Students may avoid working on difficult tasks because it takes them longer to complete those tasks, which results in a delay to reinforcement. Research studies show that reinforcer and response dimensions can be manipulated within a concurrent operants framework to bias choice allocation toward more difficult tasks. The current study extends previous literature on concurrent choice assessments by examining the effects of reinforcement schedules and fluency interventions on the choice allocation between low and high effort math tasks. The study was conducted with 4 second graders in an elementary school. The choice assessment conducted prior to fluency training (Phase 1) examined the effects of enriching the reinforcement schedule for the high effort tasks on student choice. During fluency training (Phase 2), strategies to increase fluency rates on high effort tasks were implemented. The choice assessment following fluency training (Phase 3) examined changes in choice pattern when the same choice alternatives were available as in Phase 1. A concurrent schedules with reversal design was used to identify student response allocation to tasks under different reinforcement conditions during the choice assessments. The fluency training phase was conducted as a case study design. The three important findings of this study were: (a) prior to fluency training, the 4 students allocated more time to low effort tasks when equal reinforcement was provided for both types of math tasks; the students then shifted to high effort tasks as the reinforcement schedule was enriched for these tasks; (b) fluency training strategies were effective in increasing the rate at which high effort tasks were accurately completed; and (c) all 4 students switched more quickly to high effort tasks following fluency training. Implications for educators are discussed.

In this confirmatory factor analysis, factors previously identified to explain the variability in Middle School Mathematics Teachers’ perception of the Common Core State Standards of Mathematics were considered as factors hypothesized to effect high school math teachers’ perceptions of challenging math tasks (CMTs). The factor of student characterization (i.e., disposition, academic preparation, and student behavior) was additionally considered as a factor hypothesized to explain teachers’ perceptions of CMTs, as well as site-based variables (i.e., curriculum, assessment and evaluation, professional development, and collaboration). In addition, teachers’ understanding of the importance of the mathematical practice standards and teacher familiarity with enacting CMTs were factors considered in the model. The original septenary factor structure was modified and good model fit was achieved. In addition to the confirmatory factor analysis model which provides a structure for considering teachers perceptions of CMTs, descriptive statistics are presented from the survey developed that captured teachers’ perceptions of CMTs relative to their sites.