Math classrooms have experienced a major shift over the past decade. Whereas previously math instruction emphasized procedural fluency, many state standards now require a deeper focus on conceptual understanding and application.1 With these shifts, school and district leaders play an important role in supporting teachers' knowledge of and comfort with both math content and the instructional practices that spark conceptual understanding, enabling students to build a strong math foundation.2,3
REL Midwest's forthcoming Teaching Fractions Toolkit (anticipated release in 2025) targets an area where teachers often need support: teaching fractions.4 As noted in a recent EdWeek article, fractions are an important foundational concept and building block for students to succeed with more advanced math. At the same time, fractions can be a particularly challenging concept to teach.5
To address this need, the Teaching Fractions Toolkit uses evidence-based strategies from the What Works Clearinghouse practice guide Developing Effective Fractions Instruction for Kindergarten Through 8th Grade to support the teaching and learning of fractions. Toolkit resources are being developed and tested for grade 6 math teachers as well as administrators and school leaders, including principals, assistant superintendents, curriculum directors, math coaches, and teacher leaders.
Note: The Teaching Fractions Toolkit is not a curriculum. Rather, it is meant to support and improve teachers' fractions content knowledge and pedagogy and can support teachers in implementing a curriculum that is in place or being adopted.
>> Learn more about the Teaching Fractions Toolkit, which is slated to be published later in 2025.
Why supporting math professional learning is important
Good classroom practice cuts across all content areas, but math differs in how it is learned and taught. For example, math as a subject is highly sequential; each topic builds on previously learned concepts. Teachers need to be aware of not only the math concepts they are teaching, but also the broader learning trajectory of related concepts. This approach enables teachers to help students bridge gaps and connect to prior understanding, which in turn helps students to see where the math they are currently learning will lead. Fractions are one particularly important foundational concept - students must have a strong conceptual understanding of fractions, rates, ratios, and proportions before tackling more advanced math.6
Figure 1. Importance of mastering fractions in grade 6
Visualizations and models can be important tools to help students work through contextual, real-world math problems, particularly fractions problems focused on quantity comparisons or rates.7 Teachers need to develop their own fluency in using visualizations and models so they can teach for conceptual understanding and help students connect with their prior knowledge.8 Teachers should provide students opportunities to make sense of relationships, such as part-to-whole in multiple contexts, which can help students develop a deeper understanding. Concrete examples that may be intuitive to kids (e.g., pieces of pizza) can be compared directly with a number line to develop their understanding in more abstract contexts.9
How school leaders can use the Toolkit to support teachers' professional learning
The Teaching Fractions Toolkit will include six professional development modules to support grade 6 math teachers' understanding and implementation of the recommendations in the related practice guide. To help teachers learn and grow, school leaders can provide space and time for them to complete all six modules, both individually and as a team.
Figure 2. Six Toolkit professional development modules support grade 6 math teachers
What strategies can administrators and school leaders use to support teachers' professional learning? Consider the following suggestions:
Assess the need for teacher professional development. Look across multiple data sources--such as performance on unit tests, state assessments, or teacher input--to determine whether fractions teaching and learning is an area of focus for your school or district. You may want to consider whether students are struggling with fractions in the abstract (e.g., as numbers with their own operational rules) more so than fractions in concrete, intuitive examples (e.g., as portions of a pizza). Teachers often struggle to move students' understanding from the concrete to the abstract.10 You also may want to consider variation in teaching and learning results among teachers. Forming teachers into professional learning groups can provide an opportunity for more experienced teachers to support the development of the whole team.
Identify a facilitator for the professional development. This facilitator could be an administrator, a school math coach, or one of the members of the teacher team, such as a department head. For the forthcoming Teaching Fractions Toolkit, we suggest identifying a facilitator who can lead a group of teachers through the set of modules. Ideally, the facilitator should have a strong foundation in grade 6 math content and standards as well as experience working with grade 6 teachers. However, the Toolkit will contain detailed facilitation guides to assist anyone who leads the professional development.
