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Compass PD Podcast with Dr. Carrie Hepburn
Compass PD Podcast with Dr. Carrie Hepburn
Episode 64: Pt. 1 Supporting Students with Disabilities in Math: NCTM Position Statement Insights
Are you looking for effective ways to support students with disabilities in math? Join Dr. Natalie Fallert of Compass PD, along with math experts Dr. Sherri Lorton, Constance Hallemeier, and Dr. Stephanie Evans, as they break down the latest NCTM position statement and its collaboration with the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC).
In this video, you'll discover:
-Strategies to ensure students with disabilities access grade-level content and high-quality instruction.
-Ways to bridge gaps between special and general education classrooms.
-Collaborative practices to foster inclusive learning environments.
Whether you're a teacher, instructional coach, or school administrator, this episode is packed with actionable insights to empower all learners and advance inclusive education. Don’t miss these proven tips for math educators!
This is part 1 of a three part series.
👉 Subscribe to Compass PD for more expert advice on math instruction and professional development!
Hello and welcome to the Compass PD podcast, where we dive into evidence-based practices and research-driven strategies that empower educators and leaders to make a lasting impact. I am Dr Natalie Fowler, your host, alongside Dr Sherry Lorden, constance Hallemeier and Dr Stephanie Evans. Today we are exploring the recent NCTM position statement that was released last month, in December of 2024. Whether you're a teacher, administrator or district leader, our goal is to provide you with insights and tools that help you navigate the complexities of education and inspire student success.
Speaker 1:In December 2024, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics released a position statement regarding the organization's beliefs, recognizing the important role of educators in ensuring students with disabilities have access to grade course level standards and high quality instruction. Today, we have three individuals who collectively have more than 90 years in education, with an emphasis in math, here to talk about this statement, what it means for educators and why it is important, and how teachers can prepare to make a plan to best meet the needs of all of our students. With this episode, we really want to think about like what does this mean for educators and how can we prepare and make a plan moving forward in response to this. So I know that whenever I first read this statement. I kind of was asking, like what is this position statement, like why are they coming out with it? What is it? Could you guys give us a little bit of information on what does this mean and why is it important and what is the statement actually saying?
Speaker 2:NCTM, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, partnered with the CEC or the Council for Except Children to create three declarations about teaching students with disabilities. They include students with disabilities have a right to access and be provided with appropriate supports to be successful with grade and course level content. Students with disabilities have a right to high quality instruction, aligning with content and intervention designed to facilitate success with grade level content. Notice that emphasis on grade level content. So we're really working to raise the bar to help all of our students meet that grade level content. And then the last declaration is students with disabilities have a right to be supported by educators who believe in their ability.
Speaker 3:And it's also important to note that these recommendations are best for all students, even if they do not have a special education diagnosis. Believing in all students creates an environment where all students can learn. Collective teacher efficacy is the collective belief of teachers in their ability to positively affect students and, with an effect size of 1.57, collective teacher efficacy is strongly correlated with student achievement.
Speaker 4:So this statement, it's really important because currently in many districts we kind of have a disconnect and a lack of collaboration between what is happening in the regular education classroom and the special ed classroom, especially in mathematics. So we know that students with disabilities, they should be instructed by teachers with strong content and pedagogical content knowledge. But if you think about it, because our teachers come from different coursework, so our SPED teachers have different coursework than our regular education classrooms in those preparation programs and so that results in them entering the field with differences in their knowledge about mathematics education or special education. There's that disconnect there. So this statement, being made through a partnership with the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and the Council for Exceptional Children, is really a first step in starting that collaboration between SPED and regular education teachers and so prompting that to begin to happen in our districts and in our buildings.
Speaker 1:So one of the things that I'm hearing is that this statement is really pushing making sure that all of our kids are getting grade level, course level, appropriate education.
Speaker 1:I love the fact that they really talk about that collective teacher efficacy, because I know here at Compass we love Hattie and we love looking at that and we know that whenever all of our teachers are on the same page and they have the same beliefs, that we can move mountains with our students. One of the things that I think that Stephanie Evans talked about was that education and I know that you know with English, like we teach the same thing over and over and over again, the books just get a little bit harder. But when you start getting higher in those math classes that algebra one is different than geometry, is different than algebra two and trig and all of these different things, and so to expect someone with just I say just, but you know like that's like asking an elementary teacher to teach algebra two, or you know they're not well-versed in that area because our math teachers take courses specifically to help with that. Am I wrong in thinking that Constance?
