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Compass PD Podcast with Dr. Carrie Hepburn
Compass PD Podcast with Dr. Carrie Hepburn
Episode 66: Pt. 3 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 3 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. Today's episode is the third part of a three-part series where we will conclude having conversations around the NCTM's position statement. In today's episode, we will explore the challenges and some solutions that district leaders, instructional coaches and teachers might face in the wake of this new position statement. So we're going to switch gears. We want to talk about what challenges will district leaders face, instructional coaches, teachers, and how they can overcome or prepare for them, because we know that with any change there comes challenges.
Speaker 2:So, just like for the district level recommendations that we just talked through, nctm and CEC also came out with recommendations for teachers, instructional coaches, administration, like what should we do?
Speaker 2:And the first one is to incorporate universal design for learning framework and unit and lesson planning and I know Dr Evans really talked about what it was.
Speaker 2:But as far as instructional coaches, they need to know what those universal design for learning, what that framework looks like and how to coach teachers to use the ideas and really give them permission to use the ideas that it's best for students and then collect ideas. Those instructional coaches can collect ideas from other teachers on strategies that are working to support those universal designs for learning so that they can then share those tools that they've seen in other classrooms with teachers who maybe need a new idea on how to support their teachers. Teachers need to know what those universal supports or those universal designs for learning are so they can provide them for students and they need to know how to implement them, which all goes back to that professional learning. They also need to recognize how to support students at all of the levels of the progression of learning for every standard, so that they are not just focused on the end game so that they can support students wherever they are as they're growing to that end game.
Speaker 3:I think, as district content leaders and our district SPED leaders. We're going to need to work together to kind of create this plan and then find the funds to be found to provide that professional development and training, because these are pretty big organizational and individual systematic changes that need to occur, especially when we're talking about creating a different framework, when we're talking about the co-teaching and we're talking about the universal design framework. So, thinking about the timing of when this could happen, it may need to be looked at. I know we talked about this briefly of looking at where you're at, where districts are in their curriculum cycle, and then thinking, okay, where is this going to fit? Because it's not. We can't just add it on top of something else. It will. It'll kind of need to be implemented with when, where we're at in each of our curriculum cycles.
Speaker 1:So you're you're not saying to just I'm looking for a book, but you're not saying just hey, do all this right now because it's a lot for sure.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, I think.
Speaker 2:I think we'd turn a lot of people off if we if that was the recommendation to do it all now.
Speaker 2:Another recommendation that they made was to use appropriate and accurate multiple representations, such as simultaneously presenting concrete, semi-concrete and abstract. So we talked a little bit about this and, as part of that, districts need to ensure that our digital and physical manipulatives are provided to both the special education teachers and the regular education teachers to use with their students how to use them, because just handing them a box of manipulatives does not ensure that they know how to use them. Showing them how to model using manipulatives that might not be on grade level, because some special education teachers might be in a co-taught setting or a push-in setting where they need to utilize manipulatives at maybe a third grade level to support a fifth grade student, or at a sixth grade level trying to support an algebra one student. So showing them that progression of how to use those manipulatives as well. We really want our special education teachers to be able to support the classroom teachers with that instruction, using all of those different representations.
Speaker 4:Yeah, we know also that it's essential for young children, in developing a deeper understanding of math, that they use a developmental progression. So, whether it's for number sense and calculations which is oftentimes, with the younger children, what we think of as math but also in, you know, geometry, measurement, patterning, all of those things that go into all of those different strands of math, and making sure that there is a developmental progression that occurs as students are learning, so that they have a solid foundation and then build upon that foundation.
Speaker 3:And the good news is is that many of our new mathematical resources that districts have now or that we may be purchasing incorporate this. So that's that's the good news. So the challenge may be is that many of our special education teachers have not had learning around how to do all of this, and so when we talked earlier about if you're adopting a new resource, bringing in those SPED teachers as part of that professional development and learning how to do all of that with our regular education teachers, so another recommendation for our instructional coaches, our teachers, is to plan proactively, using a preventative model for instruction, so being proactive, providing time for those special education and regular education teachers to create those progressions for the standards, to help identify where students are in their learning.
Speaker 2:Instructional coaches can help special ed teachers who are not math certified to understand the progressions and how to teach students through the progressions so that they do feel like they can support. Natalie was talking about having that confidence, giving them that confidence that they do know how to teach and support students.
Speaker 3:When we think about when teachers are, our teachers are sped and our regular teachers are going to have time to plan proactively using that model. We have to think about scheduling right. So a lot of times our schedules are set at the beginning of the year, especially in elementary, and then that's our schedule. So, as I think an opportune time to kind of start to think about how we could start planning proactively together is as you're preparing for those building schedules for next year and as you're setting that, so considering and providing time for when are our SPED and regular education teachers going to be able to collaborate? If we're not intentional about making sure that we've blocked our scheduling and blocked our time for it, I mean, let's be honest, it's not going to happen right.
Speaker 2:So, along with that, another suggestion or another recommendation is that we position students with disabilities as valuable owners and contributors of the mathematics being learned.
