Proactive Mathematics Intervention, High School

Priming for Success Through Engaging Tasks and Purposeful Design
Barbara J. Dougherty - University of Hawaii, Manoa, USA
Karen S. Karp - Johns Hopkins University
Proactive Mathematics Intervention, High School
January 2027 | 352 pages | Corwin
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ISBN: 9798348838171
Available from January 2027

Description

Too many high school students placed in Tier 2 and Tier 3 intervention receive the same instruction—repeated, remediated, and reduced. The result: widening gaps, diminished confidence, and continued barriers to course-level content.  Proactive Mathematics Interventions, High School, offers a transformative alternative. Built on a strengths-based, proactive priming model, this resource helps teachers, coaches, and administrators prepare students who need intervention for what is coming mathematically—rather than reacting to what they missed. By building foundational understandings before new course content is introduced, students arrive at grade-level lessons ready to participate, contribute, and succeed.

Grounded in the leading research in mathematics and special education, this volume provides:

  • 30 intervention tasks spanning 81 activities across key high school topics—integers and operations, ratios and proportional relationships, expressions, equations and inequalities, functions, measurement, and data and statistics
  • Embedded formative assessment techniques—observations, interviews, Show Me prompts, hinge questions, and exit tasks—to monitor student progress and inform instructional next steps
  • Ready-to-use printables, concrete-semiconcrete-abstract (CSA) representations, and bridging prompts that connect intervention directly to classroom instruction
  • Practical planning tools and end-of-chapter reflection questions designed to support collaborative team use in professional learning communities

When educators shift from fixing students to fixing the structures that are not serving them, every student gains the foundation to access meaningful mathematics—and the confidence to own it.

Contents

Part 1: Introduction to Priming

  • Chapter 1: Introduction
  • Chapter 2: Characteristics of Effective Strengths-Based Interventions
  • Chapter 3: Formative Assessment
  • Chapter 4: Your Turn - Proactive Preventative Mathematics Intervention Model in Action

Part 2: Putting Priming Into Action

  • Chapter 5: Intervention Tasks
  • Task 1 – Rational Riddles
  • Tasks 2 - Computation Riddles
  • Task 3 – Quotient Quest
  • Task 4 – Fall Fest
  • Task 5 – Cosmic Convergence
  • Task 6 – Branching Out
  • Task 7 – Elis Expressions
  • Task 8 – Express Yourself
  • Task 9 – Crystal Ball
  • Task 10 – Game Boss Floor
  • Task 11 – Finding Balance
  • Task 12 – Solution Strategies
  • Task 13 – Guess My Rule
  • Task 14 – Graph Stories
  • Task 15 – National Parks
  • Task 16 – Linear or Not
  • Task 17 – Graph It
  • Task 18 – Rising Levels
  • Task 19 – Even Trades
  • Task 20 – Shelf by Shelf
  • Task 21 – Powerful Paper Strips
  • Task 22 – Polygon Designers
  • Task 23 – Triangle Truths
  • Task 24 – Cover it
  • Task 25 – Popcorn Possibilities
  • Task 26 – Exploring Circles
  • Task 27 – Mapping Motion
  • Task 28 – Scaleon
  • Task 29 - Blockheads
  • Task 30 – Race to Zero

Appendix A – Interventions at a Glance

Appendix A – Interventions at a Glance

References

References

Description

Too many high school students placed in Tier 2 and Tier 3 intervention receive the same instruction—repeated, remediated, and reduced. The result: widening gaps, diminished confidence, and continued barriers to course-level content.  Proactive Mathematics Interventions, High School, offers a transformative alternative. Built on a strengths-based, proactive priming model, this resource helps teachers, coaches, and administrators prepare students who need intervention for what is coming mathematically—rather than reacting to what they missed. By building foundational understandings before new course content is introduced, students arrive at grade-level lessons ready to participate, contribute, and succeed.

Grounded in the leading research in mathematics and special education, this volume provides:

  • 30 intervention tasks spanning 81 activities across key high school topics—integers and operations, ratios and proportional relationships, expressions, equations and inequalities, functions, measurement, and data and statistics
  • Embedded formative assessment techniques—observations, interviews, Show Me prompts, hinge questions, and exit tasks—to monitor student progress and inform instructional next steps
  • Ready-to-use printables, concrete-semiconcrete-abstract (CSA) representations, and bridging prompts that connect intervention directly to classroom instruction
  • Practical planning tools and end-of-chapter reflection questions designed to support collaborative team use in professional learning communities

When educators shift from fixing students to fixing the structures that are not serving them, every student gains the foundation to access meaningful mathematics—and the confidence to own it.

