Timed Tests...What They Actually Measure (And What They Don't)

What tools do you reach for to check multiplication fact fluency? If a timed test is the first thing that comes to mind, you're not alone, but that number on the page might be telling you less than you think. 

In this episode, we take an honest look at what a timed test actually measures, what it leaves out entirely, and why the tool most of us were handed might not be built for the job we're asking it to do. 

In this episode, you'll explore: 

• What a timed test score can and can't actually tell you about a student 
• Why a low score doesn't tell you what to do next, and a high score might be hiding something 
• A better question to ask yourself before you reach for a timed test 

If you've ever looked at a timed test score and wondered what to actually do with it, this episode will help you rethink what to look for instead. 

Resources mentioned in this episode: 

• Free Training: Why Your 3rd Graders Still Don't Know Their Multiplication Facts 
• Episode 3:  What It Actually Means for a Student to Be Fluent in Multiplication Facts  

Want more support differentiating math instruction and running small groups with confidence? Check out my membership for third-grade teachers. → The Elementary Math Fam 

If you liked this, follow the show so you never miss an episode and come visit me on Instagram @mrelementarymath. 

Transcript

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When you think about how to assess the multiplication fact fluency in your classroom, what tools come to mind first? I'll give you a second to think about it. Was your answer a time test? For many teachers, it is. Maybe it's a one-minute drill. Maybe it's a two-minute mixed fact sheet. Maybe it's one of those multiplication charts where students try to fill in as many boxes as they can before the timer goes off. And if that's your answer, let's talk. Time tests have been a staple of math fact instruction for decades. They're familiar, they're easy to administer, they produce a clear, visible number. Facts correct per minute. But I have two more questions for you. What does the number actually tell you about where your students are when it comes to multiplication fact fluency? And how does it help you inform your instruction? Because I think when we slow down and really look at those questions, the answers are a little more complicated than most of us were taught to believe. So, in today's episode, we're talking about what time tests actually tell you and what they're leaving out. So let's go ahead and get into it. Welcome to Teaching Math Made Easy. Here we share practical ideas to help your students learn and tips to help you feel more confident teaching elementary math. Welcome back. Today we're diving into time multiplication tests. So let me be upfront about something before we go any further. Alright? I'm not here to tell you that time tests are evil or that you should never use them. That's not what this episode is about. What I am here to do is to help you think more clearly about what time tests can tell you and what they can't tell you. Sounds good? Alright. That way you can make better decisions about when and how to use them, as well as what to reach for when you need information a time test cannot provide. Because here's the thing a tool is only as useful as your understanding of what it measures. And over the years, lots of us have been handed time tests without a clear picture of what they actually do or do not reveal. So let's look at that honestly. First, just a little context. I want to just build some background. So math drills have been around for decades, but the specific format most of us remember, the one-minute worksheet with the stopwatch, really took hold in the early 80s, alright? It came out of something called the back to basics movement in the 70s. So a decade earlier, the 60s, schools had shifted toward what was called new math, which prioritized conceptual understanding over memorization. Does that sound familiar? Alright. Anyhow, but when kids started struggling with basic computation, schools swung back hard, like real hard, towards speed and rote recall as the goal of fact instruction in the 70s and beyond. So the goal was you get the answer fast, get it right, move on. That was pretty much what it was about then. All right. And that framing made sense given what was understood about math learning at the time. But our understanding of how students develop mathematical fluency has grown significantly since then. And yet, the time test, the tool that was built for that older framing, has stuck around largely unchanged. So most teachers use time tests, not because they've carefully evaluated them as an assessment tool, let's be honest, but because that was what they were given. That's what they saw model, and that's what's familiar. All right. Being fully transparent at the beginning of my teaching career and even several years into it, that's what I use, just to be honest. And that's just the reality of how many instructional practices just get handed down or passed down. So the question is, what does a time test actually measure? And here's the honest answer. It measures how quickly a student can produce an accurate answer under time pressure. That's it. And a student who scores well on a time test has demonstrated that they can recall certain facts quickly when they're under pressure and on the clock. But notice what that does not tell you. A time test does not tell you which specific facts a student actually knows versus which ones they