book

Teaching Mathematics in American Schools

21 Pages 3268 Words 1557 Views

The American public school system hasn't been completely successful at strengthening the children's ability to learn mathematics for the past two decades. Current statistics show that U.S. students are indeed falling behind in mathematics in comparison with international students, particularly, from a few Asian countries (National Center on Educational Statistics [NCES], 2011). Additionally, as the National Mathematics Advisory Panel [NMAP] asserted in 2008, concerns surround middle-school students when they begin to learn more abstract mathematical concepts like algebra (as cited in Impecoven-Lind and Foegen, 2010, p.32). Algebra has been a proven gateway to students' success in achieving higher education, which in turn helps students get better jobs with higher paying salary (Foegen, 2008). Many students, including the ones with learning disabilities, are required to successfully complete and achieve mastery in algebra in order to graduate from high school (Foegen, 2008; Impecoven-Lind and Foegen, 2010). According to the Fourth annual 50-state progress report conducted by the American Diploma Project Network in 2009, it is expected that by 2015, the number of U.S. states requiring students to complete Algebra I and II as a graduation requirement will increase to 29 and 12 states respectively (Impecoven-Lind and Foegen, 2010). Since Algebra refers to a content that is so abstract, many students struggle to incorporate the algebraic concepts which is even more difficult for students with learning disabilities. Since the implementation of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 on January 8, 2002, all students (with few exceptions) are required to participate in standardized assessments and to outperform academically in the general academic curriculum in a inclusive education (DeSimone, J. and Parmar, R., 2006). Consequently, most of the students with learning disabilities need to be moved out of the resource classrooms and placed in an inclusive classrooms. As a result, according to the U.S. Department of Education statistics (2003), students with learning disabilities became the largest special education group that needed to be integrated in general education classes. Additionally, 49% of the students with specific learning disabilities spent 80% or more time on a daily basis at school in an inclusive classroom setting, of which these particular students are not part of the group of students with LD who are exempt from taking the standardized tests (DeSimone, J. and Parmar, R., 2006). Presently, since the inception of inclusive education, general educators were given the responsibility to tailor their lesson plans to the needs of a particular student with a specific learning disability. As Cochran asserts, "all teachers [have] become teachers of special education students" (as cited in DeSimone, J. and Parmar, R., 2006, p.98). Although the administration had a great philosophy to provide all students with a sense of welcoming in the school community and to offer opportunities to enable them to achieve their utmost success in the general classroom curriculum, general educators, on the other hand, were not given as many opportunities to enhance their knowledge on specific needs and characteristics about students with learning disabilities. Therefore, many general educators found themselves with little or no training on special education to adequately accommodate students with learning disabilities. Based on the survey conducted by DeSimone and Parmar (2006), many teachers felt that the administration did not provide proper professional training focused on how to better assist students with LD in a inclusive classroom setting. A seventh-grade teacher from Texas highlights: "Administration tells you that you need to modify and [they] want to see inclusion work, but they don't help you much. [There is] not much staff development, and it's really sad-especially for the first-year teachers...maybe 10 minutes of staff development is on special ed" (as cited in DeSimone, J. and Parmar, R., 2006, p.105). Similarly, the findings from the survey mentioned above, says that 21.5% of the teachers considered that the available support given from the administration (whether from counseling, special ed teacher or instructional materials) on how to develop specific instructional strategies for teaching math inclusion, was below average. And 43% of this survey's respondents declared that they had taken 3 or less workshops associated with teaching students with learning disabilities. Surprisingly, some of them were not even required to take any such workshops to further their knowledge on special education (DeSimone, J. and Parmar, R., 2006). Despite the fact that general educators have an undergraduate and/or graduate education degree, it is also important to realize that many of these programs have not been successful at highlighting the needs and characteristics of students with LD in mathematical learning and pr

Read Full Essay