Anecdotal observations reveal that most students with strong arithmetic skills will succeed in the Beginning Algebra course even if they have no previous experience with algebra. In trying to quantify this with an initial teacher-created survey of arithmetic skills, it was observed, for three consecutive semesters, that students who scored in the upper 60% usually passed the class with acceptable grades, whereas students in the lower 40% did not. This article describes a project to address existing gaps in student mathematical knowledge for the lowest scoring students, thus increasing the likelihood of successful completion of their first mathematics course, as well as persistence to further classes. The purpose of this project was to determine if early intervention in a Beginning Algebra class leads to greater student success.