Before Algebra I

Check for usable fluency with nine things. A missed item points to a lesson, not a permanent placement.

Student

Checked on

Usable fluency means the child can do it while thinking about something else. If fractions still take full attention, that attention is not available for the algebra sitting on top of them — which is why Algebra I so often feels like a wall to a child who has been doing fine.

Skill	Fluent	Slow but correct	Not yet	What I saw — the actual error
Fractions
Decimals
Percent
Negative numbers
Ratios
Order of operations
Simple equations
Coordinate graphing
Reading a word problem

“Slow but correct” is the column that matters. A child who gets every question right and takes ninety seconds over each one has the method and not the fluency. That is fixable in a few weeks of short, regular practice — and it is a completely different problem from not knowing how.

Then what

Reading the card

All fluent — start Algebra I. Keep the card; if something wobbles in the first month you will know exactly where to look.
One or two slow — start Algebra I and run ten minutes of practice on those two alongside it. Do not wait.
Two or more “not yet” — repair first. This is the situation where beginning at the gap is faster than pushing on, and it is worth explaining to the child as repair rather than demotion.
Not sure — the adaptive placement test exists for exactly this, and it will take the child about twenty minutes.

Decision, and what we are doing about it this week

A missed item points to a lesson, not a permanent placement. Nothing on this card says anything about a child’s ability. It says which nine things they have had enough practice at, on the day you checked.