Announcing Bridges Intervention, Revised Edition

Corey Drake, Senior Director for Professional Learning

At The Math Learning Center, we are committed to supporting elementary mathematics education that builds on the strengths of all students and teachers.

We are always seeking to improve our curriculum and professional learning materials to reflect the most current research on equitable and effective teaching and learning. Recently, we’ve focused our efforts on revising Bridges Intervention to align with our instructional philosophy and beliefs about students:

We believe that all students can make sense of mathematics. Some students just need more time, more opportunities and more support than others. Our approach emphasizes problem solving, the use of faithful visual models and a focus on developing fluency.

The result of these recent efforts is Bridges Intervention, Revised Edition.

What’s new in the revised edition of Bridges Intervention?

The Teachers Guides have been revised to incorporate the following changes:

  • Increased focus on equitable teaching practices. The action steps and sidebars within Bridges Intervention now include explicit support for purposeful teacher questioning that moves away from direct instruction and more effectively supports student sensemaking.
  • Promotion of positive mathematics identity for every student. We have eliminated timed activities, added accessible contexts and employed strengths-based assessments and language. 
  • Updated language and sequence of activities. We have updated language, strategy names and activity sequences to reflect current research on the development of fluency. 
  • Improved usability. The materials are designed so that any educator—from experienced teachers to new paraprofessionals—can quickly identify the key tasks for instruction and questions to ask students.

Has anything stayed the same?

The classroom materials provided with each set have not changed. That is, the same card decks, graphic organizers, spinner overlays, measuring tools and all other components can be used with both the original and revised editions of Bridges Intervention. In addition, the organizing structure of the sets has not changed, and the order of the volumes and sessions is mostly the same.

Is the revised edition aligned with IES recommendations?

Published in 2016, the original edition of Bridges Intervention was aligned with the 2009 Institute of Education Sciences (IES) practice guide, Assisting Students Struggling with Mathematics. However, the revised materials are based on principles developed through our broader review of the research and thus are only partially aligned with the 2021 IES practice guide. In contrast with the IES recommendations, the revised edition focuses less on direct instruction and timed activities that emphasize memorization and speed, and more on teacher questioning and student sensemaking. As a result, we are confident that the revised edition provides opportunities for all students to build their mathematical skills and understanding by focusing on strategies and fluency, solving a wide variety of problems and using visual models to support conceptual understanding.

Want to know more? Information about the revised edition of Bridges Intervention can be found on our website.

Still have questions? Consider attending an informational webinar with me on May 10 at 1:00 p.m. PT or May 25 at 3:00 p.m. PT.