Enhancing Rational Number Instruction for Students with Math Disabilities and Difficulties: Designing Professional Development for Teachers Who Provide Math Intervention

该项目将开发和研究一个专业发展计划，重点是干预者的分数，他们与四年级和五年级的数学残疾和困难的学生一起工作。小学的各种教育工作者，包括任课教师、特殊教育教师、数学专家和准专业人员，为有数学障碍的学生提供数学干预。然而，为满足有数学障碍和困难的学生的需要而进行的专业发展和培训各不相同。该项目解决了小学对改进分数教学和与学生一起工作的干预者的专业发展的需求。该项目将为干预者的其他专业发展项目创造可用的资源。该项目还将为其他数学主题的专业发展提供指导。专业发展将集中在分数的概念，使用互动和动手学习的方法，并相关，因为分数是在小学高年级的一个重要课题。学生的参与者是与4年级和5年级学生一起工作的干预者。该项目包括一个设计阶段，然后是一个随机对照试验，以衡量教师水平的成果。教学措施，学生的知识和教师的成果将被用来了解干预的承诺。将使用介入教学实践和分数知识作为近端结局，并使用ANCOVA进行分析，将预检验指标作为协变量。对于与四年级和五年级学生分数成绩相关的远端结果，将使用包括学生和干预者的多水平模型。作为一个早期的设计和开发项目，该设计正在不同州的多个地区进行测试。该项目依赖于先前关于学生学习分数和相关教学方法的研究。结果应告知专业发展的干预与数学残疾和困难的学生。研究结果也支持教师专业发展的理解，即同时发展教师的内容知识和教学实践。探索研究preK-12计划（DRK-12）旨在通过研究和开发新的创新和方法，显着提高preK-12学生和教师的科学，技术，工程和数学的学习和教学。DRK-12项目中的项目建立在STEM教育的基础研究以及为项目提供理论和经验依据的先前研究和开发工作的基础上。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The project will develop and study a professional development program focused on fraction for interventionists who work with grades four and five students with mathematics disabilities and difficulties. Mathematics interventions for students with mathematical disabilities are provided by a variety of educators in elementary schools including classroom teachers, special education teachers, mathematics specialists, and paraprofessionals. However, professional development and training to address the needs of students with mathematics disabilities and difficulties varies. This project addresses a need in elementary schools for improved fraction instruction and the professional development for interventionists who work with students. The project would create resources usable by other professional development projects for interventionists. The project will also provide guidance about professional development for other mathematics topics. The professional development will be focused on fractions concepts, use interactive and hands-on methods for learning, and be relevant because fractions are a critical topic in upper elementary grades. The participants in the student are interventionists who work with grades 4 and 5 students. The project includes a design phase followed by a randomized controlled trial to measure teacher-level outcomes. Measures of instruction, student knowledge and teacher outcomes will be used to understand the promise of the intervention. Interventionist teaching practice and fractions knowledge will be used as the proximal outcomes and will be analyzed using ANCOVAs with the pretest measures serving as the covariates. For distal outcomes related to fourth- and fifth-grade students’ fractions achievement, a multi-level model including students and interventionists will be used. As an early stage design and development project, the design is being tested in multiple districts in different states. The project relies on prior research about students’ learning of fractions and related teaching approaches. The results should inform professional development for interventionists for students with mathematical disabilities and difficulties. The results also support understanding of professional development that develops teachers’ knowledge of content and teaching practice simultaneously. The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics by preK-12 students and teachers, through the research and development of new innovations and approaches. Projects in the DRK-12 program build on fundamental research in STEM education and prior research and development efforts that provide theoretical and empirical justification for the projects.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.