From Research to the Classroom: A Research-Aligned Approach to Fluency

Developed by a team of scientists, mathematicians and teachers, our approach to number sense and fluency is research backed, evidence-based, and firmly grounded in educational theory and cognitive neuroscience.

What Tile Farm Academy Is Designed to Support

Tile Farm Academy is intentionally built to support a broad set of outcomes connected to number sense and fluency, including:

• Development of number sense and flexible strategy use
• Improved mathematical reasoning, explanation, and discussion
• Growth in spatial thinking, including visualization and composition
• Ability to apply mathematics in creative and design-oriented contexts
• Increased student and teacher confidence, engagement, and persistence in math

Together, these outcomes reflect a view of fluency as more than speed. It’s about deep understanding, flexibility, confidence, and the ability to apply knowledge to solve diverse problems.

Why This Approach Works Across Classrooms

Tile Farm Academy is designed as a low-floor, high-ceiling learning environment. The same core experiences can support fluency intervention, core instruction, gifted enrichment, STEAM learning, and even teacher professional development.

Rather than creating separate tools for different populations, Tile Farm focuses on shared design principles: visual representations, reasoning, discourse, spatial thinking, and mastery-oriented practice. How Tile Farm is used may vary by setting, but the underlying learning science stays the same.

As a result, Tile Farm Academy has been used successfully across a wide range of contexts, from early elementary through middle and high school, including multilingual learner classrooms, enrichment programs, and teacher preparation settings.

Research-Aligned Design Principles Behind Tile Farm Academy

Tile Farm Academy draws on well-established research and learning-science principles, including:

• Visual representations as thinking tools, supporting sense-making and communication
• Spatial reasoning as a core mathematical competency linked to long-term success in math and STEM
• Mathematical discourse, with language-flexible and wordless entry points that support diverse learners
• Mastery learning and spaced practice, supporting retention and durable fluency 
• Creative, constraint-based problem solving, supporting engagement, persistence, and transfer

These principles shape how fluency shows up in Tile Farm Academy, not as isolated drills, but as part of a broader mathematical experience.

Building Evidence Alongside Practice

Tile Farm Academy meets the criteria for ESSA Tier 4 evidence, meaning it is supported by a clear, research-grounded logic model and ongoing efforts to study its impact.

Current evidence-building efforts include:

• An efficacy study in a large public school district
• An efficacy study in a predominantly multilingual learner charter school
• A study examining the impact of Tile Farm Academy on pre-service teachers’ attitudes toward mathematics

This work reflects our commitment to continuous improvement and to grounding classroom innovation in research.

Learn More

If you’d like to explore the full research rationale behind Tile Farm Academy, you can read the complete ESSA Tier 4 Evidence Rationale below.