly true of Williams, who began working as a treatment plant intern while still a teenager. Now 22, Williams has created several YouTube videos on wastewater math. He ended his presentation last week by showing his students one of the questions from the plant operator examination — a complex equation whose answer required at least a page of careful analysis — and assuring them that they had the skills to complete it."All the algebra you've learned? You know all these formulas," Williams said. "And this problem is just one formula stacked on top of another."

At the time, the technology we used (in math class) was a graphing calculator,” he said. “Today, these kids have the privilege to learn math in a new, innovative way

Only the Fuse algebra application and a few key tools are loaded onto the devices. At school, students are blocked from inappropriate sites via firewalls. The App Store, where iPad users can purchase games and other applications, is locked on the device, but school officials are looking at opening the online store in the future. Freshman Catherine Rodriguez, 14, flashed a big smile as she received her new iPad. Math isn’t her strongest subject; she hopes the new technology will help her, she said. Passing math is a big concern for Rodriguez’s mother, who took three years to pass pre-algebra, she said.

Institutions are equally affected. A recent report by the Community College Research Center put the annual cost of remediation at $1.9-billion to $2.3-billion at community colleges and $500-million more at four-year colleges.

There is growing recognition that the traditional semester-long course sequence used by many community colleges doesn't work, says Michael Lawrence Collins, associate vice president for postsecondary state policy at Jobs for the Future, a Boston-based nonprofit that studies education and work-force issues. It's inefficient to have students take up to a year and a half in remediation when many need just pieces of what they're being taught.

The Virginia system is betting on that promise. Its colleges will soon replace their semester-long developmental-math courses with nine units, which can be taken as one-credit classes or Web-based lessons with variable credit hours that allow students to complete more than one unit in a self-paced computer lab and classroom. The number of units that students are required to complete will depend on their placement-test scores and intended program of study. Students focused on the liberal arts will have to show competence in only five units, for example, mastering basic algebra concepts such as linear equations. Students who plan to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, math, or business administration must complete all nine units.

Although he has help from a tutor in the class, it's a lot to juggle, he says. Mr. Wyrick does like how the Web-based class allows him to peek at students' quizzes in real time and track their progress a lot faster than by sorting through homework and test papers himself. "It allows me to intervene even before they ask for help," he says.

There is one certainty. The Virginia Community College system is not the only one anticipating the outcome. Equally curious are researchers and other colleges searching for successful ideas. "There is a risk," Mr. Collins says, "but there is also power in being that bold."

The Virginia Community College system is poised to find out. Starting in 2012, it will adopt a new systemwide developmental-math curriculum that will allow students to focus only on those math concepts they haven't already mastered rather than taking a series of semester-long math courses.

Half of all incoming students in the system need developmental education—and three-fourths of those students fail to graduate or transfer within four years.

the advent of new technologies means that all adults now need to be able to reason mathematically in order to work and live in today's society.

if we do not get our elementary students motivated to study these subjects, then we are facing an uphill battle as we continue our goal that ALL students feel confident and become successful in mathematics and science.

About two-thirds of the school's students are low income and 18% are learning English.

Test score gains are highest in elementary schools and drop off precipitously in middle and high school.

Across L.A. Unified, fewer than 20% of high school students scored proficient or better in general mathematics, algebra 1 and 2 and geometry. In fourth grade, by contrast, 67% of students tested as proficient or better in math.

In math, the numbers are 76% for Asians, 61% for whites, 41% for Latinos and 34% for African Americans.

With so many adults returning to higher education, remedial education must be transformed to meet their needs. Institutions should provide a wide range of options for students based on their competency, recognizing that many don’t have time for semesterlong courses.

A study by the Board of Regents in Ohio -- one of the few states that actually have cost data for remedial education -- found that although 38 percent of incoming freshmen were taking remedial coursework. This translated to only 5 percent of actual full-time students, and around 3.6 percent of undergraduate instructional costs.

The lack of clear college-ready standards, poor assessment practices, the lack of customized learning options and the cost in time and money to students make it clear that postsecondary institutions are not committed to ensuring the success of millions of students who seek a college credential.

Charles Cook, vice chancellor for instruction at Houston Community College. “I think the Statway project really has it right, where we’re looking at mathematical reasoning and problem solving and how math can serve you as a tool to further understanding, further investigation and further knowledge.”

Carnegie’s $14 million Quantway/Statway initiative is developing two mathematics programs: one-year courses that build quantitative literacy (Quantway) and statistical proficiency (Statway). They’re infusing both with teaching strategies that build students’ confidence as math learners.

This highly abstract curriculum is simply not the best way to prepare a vast majority of high school students for life.

most citizens would be better served by studying how mortgages are priced, how computers are programmed and how the statistical results of a medical trial are to be understood.

there is a world of difference between teaching “pure” math, with no context, and teaching relevant problems that will lead students to appreciate how a mathematical formula models and clarifies real-world situations.

Statewide, about 3.5% of eighth-graders — 17,257 in all — left school and didn't return for ninth grade

Among eighth-graders statewide, about 4,200 dropped out during the academic year; more than 13,000 finished eighth grade but didn't show up for ninth, the traditional beginning of high school.

L.A. Unified's estimated graduation rate for the four-year period is 55%. However, the state's new system places the district's rate at 64.2%.

"Are all kids ready for that level of abstraction and complexity by eighth grade?" district spokeswoman Carolyn Seaton said. "Many (experts) say no."

the district three years ago launched an initiative to boost performance in the elementary grades, with an eye toward the ultimate goal: that all eighth-graders not only take algebra I, but also succeed. She said the effort is beginning to pay off: Last year, it produced a class of students so advanced they were able to take algebra in seventh grade.

Math problem There were 90 employees in a company last year. This year the number of employees increased by 10 percent. How many employees are in the company this year? A) 9 B) 81 C) 91 D) 99 E) 100 The answer is D. A report by the Brookings Institution found that only 49 percent of eighth-graders taking algebra knew the correct answer.