Contents

Part 1: Introduction to Priming

  • Chapter 1: Introduction
  • Chapter 2: Characteristics of Effective Strengths-Based Interventions
  • Chapter 3: Formative Assessment
  • Chapter 4: Your Turn - Proactive Preventative Mathematics Intervention Model in Action

Part 2: Putting Priming Into Action

  • Chapter 5: Intervention Tasks
  • Task 1 – Rational Riddles
  • Tasks 2 - Computation Riddles
  • Task 3 – Quotient Quest
  • Task 4 – Fall Fest
  • Task 5 – Cosmic Convergence
  • Task 6 – Branching Out
  • Task 7 – Elis Expressions
  • Task 8 – Express Yourself
  • Task 9 – Crystal Ball
  • Task 10 – Game Boss Floor
  • Task 11 – Finding Balance
  • Task 12 – Solution Strategies
  • Task 13 – Guess My Rule
  • Task 14 – Graph Stories
  • Task 15 – National Parks
  • Task 16 – Linear or Not
  • Task 17 – Graph It
  • Task 18 – Rising Levels
  • Task 19 – Even Trades
  • Task 20 – Shelf by Shelf
  • Task 21 – Powerful Paper Strips
  • Task 22 – Polygon Designers
  • Task 23 – Triangle Truths
  • Task 24 – Cover it
  • Task 25 – Popcorn Possibilities
  • Task 26 – Exploring Circles
  • Task 27 – Mapping Motion
  • Task 28 – Scaleon
  • Task 29 - Blockheads
  • Task 30 – Race to Zero

Appendix A – Interventions at a Glance

Appendix A – Interventions at a Glance

References

References

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Proactive Mathematics Intervention, High School

Priming for Success Through Engaging Tasks and Purposeful Design


January 2027 | 352 pages | Corwin

Format Published Date ISBN Price
Paperback 12/06/2026 9798348838171 $40.95

Too many high school students placed in Tier 2 and Tier 3 intervention receive the same instruction—repeated, remediated, and reduced. The result: widening gaps, diminished confidence, and continued barriers to course-level content.  Proactive Mathematics Interventions, High School, offers a transformative alternative. Built on a strengths-based, proactive priming model, this resource helps teachers, coaches, and administrators prepare students who need intervention for what is coming mathematically—rather than reacting to what they missed. By building foundational understandings before new course content is introduced, students arrive at grade-level lessons ready to participate, contribute, and succeed.

Grounded in the leading research in mathematics and special education, this volume provides:

  • 30 intervention tasks spanning 81 activities across key high school topics—integers and operations, ratios and proportional relationships, expressions, equations and inequalities, functions, measurement, and data and statistics
  • Embedded formative assessment techniques—observations, interviews, Show Me prompts, hinge questions, and exit tasks—to monitor student progress and inform instructional next steps
  • Ready-to-use printables, concrete-semiconcrete-abstract (CSA) representations, and bridging prompts that connect intervention directly to classroom instruction
  • Practical planning tools and end-of-chapter reflection questions designed to support collaborative team use in professional learning communities

When educators shift from fixing students to fixing the structures that are not serving them, every student gains the foundation to access meaningful mathematics—and the confidence to own it.


Table Of Contents:

  • Part 1: Introduction to Priming
  • Chapter 1: Introduction
  • Chapter 2: Characteristics of Effective Strengths-Based Interventions
  • Chapter 3: Formative Assessment
  • Chapter 4: Your Turn - Proactive Preventative Mathematics Intervention Model in Action
  • Part 2: Putting Priming Into Action
  • Chapter 5: Intervention Tasks
  • Task 1 – Rational Riddles
  • Tasks 2 - Computation Riddles
  • Task 3 – Quotient Quest
  • Task 4 – Fall Fest
  • Task 5 – Cosmic Convergence
  • Task 6 – Branching Out
  • Task 7 – Elis Expressions
  • Task 8 – Express Yourself
  • Task 9 – Crystal Ball
  • Task 10 – Game Boss Floor
  • Task 11 – Finding Balance
  • Task 12 – Solution Strategies
  • Task 13 – Guess My Rule
  • Task 14 – Graph Stories
  • Task 15 – National Parks
  • Task 16 – Linear or Not
  • Task 17 – Graph It
  • Task 18 – Rising Levels
  • Task 19 – Even Trades
  • Task 20 – Shelf by Shelf
  • Task 21 – Powerful Paper Strips
  • Task 22 – Polygon Designers
  • Task 23 – Triangle Truths
  • Task 24 – Cover it
  • Task 25 – Popcorn Possibilities
  • Task 26 – Exploring Circles
  • Task 27 – Mapping Motion
  • Task 28 – Scaleon
  • Task 29 - Blockheads
  • Task 30 – Race to Zero
  • Appendix A – Interventions at a Glance
  • References

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