happen to guess correctly. It does not tell you whether a student counted on their fingers for certain facts and just happened to be fast enough. It also does not tell you whether a student has any strategy to rely on when the answer doesn't come automatically. And it does not tell you whether a student understands any relationships between facts or whether they're working from a collection of isolated memorized answers with no connections between them. So in Podcast 3, right, we talked all about what real fluency looks like. So if you want to hear more about that, check out the show notes for a link to that episode. A time test can give you a rough window into accuracy, but only for facts a student has already developed understanding around. And even then, it tells you nothing about how they got there. Did they count? Did they use a strategy? Did they guess and happen to get it right? A time test score looks the same either way. But how about flexibility and strategy usage? What a student does when they don't know an answer, a time test is mostly silent around that part. Here's why this matters in a really practical way. Let's say a student scores poorly on a time test. You now know they struggled under pressure, but do you know why? Do you know whether they don't know the facts at all, or whether they know some but freeze under time pressure, or whether they have no strategies to fall back on when the answer doesn't come automatically? Without that information, it's really hard to know what to do next. And that is the important part of teaching, right? Do they need more practice, or do they need a different kind of practice, or something else entirely? The time test score doesn't answer those kind of questions. It just tells you something went wrong, not where and not why. Alright? And now on the flip side, a student who scores well on a time test can look fluent on paper while still missing some really, really important pieces underneath. Speed can mask a lot. It can mask the fact that a student is only fast on a small set of heavily drilled facts and struggles with more difficult ones like the six, the sevens, the eights, and the nines that don't fall into easy patterns. It can also mask the fact that they have no flexibility or strategy when they encounter something less familiar, which causes a problem later on with division, fractions, and any math that requires them to think flexibly about numbers. So the question is this When are time tests actually useful? And here's my honest take, alright? Time tests can give you a useful snapshot of automaticity, but only for facts a student has already built real understanding around. So in other words, they're most useful at the end of a process, not the beginning or middle of one. They can confirm that the facts a student has been working on are becoming more automatic over time, and that's a legit and very useful thing to know. But they're a poor starting point for understanding where a student is, and they're a poor driver of instructional decisions because they don't give you the diagnostic information that you really need to help move a student forward. Alright? So they don't do that. So here's what I want to leave you with. Before you reach for a time test, I want you to ask yourself this question. What am I actually trying to find out? And if the answer is, I want to see whether the exact facts that students have been working on are becoming more automatic, a time test might give you some useful information. But if the answer is, I want to understand where my students are with multiplication fact fluency so I can figure out what to do next, a time test is not going to give you what you need. And your time is likely better spent watching how students approach math facts, listening to how they talk about their thinking, and noticing what happens when they encounter a fact they don't immediately know. Alright? That kind of observation tells you so much more, and it points you towards next steps in a way that time test scores simply cannot. So here's what I want you to sit with after today. Time tests aren't the enemy, but they have been asked to do a job that they weren't designed for, and that's not fair to you or your students. When you understand what a time test can and can't tell you, you stop expecting it to give information it does not have, and you start looking for better ways to understand where your students actually are so you can make decisions that actually move them forward. And that shift right there from how fast did they get it to what do they actually understand and what do they do when they are stuck is one of the most useful teaching moves you can make as a math teacher. And it starts with asking better questions. So this wraps up our episode for today. But before you go, if multiplication facts have been on your mind after listening to this episode, I've got a free, yeah, I said it, a free training for you called Why Your Third Graders Still Don't Know Their Multiplication Facts. And guys, it's not just for third grade students. If you have any students struggling with multiplication facts, this is for you. In it, we dig into why students get stuck even after weeks of practice and what real fluency actually looks like beyond speed and memorization. Like I said, it's free and you can watch it from wherever and whenever you want, okay? So just grab the link in the show notes. Thanks for joining me today. If you like this episode, hit subscribe so we can catch up next week. Until next time, keep teaching math with confidence because you've got this.