Turning Fluency Practice into Action with Areas for Improvement

Empower your maths teaching with actionable insights from Sumdog’s Areas for Improvement Report, helping every pupil thrive and making progress visible every step of the way.

When pupils are practising independently, it can be difficult to strike the right balance between persistence and progress.

Teachers often tell us that pupils will continue practising the same skill again and again, sometimes without improving, while other gaps go unnoticed. This kind of overlearning can lead to frustration for pupils and makes it harder for teachers to know when a skill needs direct teaching, targeted intervention, or simply a change in approach.

At the same time, practice data can feel overwhelming. Without clear signals, it’s not always obvious which struggles are temporary and which represent a genuine barrier to progress or whether an intervention has actually helped.

That’s where our new Areas for Improvement report comes in.

Replacing the Intervention report on the Fluency page for maths, this update is designed to help teachers quickly identify when pupils are stuck, prevent unproductive overlearning, and focus attention where it will make the biggest difference.

Let’s walk through what it shows, how it works, and how it can support your teaching.

What Are “Hard Skills”?

A hard skill is created when a pupil is clearly struggling with a specific skill while working independently in Fluency Booster. 

A skill becomes a hard skill when a pupil:

• Is focusing on a new skill, and
• Answers above a set number of questions,
• With less than 50% accuracy

What happens next?

• The pupil is temporarily blocked from continuing to practise that skill in Fluency Booster
• That skill is flagged as an Area for Improvement, so you can see where support is needed.

This helps prevent pupils from repeatedly practising something incorrectly and ensures gaps are addressed at the right time.

Intervention Phases and Progress

After one week, pupils may be set an intervention phase for that hard skill.

• If the pupil improves to 70% accuracy or higher
  - The skill is no longer a hard skill
  - They can resume working on it normally in Fluency Booster or Training
• If they don’t reach 70% accuracy
  - The skill remains a hard skill
  -  They won’t be set another intervention phase for at least one more week

This spacing gives pupils time to consolidate learning through teaching and guided practice, not just more screen time.

What the Report Shows

🛠 Skills That Need Support

The Needs work tab shows:

• Skills pupils are currently struggling with
• Accuracy from the most recent focus or intervention phase
• Number of questions answered
• When the skill was last attempted

🎉 Skills That Have Improved

The Improved tab shows:

• Skills pupils previously struggled with
• Clear evidence of progress over time

For example:

• Simon answered at 40% accuracy on Numbers to 20 two months ago
• Simon is now working at 75% accuracy, then great progress!

Or:

• Simon answered at 40% accuracy two months ago
• Simon is still at 35% accuracy then teacher intervention needed

How Teachers Use the Areas for Improvement Report

Teachers tell us this report is especially useful for:

📅 Weekly Lesson Planning

• Identify common misconceptions
• Adapt whole-class teaching to real needs

👥 Planning Intervention Groups

• Quickly see which pupils need support
• Know exactly which skills to target

📈 Pupil Progress Meetings

• Evidence progress over time
• Highlight pupils who need monitoring or additional support

📝 Reports and Parents’ Evenings

• Clearly explain gaps in learning
• Celebrate improvements and successes with confidence

In Summary

The Areas for Improvement report helps teachers quickly identify where pupils are struggling, prevent unproductive overlearning, and see whether targeted support is making a difference.

By highlighting hard skills, comparing accuracy over time, and showing the most recent focused practice on each skill, the report turns practice data into clear next steps, supporting more effective lesson planning, targeted interventions, and confident progress discussions.

Already using Sumdog? Log in now to explore your Areas for Improvement report and see exactly where your pupils need support. Turn practice data into clear next steps today.