The goal of this practice guide is to offer educators specific evidence-based recommendations that address the challenge of improving students’ understanding of fraction concepts in kindergarten through 8th grade. The guide provides practical, clear information on critical topics related to the teaching of fractions and is based on the best available evidence as judged by the authors.

Retrieved from whatworks.ed.gov/publications/practiceguides. NCEE 2010-4039. Available online at: https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/Docs/PracticeGuide/fractions_pg_093010.pdf. Contributors: T. Carpenter, F. Fennell, D. Geary, J. Lewis, Y. Okamoto, L. Thompson, & J. Wray. Practice guides published by IES are offered on our website at whatworks.ed.gov/publications/practiceguides. This report was prepared for the National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences under Contract ED-07-CO-0062 by the What Works Clearinghouse, which is operated by Mathematica Policy Research.

Review of Recommendations -- Acknowledgments -- Institute of Education Sciences Levels of Evidence for Practice Guides -- Introduction to the Developing Effective Fractions Instruction for Kindergarten Through 8th Grade Practice Guide -- Recommendation 1. Build on students’ informal understanding of sharing and proportionality to develop initial fraction concepts -- Recommendation 2. Help students recognize that fractions are numbers and that they expand the number system beyond whole numbers. Use number lines as a central representational tool in teaching this and other fraction concepts from the early grades onward -- Recommendation 3. Help students understand why procedures for computations with fractions make sense -- Recommendation 4. Develop students’ conceptual understanding of strategies for solving ratio, rate, and proportion problems before exposing them to cross-multiplication as a procedure to use to solve such problems -- Recommendation 5. Professional development programs should place a high priority on improving teachers’ understanding of fractions and of how to teach them Glossary -- Appendix A. Postscript from the Institute of Education Sciences -- Appendix B. About the Authors -- Appendix C. Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest -- Appendix D. Rationale for Evidence Ratings -- Appendix E. Evidence Heuristic -- Endnotes -- References -- Index of Key Mathematical Concepts.