Speaker 2:No, that's absolutely correct and I was going to just validate that. As a math educator, to get my certification I had to take so many math classes, but a special education teacher takes um Classes about how to teach the exceptional child, as opposed to taking content support content specific classes, and many of them are certified K-12. And so their content knowledge is everything at all levels, which makes it tremendously hard to have a deep level of understanding in specific content areas.
Speaker 1:I think that that's also important that they're coming out with this statement and that they partnered with this other organization, because it is saying that you can't do one without the other, that you need both that content expert and that expert in those instructional strategies for students with either disabilities or exceptional students. We're talking about kids on both ends of that spectrum, so I think that that is extremely important. Now we kind of are going to go into this second question what should districts do to prepare or ensure that they are in alignment with the National Council of Teacher Mathematics and the CEC's recommendations and those of practitioners who are doing this work right now? What are some of the things that they are doing that they're noticing are working well, or even I don't know if you are going to address this if they've tried things and they're like, yeah, this didn't really work, we need to go a different direction. One of the ways we kind of organized this podcast is to kind of look at each one of those declarations and talk about them.
Speaker 2:So this first chunk is all about the district.
Speaker 2:Like what are some recommendations that the just that NCTM and CEC recommended for the districts to do?
Speaker 2:The first recommendation was that districts ensure the delivery of ongoing professional learning on evidence-based mathematic practices, including practical hands-on experiences.
Speaker 2:So, working with some school districts, special education leadership teams, they've been working on developing professional learning that aligns to content-specific instruction.
Speaker 2:So working there, and particularly in secondary, middle school and high school, making sure that the special education teachers who are teaching math, either in a co-taught setting or a direct instruction setting, are collaborating with those grade level teachers to understand that content so that they can teach it to the same level that the regular classrooms are teaching it, or at least in the progressions to get to where the regular classrooms are getting. And then modeling how to progress that learning from concrete to semi-concrete, to abstract, because in math those are the three levels Most students start off in that concrete, something manipulative, hands-on, they move into semi-concrete maybe visuals, but not tactile and then abstract, where now we started into variables, helping our regular ed teachers understand how to work with special ed students and helping special education teachers who might not have a background in math know how to work with all of those different modes of teaching becomes important, and professional learning is something that becomes a valuable tool in helping bridge that gap.
Speaker 1:Question on that. You know, depending on that professional learning, it almost sounds like there's possibly two folds here. One could be that the content teachers and the special ed teachers come together and they're almost like teaching the teacher but flipping, going back and forth. But then there is another layer of maybe seeking outside help to come in and also offer that professional learning, so that professional learning could go in two ways. Number one, in-house, of how do I model and coach back and forth between those two departments. But then would it also be safe to say that if you're noticing gaps, like how do you bring in professionals to help fill those gaps?
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and that's oftentimes that bridge between because our content, our math teachers are very knowledgeable in their content and our special education teachers are very knowledgeable in modifications and accommodations to support their students, but then there's that gap. How do, how do we help these guys and these guys meet together? In the middle is a method to have regular ed classrooms with a special education co-teacher so that they work together and support the special education students within the regular education classroom, and some teachers are asked to do that but not provided any instruction on how to do that, and that's another piece of professional learning that I feel like would be beneficial to help bridge that gap between special ed and regular ed.
Speaker 1:Dr Evans, I don't know. You work a lot more with elementary, so I think my question would be to you on that professional learning, would it be similar at that level or is it a little bit different? When we're talking about elementary and that professional learning that would need to take place?
Speaker 4:Also currently, when we have, when our districts adopt a new math curriculum, oftentimes when we are getting a professional development on that new curriculum, our SPED teachers aren't necessarily included in that professional development.
Speaker 4:And so I think, moving forward, as we're thinking about that co-teaching partnership, that'll be a piece that will need to be included.
