Preparing Students with Learning Disabilities for Careers in Math and Science by Achieving Curriculum Standards

目标：这个项目的目标包括缩小学习障碍学生和他们的非残疾同龄人在数学方面的成绩差距；加强学习困难学生进入大专院校的数学准备，以寻求数学、科学、工程和技术方面的课程和学位；以课程和在线教程的形式在全国范围内传播教学资源，这些教学资源已经被验证为符合课程标准，以提高学习困难学生的成绩。这项建议建立在一个名为融合评估与教学计划(BAIP)的重大内部资助项目的基础上，该项目包括两种有效的干预措施，即供教师在教学中使用的课程形式和供有学习障碍的学生独立使用的在线辅导。这两种干预措施都与数学课程标准保持一致。这项研究计划旨在调查课程和教程对学习困难学生数学成绩的影响。研究的意义和智力价值：国家教育结果中心在2004年报告称，学习困难学生的成绩不仅低于全国所有学生，而且随着学生年龄的增长，差距实际上显著扩大(瑟洛和威利，2004)。研究发现，在整个数学课程中，学习不良学生的成绩通常比预期成绩低两到四个分数(Parmar&Amp；Cawley，1997)。许多学习困难的学生在与国家标准挂钩的评估中表现不佳(瑟洛、阿不思、斯皮库扎和汤普森，1998)。瑟洛等人发现，患有学习障碍的学生中，只有34%的人通过了州政府的基本数学技能测试，而非残疾同龄人的这一比例为83%。这是一个严重的问题，因为有学习障碍的学生被要求越来越高的标准，需要更高水平的数学和推理技能来满足高中及以后的要求。在不到20年的时间里，每四份工作中就有一份需要技术技能(Tarlin，1997，Jarrett，1998)，许多职业都需要扎实的数学基础。如果学生在很小的时候就没有体验过基于标准的课程，他们在接受NCLB要求的基于标准的评估时将处于不利地位。研究策略：我们建议研究BAIP在使地方课程与国家课程标准和全州评估保持一致方面的作用，以作为提高学习障碍学生表现的典范。课程和教程是根据NCLB为3、4、5、6、7、8和10年级开发的。计划采用两种截然不同的经验方法。首先，课程测试将直接与内容挂钩。这些测试将进行试点，以确保其有效性和可靠性。一旦质量测试可用，将在目标学生的课程使用之前和之后进行测试。为了配合这一“实验组”测试，我们将用同样的方法对其他可比较的学生进行前后测试。由于干预没有随机化，我们将无法控制组的等价性，而且考虑到前后测试措施不相同，将使用协方差分析程序来控制“课前”教学组的差异。这种方法将在学校内使用，随着参与者数量的增加，将开展更多依赖于分层线性建模的稳健实证研究。因此，在六个月的时间里，我们将对课程对学习的影响进行准实验研究。最后，学生项目评分结果将被描述性地评估，以指导我们进行必要的课程转换。学习困难学生将经历(A)教师授课、(B)辅导、(C)残疾学生和(D)残疾同龄人辅导的学生之间的比较。拟议研究的广泛影响：绝大多数学习困难学生在普通教育课堂上接受数学教学。因此，该项目有可能惠及所有教师，并最终惠及所有学生。

Objectives: The objectives for this project include reducing the achievement gap between theperformance of students with learning disabilities and their non-disabled peers in math;enhancing the math preparation of individuals with LD to enter postsecondary institutions topursue programs and degrees in math, science, engineering, and technology; and the nationaldissemination of instructional resources in the form of lessons and online tutorials aligned withcurriculum standards that have been validated to improve the achievement of students with LD .This proposal builds from a major internally funded project identified as the BlendingAssessment with Instruction Program (BAIP) that is comprised of two validated interventions inthe form of lessons for teachers to employ in their instruction and online tutorials forindependent use by students with LD. Both interventions are aligned with curriculum standardsin math. The research initiative is designed to investigate the effects of the lessons and thetutorials on the achievement of students with LD in math.Significance and Intellectual Merit of Research: National Center for Educational Outcomesreported in 2004 that not only were students with LD performing below all students across thecountry, but also that the gap actually grew significantly larger as students got older (Thurlow &Wiley, 2004). Research has found that students with LD typically function two to four gradesbelow expectancy across the mathematics curriculum (Parmar & Cawley, 1997). Many studentswith LD perform poorly on assessments that are tied to state standards (Thurlow, Albus,Spicuzza, & Thompson, 1998). Thurlow et al determined that only 34% of students with LDpassed a state test on basic math skills, versus 83% of their non-disabled peers. This is ofserious concern given that students with LD are held to increasingly higher standards and willneed higher-level math and reasoning skills to meet the demands of high school and beyond. Inless than 20 years, one in every four jobs will require technical skills (Tarlin, 1997, as cited inJarrett, 1998), and many careers require a strong basis in math. If students do not experience astandards-based curriculum at an early age, they will be disadvantaged when being assessedvia a standards-based assessment as required by NCLB. To focus only on postsecondaryinterventions to increase the presence of persons with LD in math, science and technologycareers fails to recognize what research demonstrates as the contributor to the underrepresentationof persons with LD in the math, science and technology fields.Research Strategy: We propose to research the effects of BAIP in aligning local curricula withnational curriculum standards and statewide assessments as a model for improving the performance of students with LD. The lessons and tutorials are developed for grades 3, 4, 5, 6,7, 8, and 10 in compliance with NCLB. Two distinct empirical approaches are planned. First,lesson tests will be directly tied to content. These tests will be piloted to assure their validity andreliability. Once quality tests are available, they will be administered prior to and followinglesson use with targeted students. In concurrence with this "experimental group" testing, we willpre and post test other comparable students with the same measures. As we will not be able tocontrol for group equivalence due to the absence of randomization to intervention, and alsoconsidering that the pre and post test measures will not be equivalent, analysis of covarianceprocedures will be used to control "pre-lesson" instructional group differences. This method willbe used within schools and as numbers of participants increase will carry out more robustempirical studies relying on hierarchical linear modeling. Thus in six months we will quasiexperimentallyresearch the impact on learning of the lessons. Finally, student item scoreresults will be evaluated descriptively to guide us regarding needed lesson changes.Comparisons will be made across students with LD who experience (a) the lessons taught byteachers, (b) tutorials, (c) lessons and (d) tutorials with disability and non-disabled peers.Broader Implications of Proposed Research: The vast majority of students with LD receivetheir math instruction in the general education classroom. Thus, the project has the potential tobenefit all teachers and, ultimately, all students.