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注于分数的专业发展计划，为那些与四年级和五年级有数学障碍和困难的学生打交道的干预者提供帮助。数学障碍学生的数学干预是由小学的各种教育工作者提供的，包括课堂教师、特殊教育教师、数学专家和辅助专业人员。然而，专业发展和培训，以解决学生的数学障碍和困难的需求是不同的。这个项目解决了小学对分数教学的改进和对与学生一起工作的干预者的专业发展的需求。该项目将为干预者创造可供其他专业发展项目使用的资源。该项目还将为其他数学学科的专业发展提供指导。专业发展将侧重于分数概念，使用互动和动手的学习方法，并与分数相关，因为分数是小学高年级的一个重要主题。这个学生的参与者是干预主义者他们和四年级和五年级的学生一起工作。该项目包括一个设计阶段，随后是一个随机对照试验，以衡量教师水平的结果。教学、学生知识和教师成果的衡量标准将被用来了解干预的前景。干预教学实践和分数知识将被用作近端结果，并将使用ancova进行分析，前测测量作为协变量。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在内的多层次模型。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。该项目依赖于先前对学生分数学习和相关教学方法的研究。研究结果可为干预有数学障碍和数学困难的学生的专业发展提供参考。研究结果还支持对专业发展的理解，即同时发展教师的内容知识和教学实践。探索研究preK-12项目（DRK-12）旨在通过研究和开发新的创新和方法，显著提高preK-12学生和教师对科学、技术、工程和数学的学习和教学。DRK-12计划中的项目建立在STEM教育的基础研究和先前的研究和开发工作的基础上，为项目提供了理论和实证依据。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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.