All New FASTT Math® Next Generation Helps Students Achieve Math Fact Fluency, a Critical Component of the Common Core Standards

NEW YORK, April 25, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Scholastic Education, the leading provider of instructional technology for schools in the U.S., today announces FASTT Math® Next Generation, a significantly upgraded version of the country's premier math fact fluency program. Rebuilt from the ground up with even smarter technology and games created by leading experts in educational game design, FASTT Math Next Generation helps students build fluency faster and gives teachers tools to better track student progress and keep implementation on track.

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FASTT Math has always provided the most efficient, personalized path to fact fluency for students in Grades 2-9+.  Now there's more.  Next Generation is designed to meet Common Core State Standards with 18 new games to help students achieve fact fluency, new student dashboards to enhance motivation, and new educator dashboards to track progress toward CCSS goals.

FASTT Math Next Generation includes the new STRETCH-To-Go™ games, developed by experts in game theory and motivation that are designed to build upon their mastery of facts to build flexibility with numbers.  The games take aim at more rigorous Common Core Standards such as inverse relationships and recognizing unknowns.  Stretch -To-Go is accessible 24/7, enabling students to build mastery anywhere there is an internet connection, including home, the media center, or extended day programs. 

The Common Core State Standards call for students to be fast and accurate with facts in all four operations in order to succeed in higher-order mathematics. Educators and cognitive scientists agree that the ability to recall basic math facts fluently from long term memory is necessary for students to build higher-order math skills, and is a crucial foundation for success in algebra and beyond as laid out in the Common Core.

Based on validated research in cognitive science FASTT Math Next Generation generates a personalized learning path for each student, using the proven FASTT (Fluency and Automaticity through Systematic Teaching with Technology) method, developed by Dr. Ted Hasselbring and his team at Vanderbilt University. FASTT Math helps students abandon the use of inefficient strategies for determining the answer to basic facts, such as finger counting, and helps them develop the capacity to retrieve the basic facts from memory quickly and effortlessly.

The FASTT Math adaptive software assesses students in real-time as they use the technology, identifies their gaps, and delivers individualized instructional paths to help them achieve math fact fluency – all in 10 minutes-per-day.

"In order for students to succeed in algebra and beyond, they need to be deeply fluent in basic math facts and able to effortlessly retrieve them as needed from long-term memory," said Margery Mayer, President of Scholastic Education. "With this new edition of FASTT Math, we've taken the proven instructional model we know works, and built in new technology that provides empowering data to teachers and school leaders, and a more engaging, game-like interface for students to help them extend their understanding, build connections between math facts and recognize patterns."

Educators and students who want to experience FASTT Math Next Generation can download one of the STRETCH-To-Go games, Sushi Monster™, for free in the iPad App Store. The game challenges users' deep understanding of math facts by requiring them to think backwards – choosing numbers that combine in different ways to equal a given answer.

FASTT Math Next Generation incorporates new technology and content to help make teachers more effective and students more engaged – building upon the science, the research and the model that has been proven to raise math achievement.

For Teachers:

With the goal of making every FASTT Math teacher a highly effective teacher, FASTT Math Next Generation includes new dashboards to help them become experts on data and differentiated instruction, and maps student progress toward meeting key Common Core fluency goals.

• A new Teacher Dashboard draws upon user-friendly technologies which will make data reporting more efficient.
• The dashboard provides implementation data to teachers anytime/anywhere and will help them sort through data and analyze it.

For Students:

New features for students in FASTT Math Next Generation are designed to provide content and rigor that will extend beyond the basics and help them deepen fluency beyond basic memorization of math facts.

• Anytime/anywhere access allows students the chance to use FASTT Math at home and create more ownership over their learning.
• New FASTT Math STRETCH-To-Go games draw upon the latest in research on gaming and deepen students' math fluency beyond fact recall. The games help students understand, find patterns and make connections between the skills they learn – and each one was designed to meet specific Common Core State Standards.
• Next Generation also includes an iPad app called Sushi Monster, allowing students to extend their learning outside of the classroom.

For more information about Scholastic, visit our media room: http://mediaroom.scholastic.com.

SOURCE Scholastic Inc.