School systems are being asked to do something both urgent and complex: accelerate mathematics learning for students who have not yet met grade-level standards, while also addressing the real barriers that interfere with learning—attendance, behavior, trauma, language development, and access to high-quality instruction.
Washington’s Mathematics Menu of Best Practices and Strategies (2020) was designed to help districts meet that challenge through the Learning Assistance Program (LAP). As a Special Education Director, I appreciate that this menu does not treat math improvement as a single program purchase. Instead, it frames math growth as a system: strong core instruction, layered supports, smart assessment practices, and implementation that is monitored for fidelity.
Below is an easy-to-read overview of key insights from the menu, along with practical ways districts can apply them—especially in a time when staffing shortages (including therapists and intervention staff) require us to be strategic, collaborative, and compliant.
1) Why the Mathematics Menu Exists: A Legal and Equity Imperative
The menu is grounded in Washington law (RCW 28A.165.035) and the Strengthening Student Educational Outcomes Act. The state invests significant funding through LAP to support students who are below standard in English language arts and mathematics. Districts must use a menu-aligned best practice (or an approved alternative with evidence of effectiveness) when designing LAP services.
One theme runs throughout the document: opportunity gaps are real, persistent, and influenced by factors such as poverty, language acquisition, and trauma. The menu is intended to identify practices that reduce those gaps and accelerate growth.
2) LAP in Plain Language: What It Is (and What It Is Not)
LAP provides supplemental services—not a replacement for core instruction. The intent is acceleration: students should make progress toward grade-level standards during the time they receive services.
- LAP eligibility is determined using multiple measures (state assessments, nationally normed tools, teacher-made assessments, observations, referrals, attendance, discipline, GPA/credits at secondary, etc.).
- Behavior services can be provided through LAP when the district believes behavior barriers are impacting academic outcomes. Importantly, the impact of behavior services is still measured by academic growth.
- Readiness to Learn (RTL) is a separate allowable use (up to 5% of LAP base funds) and may serve students who are at risk even if they are not yet identified below standard.
- Academic readiness includes foundational skills needed to access math and ELA—especially in K–2, where early numeracy is a strong predictor of later success.
3) MTSS is the Operating System: Tiers Are Supports, Not Students
The menu is clear that a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) is essential. MTSS connects academic and non-academic interventions into one coherent framework.
- Tier 1: Core instruction for all students (designed to meet needs of at least 80%). If more than 20% of students are not meeting expectations, the first step is improving Tier 1.
- Tier 2: Additional supports for some students (often around 15%). Entry/exit criteria and a standard assessment plan matter.
- Tier 3: Intensive, individualized supports for a small number of students (often around 5%). Tier 3 is not “special education only.”
From a compliance and systems standpoint, this language is helpful in meetings with families: it reinforces that students can receive intensive supports without being mislabeled, and it supports appropriate referral practices when concerns persist.
4) Assessment That Drives Action: Balanced and Comprehensive
The menu emphasizes that assessment is only useful when it produces actionable information. A comprehensive system includes:
- Universal screening to flag students who may need more support
- Diagnostic data collection to identify specific skill gaps and causes
- Formative assessment processes embedded in daily instruction (clarify learning, elicit evidence, interpret, act)
- Progress monitoring (especially frequent for Tier 2/3 supports)
- Summative and benchmark assessments to verify learning and inform system decisions
The menu also notes limitations of relying too heavily on a single measure. For example, Smarter Balanced assessments can be one eligibility measure, but they are not designed to serve as the primary progress-monitoring tool for LAP reporting.
5) Core Math Instruction Must Reflect the State’s Vision
Washington’s math standards emphasize reasoning, modeling, and problem solving—not only computation and memorization. The menu highlights the Standards for Mathematical Practice and the five strands of mathematical proficiency:
- Conceptual understanding
- Procedural fluency
- Strategic competence
- Adaptive reasoning
- Productive disposition (seeing oneself as capable in math)
In practice, this means that interventions should not default to low-level remediation that slows students down. The menu cautions that remediation can widen gaps if it lowers expectations or removes students from core instruction.
6) What the Menu Recommends: Best Practices at a Glance
The menu organizes practices into four categories. Here are the “at a glance” items and how districts often operationalize them.
Student-Centered Practices
- Double Dosing (evidence-based; middle/high school): A second math period aligned to core instruction, with collaboration time between teachers and a focus on targeted needs.
- Summer School/Programs (evidence-based): Effective when aligned to school-year curriculum, engaging, and sufficiently long (often 80+ hours).
- Tutoring by an Adult (evidence-based to research-based): Most effective when tutors are trained, aligned to core instruction, and sessions are frequent (often 3–4 times per week).
- Tutoring by a Peer (research-based): Works best with training, structured routines, and rich tasks—not just worksheets.
Educator-Focused Practices
- Consultant Teachers/Instructional Coaches (evidence-based): Job-embedded coaching, modeling, co-planning, and data coaching over multiple years.
- Professional Learning Communities (promising): Effective when teams use protocols, focus on student work, and tie decisions to data and outcomes.
- Targeted Professional Learning (evidence-based): Content-specific, sustained, and connected to classroom practice (theory, demonstration, practice, feedback, coaching).
Transition and Readiness Practices
- Credit Retrieval and Mastery (promising): For 11th–12th grade students, with strong teacher support and focus on standards mastery rather than seat time.
- Grade 8 to High School Transitions (promising): Summer bridge, freshman academies, mentoring, and early warning systems.
- Kindergarten Transitions (promising): Data sharing, family outreach, readiness events, and alignment with WaKIDS.
Family and Community Practices
- Family Engagement (promising): Two-way partnerships, culturally responsive events, home visits, and practical math routines families can use.
- Community-Based Student Mentors (research-based): Carefully screened and supported mentoring relationships that connect math learning to real life and future pathways.
7) Implementation Matters: Fidelity, Improvement Cycles, and Capacity
A key message for district leaders is that “best practice” does not guarantee results if implementation is passive. The menu highlights active implementation and improvement cycles such as Plan, Do, Study, Act.
- Plan: Define outcomes, success criteria, data sources, responsibilities, and barriers (including staffing).
- Do: Deliver the intervention and document what actually happened.
- Study: Review student outcomes and adult implementation data.
- Act: Adjust and refine for the next cycle.
This is especially relevant when staffing shortages exist. When we cannot hire “more people,” we must strengthen systems: training, coaching, scheduling, and data routines that make existing staff more effective and aligned.
8) Where Online Services Fit (and How to Keep Them Effective)
While the menu notes that technology is a tool—not an intervention by itself—it also acknowledges that technology can expand access to representations, practice, and progress monitoring when used strategically.
For districts partnering with providers like TinyEYE, the strongest alignment to the menu occurs when online services are integrated into the district’s MTSS and LAP plan:
- Services are aligned to grade-level standards and core instruction
- Progress monitoring is clear, frequent, and shared with teams
- Intervention time does not replace core instruction
- Communication loops include teachers and families
- Implementation is monitored for fidelity and adjusted through improvement cycles
In other words: online support is most effective when it is part of the system, not operating beside it.
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