How to Help Your Student Catch Up in Math This Fall (A Guide for Memphis Parents)

Memphis-Shelby County Schools students returned to class on August 3, so most families are now past the first-week adjustment period.

From our work with students at Mathnasium of Memphis East, we often hear that they notice new patterns once the year settles in, like homework taking longer or a teacher flagging one area for extra support.

This might mean that your learner may simply need time to bring summer-rusty skills back into use, or they may be working through a gap that is starting to show more clearly as new material builds on earlier math.

Today, we'll explain:

• how to tell whether your student needs extra math support at the start of the school year,

• where math gaps become more noticeable during key school transitions in Memphis,

• what you can do to help.

How to Tell If Your Child Needs Math Help This Fall

Math skills tend to fade more over a long break than skills in many other subjects. At the same time, the amount of learning loss varies widely from one child to another and from one skill to the next, according to Cooper et al.'s meta-analysis of summer learning loss.

Because learning loss can look different for every child, your learner may not need to review everything from last year. In our work with students after summer break, we’ve found that it helps to first identify the specific skills that feel less secure and focus practice there.

Here are a few ways you can get a clearer picture of where your student needs support:

1. Start by looking for the same skill gap across several assignments

One difficult homework night or quiz may not tell you much on its own. Instead:

• Ask your child’s teacher: “Which specific skill seems to be getting in the way?”

• Save a few homework or classwork samples.

• Check whether the same type of mistake appears more than once. 

This focused approach also aligns with the What Works Clearinghouse practice guide on supporting students struggling with math, which recommends targeting intervention to specific skill areas, such as whole numbers in grades K–5 and rational numbers in grades 4–8, instead of relying on broad review.

2. Review MSCS diagnostic information

You can also look at MSCS math diagnostic assessment results for students in grades K–8 and select students in grades 9–12. 

For 2026–27, MSCS is transitioning from i-Ready Diagnostic to i-Ready Inform, so fall data may not appear the same way it did before. You may notice different reports, score formats, or timelines than you saw last year. Ask the school what information is available, when you can expect to see it, and how to read the new results.

3. Use a diagnostic assessment to guide next steps

Each student’s journey at Mathnasium starts with a diagnostic assessment, which helps us understand their current skill level, their learning goals, and how they learn best. We use these insights to build a personalized learning plan, tailored to the child’s specific learning needs.

You can take a similar approach at home. Instead of jumping straight into review, spend a few minutes with your learner working through a couple of problems from their current unit. Ask them to explain their thinking as they go.

This kind of informal check may reveal the same thing our assessments are built to find:

• what your student already understand, 

• where a specific gap may be getting in the way,

• what they are ready to work on next.

As soon as you've spotted the gaps, you can target practice there instead of reviewing everything from the year so far.

If the gap turns out to be bigger than a few home sessions can address, our tutors would be happy to support your learner with personalized instruction.

How Grade Transition Points in Memphis Can Reveal Back-to-School Math Gaps

In Memphis-Shelby County Schools, certain grade transitions are a good time to pay closer attention to how your child is handling math. New expectations can make earlier skill gaps easier to notice, even when those gaps were not causing obvious problems before.

These transition points typically bring new routines, faster pacing, and topics that depend on earlier skills:

Grade 5 to Grade 6

Students move from a self-contained elementary classroom to multiple teachers, faster pacing, and more independent work. 

The content itself shifts from fraction and whole-number work toward ratios, rates, expressions, and equations, per the Tennessee Academic Standards for Mathematics.

Grade 6 to Grade 7

In grade 7, proportional reasoning extends into percent, scale, and more complex problems. This is a point where your learner can look like they're “falling behind” when the real issue is an unresolved gap in fraction or ratio reasoning.

Grade 7 to Grade 8

Your 8th-grader moves toward more formal linear relationships, equations, functions, geometry, and data reasoning, where procedural fluency alone may no longer be enough without solid conceptual understanding underneath it.

Grade 8 to Grade 9

At this stage, your child may be adjusting to a new building, more responsibility for keeping up with coursework, and high school math that builds quickly on earlier skills such as expressions, equations, functions, and proportional reasoning. 

In Tennessee, students also need four math credits to graduate, including Algebra 1, Algebra 2, and Geometry or equivalent Integrated Math courses. That makes the move into high school a good point to check how comfortably those foundational skills are carrying forward.

Mathnasium’s algebra tutoring in Memphis can support that shift with focused practice and guidance. 

📕 You May Also Like: Is Algebra 2 Hard? Here’s Everything You Need to Know

6 Steps to Help Your Student Catch Up in the New School Year

As soon as you identify the specific math skill your learner needs to work on, use this step-by-step plan to focus their practice.

Step 1: Plan short practice periods several days a week

Brief practice sessions, around 10 to 15 minutes, three to five days a week, tend to work better than one long review session. In their math-specific meta-analysis (2025), Murray et al. found that spaced practice outperformed massed practice overall, with a small-to-medium effect. 

Here's how that might look in practice. 

Say your child is stuck on a current ratios unit because they can't reliably compare fractions. You might set aside ten minutes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, with each session focused on that one skill.