Provide time and space for learning. Leaders can support teachers' use of the Toolkit by providing a schedule, time, space, and the necessary technology for the professional learning sessions. In addition, leaders can identify ways for teachers to earn professional development credits, certificates, or micro-credentials for participating.
Support transfer-to-practice. Leaders can support transfer-to-practice of fraction instructional strategies through ongoing coaching and mentoring that is connected to classroom observations. In addition, leaders can help teachers develop structures and norms for professional learning (for example, how to share and discuss student work).
How school leaders can use the Toolkit to support fractions instruction across grades
Given the important role of school leaders in shaping instruction, the Teaching Fractions Toolkit will include a suite of supports designed to help administrators and math leaders reinforce the trajectory of fractions instruction and understanding across prekindergarten to grade 8.
Toolkit resources for administrators and leaders will include the following:
- Videos introducing the Teaching Fractions Toolkit and the related What Works Clearinghouse practice guide recommendations.
- Handouts outlining the progression of fractions content represented in the What Works Clearinghouse practice guide.
- Facilitation guides for the teacher professional development modules in the Toolkit.
- Tool to self-assess and monitor district or school conditions to support fractions instruction across prekindergarten to grade 8.
Looking ahead: Teaching Fractions Toolkit partnership activities
REL Midwest will be conducting an efficacy study for the Teaching Fractions Toolkit with teachers throughout the Midwest region and beyond during the 2024/25 and 2025/26 school years. The Teaching Fractions Toolkit is expected to be available to the public in 2025.
>> Reach out to REL Midwest at relmidwest@air.org if you're interested in learning more about the Teaching Fractions Toolkit.
Related resources
For more information on the Teaching Fractions Toolkit and our work in the Midwest region, browse the following REL Midwest resources:
- Handout: Teaching Fractions Toolkit Overview
- Webinar: Using the Teaching Fractions Toolkit to Support Evidence-Based Instruction in 6th Grade
- Blog post: The Teaching Fractions Toolkit: Equipping educators to develop effective grade 6 instruction in fractions
- Blog post: Five recommendations for teaching fractions at the start of middle school
- Blog post: Strategies to engage students and transform the middle school math experience
- Blog post: Using virtual manipulatives as a tool to support students in learning fractions
References
1Achieve the Core. (n.d.). College- and career-ready shifts in mathematics. https://achievethecore.org/page/900/college-and-career-ready-shifts-in-mathematics
2 Siegler, R., Carpenter, T., Fennell, F., Geary, D., Lewis, J., Okamoto, Y., Thompson, L., & Wray, J. (2010). Developing effective fractions instruction for kindergarten through 8th grade: A practice guide (NCEE 2010-4039). U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance. https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/practiceguide/15
3 Bredeson, P. V. (2000). The school principal's role in teacher professional development, Journal of In-Service Education, 26(2), 385-401. https://doi.org/10.1080/13674580000200114
4 Tekin-Sitrava, R. (2020). Middle school mathematics teachers' reasoning about students' nonstandard strategies: Division of fractions. International Journal for Mathematics Teaching and Learning, 21(1), 77-96.
5 Banerji, O. (2024, October 7). Fractions are tough to teach and to learn. These strategies can help. EducationWeek. https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/fractions-are-tough-to-teach-and-to-learn-these-strategies-can-help/2024/10
6 Ibid.
7 Rau, M. A., & Matthews, P. G. (2017). How to make "more" better? Principles for effective use of multiple representations to enhance students' learning about fractions. ZDM: The International Journal on Mathematics Education, 49(4), 531-544. https://eric.ed.gov/?q=EJ1149156&id=EJ1149156
8 Whitehead, A. N., & Walkowiak, T. A. (2017). Preservice elementary teachers' understanding of operations for fraction multiplication and division. International Journal for Mathematics Teaching & Learning, 18(3), 293-317. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1164169
9 Banerji, O. (2024, October 7). Fractions are tough to teach and to learn. These strategies can help. EducationWeek. https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/fractions-are-tough-to-teach-and-to-learn-these-strategies-can-help/2024/10
10 Ibid.
