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Location: Toms River, NJ / Students in the district: 14,654 / Number of students: ~690 /
Teachers using Math Journeys: ~82 / Grade levels using Math Journeys: 2-8 /
Using Math Journeys since: April 2025
In the classrooms of Toms River, a significant shift in math education is taking place, specifically in how they support students who need additional intervention.
Since implementing Math Journeys, teachers have noticed a positive change in their students’ understanding and motivation. Here is what the educators from this district have to share about their experience:
At Toms River, teachers use a tiered approach. As they explain from the district: “Our students go through their core block and receive core math instruction just like every other student. But the students who are struggling now go into these intensive groups and get additional math time”.
Traditionally, when a student showed a learning gap, intervention would begin exactly at the point of struggle, which often caused the student to freeze up and become frustrated.
“With Math Journeys, you go back and find the last instructional point where the student was successful.” | Kate Melson, Supervisor of instruction West Dover
With Math Journeys, the approach has been a major game-changer. Instead of starting at the deficit, teachers look for the last learning point the student mastered:
“With Math Journeys, it’s great. You go back and find the last instructional point where they were successful. So the student is happy and confident, realizing they like math. It really fosters participation”.
Teachers also highly value that the program’s activities offer “low floor, high ceiling” tasks. As Krisha Giammarco, a math teacher, says: “They can really engage regardless of where they are right now in their journey, and it links to whatever the objective is of the day”.
“Intervention is about giving kids exactly what they need.” | Richard C. Fastnacht, Director of Funded Programs Toms River Regional School District.
With the Math Journeys program, teachers have observed a wonderful shift in how students explain their mathematical reasoning. Initially, many kids assume there is only one “right” way to solve a problem. However, as one teacher notes, “Now, one can show me they are skip-counting backwards by tens on a number line, while another sets their problem up top to bottom. When they realize they both found the same answer doing it differently, they get really excited.”
This excitement stems from prioritizing conceptual understanding over rote memorization. If a class is working on multiplication, for example, students can actively participate without needing to have their math facts memorized right off the bat. While automatic recall remains the ultimate goal, the program provides them with accessible strategies to join the activity, effectively freeing up their cognitive load.
“There are different strategies and resources for students to get to that correct answer, and the beauty of it is I feel that this promotes productive struggle.” | Krisha Giammarco, Math Teacher, North Dover Elementary School
Ultimately, offering diverse strategies and resources to reach a solution fosters what teachers describe as “productive struggle.” Students build genuine mathematical confidence while learning that it is okay to make mistakes, realizing that these mistakes are simply proof that they are trying and growing as thinkers.
This impact hasn’t only been academic; it has been deeply emotional. Teacher Megan McCormick perfectly summarizes it: “Using Math Journeys has made me genuinely excited, and seeing their excitement discovering the answers using manipulatives just gets me so thrilled”.
While any new implementation can cause initial discomfort and requires a period of adaptation, the professional support has been fundamental. Toms River teachers highlight the direct and constant guidance they receive from the math coach: “A lot of times when you get a program, you never have contact with the people who create it. With Math Journeys you have support instead of having to figure it out yourself”.
This level of accessibility and responsiveness gives educators peace of mind. As the staff assures, it proves that the Innovamat team “genuinely cares about the overall success of our district in every way possible”.
The Toms River experience highlights the transformative potential of Math Journeys. By rebuilding understanding and self-confidence from a place of success, Innovamat’s intervention program not only closes learning gaps but also fosters a culture where every child can learn to think mathematically, and where teachers regain their pure passion for teaching.
