Students start their Mathnasium program by doing an initial assessment. Our assessment is designed to pinpoint in detail where exactly is your child’s math skills so that we can find the best spot to start. In the assessment, we also observe how your child’s approach to come up with the answers. They answer might be correct, but if they use inefficient strategies – such as doing finger counting, or relying to algorithm all the time even for a very simple problem for their level – we feel it will be very useful to show them the strategic way so that they can build their number sense.

Remember, Mathnasium Method™ ultimate goal is to build a child’s number sense. This is a priceless and a very valuable life-skill for any student. With a good number sense, a student’s logical and critical reasoning will grow further. 

From catching-up to getting ahead in 2.5 months!! (Disclosure: the post-assessment was taken on Dec 5, but she finished the Learning Plan the week before). 

(1) Mathnasium’s assessment aims for the long-term success

So there you go, Mathnasium Assessment is part of our Mathnasium Method™ – we aim for long term success, not just short term goal of “improving grades”.

As explained in our blog Mathnasium for Beginners, nearly all students that we assess have some gaps, regardless of their grades in math at school. Many have fundamental gaps in their math understanding that should have been mastered a few grades earlier. In a number of cases, the student may be quite far behind that it would take longer than the whole school year to catch up with their current grade. 

So when the assessment result shows that your child’s math skills are a couple of grades and even more below, don’t be discouraged. It is very common, especially due to the pandemic. Many kids just need a little nudge or push to really understand about a math concept.

(2) We get to the bottom of it: We pinpoint the gaps in detail!

Here is what one parent says in Mathnasium of Red Deer review:

"A great experience for my child. They can really figure out the little details of why my child was struggling and help him personally."

It’s not just to find out: “oh your child’s math skills are at grade 3” – and then your child has to work on everything, all skills at grade 3; this happened to my kids when I sent them to a well-known math program around 10 years ago. But at Mathnasium, when the assessment is completed, you’ll get a very detailed picture of where your child’s skills are, what are the gaps, and the learning plan to address that. So your child doesn’t have to repeat all things that they have known, but rather they can focus their time and energy to develop skills that they need to master.

Looking back, I feel sorry for my kids that they think to be able to success in math they need to go through pain and do lots of math drills and repetition. Glad that now I can show other kids there’s a better and fun way to do math. Lol.

Post-Assessment

We send a progress report every month to parents, so you are well informed on how your child’s doing. And when a student completes a learning plan, or when we think they are ready, we conduct a post-Assessment to see if they retain all skills they have learned. As shown in the picture, this second grader improved her math skills by 54% in just 2.5 months, and now already working on her second grade learning plan. It’s just so fast how she moved from a catching-up student to a getting-ahead!

Please be aware that we work according to your child’s pace – some kids are faster than others, some need more reinforcement, and nothing’s wrong with that. The important thing to ensure progression is a student has a steady and consistent attendance and a positive mindset.

If you want to learn more about our assessment, give us a call to schedule one: 403.872.MATH (6284).