how to test DS for gaps in math?

[liadan]

Have any of you found a good way to identify a child's gaps in math knowledge in order to supplement in afterschooling? I'm especially looking for suggestions for good diagnostic or placement tests I could use at home, maybe associated with a curriculum?

Our 10 yr old DS is in 5th grade, in a district that uses Everyday Mathematics. He's in a gifted pull-out program one day a week, where they do more advanced math. At home we play a lot of math games and he seems to get algebraic concepts.

The problem is that we keep hitting unexpected gaps in his knowledge -- today I found myself re-teaching him long division, after discovering that he knew parts of lots of ways to do it, but was having difficulties with actually completing problems efficiently. Once we found the hole in his knowledge, he picked it up quickly and zipped through a few pages of problems. My suspicion is that if we could identify where these holes are, and address them, his math abilities will take off. Right now he loves math, but we're all getting frustrated -- and I don't want to make things worse by marching him through a curriculum that won't fit what he needs.

I'd be grateful for any advice you might have. Thanks!

[wapiti]

We're using EPGY for that purpose (on-line program), both to fill in any holes and to advance them as far as they can go. They're generally ahead according to traditional grade levels, but I started them at their actual grade levels anyway, to make sure they haven't missed anything. (We only started a few weeks ago.) When they don't know how to do something, after a few wrong problems the computer backs up a bit to whatever lesson would be the level before that. It sort of fills in the hole automatically, and when they do know stuff, they can breeze through it rather quickly. It's $45 per 3 months. http://epgy.stanford.edu/openenroll/index.html

I wonder if there are other on-line programs that work similarly. I like that I don't have to decide what topic to present - it's all automatic. In fact, I don't have to do much at all, except help here and there as I would for homework.

For tests, I might look at Singapore's placement tests - they are pretty short, so you could have him do them for a variety of levels to see if there's a particular topic he's missed over the years. http://www.singaporemath.com/Placement_Test_s/86.htm

Also, for reviewing any discrete math topic (e.g. long division), I like http://www.khanacademy.org/

[liadan]

Thank you! I didn't know about EPGY but it looks like a great fit for this. I'll check out Singapore's tests as well.