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ABSTRACT
A random sample of 167 secondary special and general educators who taught math to students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) and learning disabilities (LD) responded to a mail survey. The survey examined teacher perceptions of (a) definition of math; (b) familiarity with course topics; (c) effectiveness of methods courses; (d) preparation to use and frequency of use of effective instructional strategies; and (e) factors contributing to the use of effective instructional strategies. The number of methods courses taken by teachers uniquely and significantly contributed to the number of effective instructional approaches that both general and special educators reported using. Significantly more special educators than general educators reported the use of specific, empirically validated instructional practices. Additional results, implications, and suggestions for future research are provided.
ACCORDING TO THE THIRD INTERNATIONAL Math and Science Study (TIMSS; Mullis et al., 2000), U.S. eighth-grade students scored slightly higher on mathematics than the international average, but below the performance level of 18 other countries (Wang, Coleman, Coley, & Phelps, 2003). The most recent data from the TIMSS indicated that U.S. eighth graders were outperformed by students in 9 other countries (Gonzales et al., 2004). Also, within the United States, only one fourth of 8th- and 12th-grade students achieved at a proficient competency level in math on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP; Braswell et al., 2001). It is evident that dramatic improvements in student math achievement are needed at the middle and high school levels (National Institute on Educational Governance, Finance, Policymaking, and Management, 1998).
Although reasons vary for the low math performance of students in the United States and the poor performance of U.S. students versus their international peers, differences in instruction may help to illuminate this disparity. For example, in the United States, less than 1 % of math lessons focused on higher level math reasoning skills, compared to 44% of the time in Japan (Bernstein, 1997). As such, improving math instruction via accountability for teacher qualifications and reform of math education is widely advocated (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 1989,2000; Wang et al., 2003). To address teacher qualifications, the U.S. Congress recently passed the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001. The provisions of this legislation include the need for...