📕 You May Also Like: How to Use Spaced Practice to Help Math Stick

Step 2: Ask your learner to recall the method before checking notes

Before your student checks their notes, cover the answer and ask, “How would you start?” Give them a chance to explain or work through the first step from memory. 

Research on retrieval prompts (2025) by den Broek et al. suggests that this kind of active recall can help your child remember a method later, especially when it is paired with clear instruction, worked examples, and feedback.

We recommend beginning with one or two problems they already feel comfortable with, then move into the skill that needs more attention. For example, if comparing fractions is the skill you are targeting, you might start with:

“Which is larger, \(\Large\frac{1}{2}\) or \(\Large\frac{3}{4}\)? How do you know?”

Step 3: Use worked examples, visual models, or a number line

Take one correct example and work through it together. As you go, talk through each step and use a number line, drawing, or counters if they make the idea easier to understand. 

According to meta-analysis by Barbieri et al. (2023), worked examples had a moderate positive effect on math performance. The WWC practice guide also recommends using visual and semi-concrete models to help students make sense of mathematical ideas. 

After working through the example together, ask your child to try a new but similar problem without copying the steps. That gives you a better sense of whether they can use the idea independently.

You might use a fraction strip, number line, or simple drawing to compare \(\Large\frac{1}{2}\) and \(\Large\frac{3}{4}\) together. Then, ask your child to compare a new pair, such as \(\Large\frac{1}{3}\) and \(\Large\frac{2}{5}\), using the same reasoning.

📕 You May Also Like: How Number Lines Improve Math Understanding (Grades 1-5)

Step 4: Help your student figure out where their thinking went off track

Instead of giving your learner the correct answer right away, ask a question such as, “Where did your method first stop matching the problem?” Then compare their work with a correct example and help them trace the mistake back to the first step that needs attention.

From our experience, it is more useful to help students go back to the first step where their reasoning started to go off track rather than focusing only on the final wrong answer. That makes the mistake easier to understand and gives them one clear place to start fixing it.

If your child compares two fractions incorrectly, help them pinpoint what went wrong. For example, they may have compared the denominators instead of the actual sizes of the fractions. This way, they will know what to watch for the next time they solve a similar problem.

📕 You May Also Like: How to Turn Math Mistakes into Learning Tools at Home

Step 5: Connect earlier skills with current coursework

Pair a quick review of an earlier skill with the math your learner is working on now. For example, if their class is learning ratios, you might spend a few minutes reviewing equivalent fractions first, then connect that skill directly to the ratio problem in front of them.

That helps your student see how an earlier skill supports the work they are doing in class now. Keep that review focused, though. Too many unrelated skills at once can make it harder to see what your learner needs help with.

Step 6: Consider structured support

If your child keeps hitting the same wall after consistent practice, or you start noticing that several earlier skills need attention, extra support may help you address the gaps in a more organized way.

In a structured learning environment, your learner can get regular practice, targeted instruction, and guidance focused on the specific skills they need to improve.

This is the kind of environment we provide at Mathnasium. At our learning center, we use diagnostic assessment and personalized learning plans to identify where support is needed and build instruction around those areas.

Mathnasium starts with a diagnostic assessment, then builds a personalized learning plan to help students close specific gaps and catch up at the right pace.

How Mathnasium of Memphis East Helps Students Catch Up in Math

Mathnasium of Memphis East is a math-only learning center dedicated to helping K–12 students of all skill levels excel in math.

In our work with students across Memphis, we help them catch up in math by focusing on the specific skills they need most instead of spending time reviewing material they already understand. That targeted support is particularly useful during the first months back, when an earlier gap may start affecting new grade-level work.

We personalize each student’s learning experience through the Mathnasium Method™, our proprietary teaching approach, to meet students where they are and guide them forward step by step.

Each student begins with a diagnostic assessment that helps us understand their current skill level, knowledge gaps, goals, and how they think and feel about math. It helps us identify where support should begin, whether that means revisiting a foundational skill from an earlier grade or preparing for a transition such as Algebra 1.

Using these insights, we create a personalized learning plan focused on the skills the student needs most. Our specially trained tutors follow the plan closely and provide live, face-to-face instruction in a caring and fun group environment, both in-center and online.

We use a mix of verbal, visual, mental, tactile, and written techniques to help math concepts make sense. Students also get room to think through problems before tutors step in, so they can explain their reasoning, check their work, and build greater independence.

Fun is part of the approach, too. Game-based activities, rewards, and consistent encouragement help students stay engaged as they refresh earlier skills, close gaps, and adjust to the new school year.

The results? True, measurable progress:

• 94% of parents report an improvement in their child's math skills and understanding

• 93% of parents report their child's improved attitude toward math after attending Mathnasium

• 90% of students saw an improvement in their school grades

Whether your child needs to catch up, keep up, or get ahead, a free diagnostic assessment is a great place to start. Using what we learn, we create a personalized learning plan focused on the skills they need next.

📅 Schedule a Free Assessment at Mathnasium of Memphis East

Not near Memphis East?

📍 Find a Mathnasium Learning Center Near You