Speaker 4:So, as you're adopting that new curriculum, including those SPED teachers in the professional development of that One area that is probably new to some of our teachers regular ed teachers is part of the recommendation of incorporating that universal design for learning framework in our unit and our lesson planning.
Speaker 4:And so I feel like there's going to need to be a lot of professional development in this area for that to happen.
Speaker 4:And so that universal design for learning is a curriculum design, development and delivery framework that's recommended in our statement from the NCTM. It's created to support the accessibility of course content and materials and to sustain that development of our expert learners, and so it's really the goal of that universal design for learning is developing that learner agency that's purposeful and reflective, resourceful and authentic and strategic and action oriented, and so it goes along with some of this co-teaching and partnership that we're talking about with SPED teachers and regular teachers, as we're working together to kind of create those expert learners, do some of that proactive planning and helping those students enable their access to the curriculum. It's also discussing that, providing that flexibility in helping students get to those learner outcomes and thinking about addressing our expectations and structure, and also includes that frequent and varied assessment. So this whole component of this framework is a piece that I feel our regular ed teachers will need some professional learning on as well.
Speaker 1:So, dr Lorden, I know that you were a content coordinator, correct and overseeing math, and so do you have any insight from that perspective of navigating this professional learning in a K-12 setting, when it sounds like there are lots of needs, like is there a place you would start, or I don't know?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I agree with Dr Evans. As far as you know, in an ideal world we start with, when a new curriculum is adopted, the all, all teachers, whether they're, you know, teaching math specifically or supporting students who have IEPs. They need to be included in that professional development so that they understand and they're hearing the same things that those math teachers and classroom, elementary and elementary setting classroom teachers are hearing and they're able to share ideas with one another. As Constance was saying earlier, that allow them being able to collaborate and and share ideas is a really important part of that.
Speaker 1:So there's a.
Speaker 1:There's a lot to unpack there, and this is something else that I'm thinking about because I have I'm more English based and I was a coordinator that oversaw actually only 612.
Speaker 1:But this is something that is probably a whole nother podcast. But when we're thinking about it from a district level, it sounds like it would be really important to make sure that we're all aligning so that we are not rolling out brand new content, brand new curriculum, brand new resources in multiple areas at once, because a lot of times our special ed department does service, english, social studies, math, science and if you're rolling out for brand new curriculums or resources, where do where do they put their time and energy? We already know that our teachers are spread thin right now, and if you're an elementary teacher and you're rolling out five different contents or curriculums or resources, where do they put their time and energy? And so I think, from a planning perspective and that bigger picture, that's also something that needs to be put on radars of administrators and coordinators so that they're not overwhelming everybody and putting too many things on people's plates.
Speaker 2:Completely agreed, Natalie. And one thing that one of the districts I'm working with their SPED leadership team is embedding in the curriculum writing process wherever they are in the curriculum writing process, wherever they are, what phase are they in Inviting special ed teachers in at that point? So if they've already adopted a resource, maybe invite the special education to be part of reviewing that resource, building in the supports that are needed to help the special education students get to that content level experience, even if they've missed some of the phases. But starting now, and I will say that you know.
Speaker 1:Dr Evans talked about universal design, and I think that that is something that every teacher can use, and you can use it in any content area. So any practices that you learn in that setting or in that realm, I think, are good instructional practices for all students and they're transferable, and so that's nice. It's not like we're adding one more thing on your plate just because of math. It's no. These are. These are good supports and instructional strategies that any student would benefit from.
Speaker 1:I want to thank each one of you guys for coming today and enlightening me on this topic of the National Council of Teachers, mathematics and the CEC's recommendation, or their proposition statement on including all learners so that everyone has access to grade level content in every subject area, but specifically in math. In this first segment, we explored the reason behind this position statement, as well as what districts should do to prepare or ensure that they are in alignment. Now we only touched on the professional learning portion of this, so we have two more segments, because this became a very long topic and we wanted to break it apart a little bit. So in our second episode, you can pick back up with things that districts can do, and in our third episode, we'll talk about some of the challenges that districts might face. I hope that these insights help you navigate your educational journey more clearly and confidently. Please feel free to share your thoughts or experiences. We'd love to hear from you and if you found today's episode valuable, consider sharing it with a colleague who might benefit from this message.