Speaker 2:So, just like making sure that we have given the teachers time, we also want to make sure we put those students in a place where they can be owners and contributors to the math being learned.
Speaker 2:So a suggestion for our teachers, coaches, district level administrators is to and I go back to something that Dr Lorton mentioned earlier that screening, helping teachers place students in the least restrictive environment based on their screenings, based on their IEP information, and working to have students stay in or be in the regular education setting as much as possible so that they do get that tier one instruction. They can prioritize special education classrooms that have teachers who know and understand math, professional learning to support special education teachers to learn the content, and then co-taught classrooms to support students with on-grade level content thing. Because if, like Natalie talked about earlier, making sure that we aren't spreading our teachers so thin If they need to learn math and that's the content that they're going to be focused on don't ask them or don't try not to have them in lots of other content areas, so that they can support students with on-grade level content.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and if students do need to be pulled out of the classroom for support in their math learning based on their IEP, ensuring that they are in their regular classroom for Tier 1 instruction so that they are exposed to that grade level content is something to work towards as well.
Speaker 3:So, sherry, I'm so glad you brought that up, because it's such an important thing that must be a priority that our students with disabilities are provided that access to those grade level standards and not just to whatever their goal they're working on. And so when we think about that, it also includes things like when we're doing number talks or when we're having those really rich mathematical discussions. Many times our students might not be a part of those, and so, as much as possible, ensuring that they are a part of all of those kind of those conversations is really important.
Speaker 2:And Stephanie, that's exactly what I was thinking. Teachers can provide those low floor, high ceiling prompts so that every student has an entry level into the learning, giving every student that place where they can jump in, providing time for students to discover and discuss the content and I know I believe it was Stephanie you mentioned that a lot of our resources now have that embedded in there but providing that time for them to discover. And then instructional coaches can help teachers understand how to facilitate those conversations and discovery lessons, because for some teachers that is a new way of thinking about teaching that maybe they've never facilitated before and so it becomes a struggle for them facilitated before, and so it becomes a struggle for them.
Speaker 1:I will say that I'm a huge advocate for having classroom discussions around topics or ideas, because we grow whenever we start hearing other people talk or we gain a different understanding, and so if there's anything that a math teacher or a special education teacher has learned from this podcast, it would be me listening to you guys talk and then asking questions and getting a better understanding of what that looks like, and so I think it is extremely important that you know. Dr Evans mentioned that like. So all too often we pull kids out during that discussion time because we think, well, it's not explicit instruction, it's not direct instruction, they're not going to learn anything. They will probably learn more in that discussion with their peers, like processing through, than they would from that direct instruction.
Speaker 2:And so I think it is important to realize that those discussions are key components to the learning, and that's what we do as learners, like we ask questions, we have conversations with other people so that we have a better understanding, which fits right with the next recommendation Provide paired time for students to share and rehearse their thinking and ideas in multimodal ways before moving to a whole group discussion, so that they do have that time, like you were talking about, Natalie to think, to talk, to make those connections.
Speaker 2:And one thing that instructional coaches can do is to learn about the ripple effect of instruction. That's highlighted in the total participation techniques making every student an active learner book by Per Sida and William Himaly. It encourages students to think individually first share with a partner, share with a team and then the whole class. So it starts little and ripples out to the whole class. It gives your students that time to think and to validate their understanding or adjust their thinking, even prior to having that whole group conversation. Where sometimes, if you start with the whole group, one student does the talking and one student does the learning. Where, with the ripple method, it starts individually and works its way out.
Speaker 4:And that goes really right along with what Works. Clearinghouse has found that there is a strong, strong evidence to show that students learn mathematics and solve problems better when they monitor their thinking and their problem solving steps as they solve the problem. So when students think about what they're doing and why they're doing it, they're not just learning the math, but they're learning how to evaluate the steps that they are taking to solve the problem and how to use those steps, how to make necessary changes, how to solve other problems that they encounter that may be similar or may be different. That process helps students connect new concepts to what they already know, and we know that the more that they reflect on their problem solving processes, the better their mathematical reasoning is and the better their ability to apply this reasoning to new situations will be.
Speaker 3:And I think about with many of our students with disabilities. Sometimes it's a processing speed, and so having this component also allows those students with slower processing speeds that additional time before responding and so giving that little bit of a break, and that encourages that critical thinking and, just like we were talking about, promotes that higher quality participation from more students and this benefits not only our students with disabilities but all of our students. We all know how important that wait time is and having that time to be able to talk something out before we share it out with everybody.
Speaker 1:So another one would be to provide a variety of interactive learning experiences.
Speaker 2:So that goes right along with that paired time for thinking, because when we give those interactive learning experiences, students are touching, feeling, working with those concrete, semi-concrete and abstract representations, but instructional coaches and teachers have to know how to incorporate those into their classrooms. Districts prioritize like making sure that they have the resources for that interactive learning experiences so that they can embed them not only in the regular ed classrooms but also the regular ed classrooms but also the special education classrooms Again, the professional learning on how to utilize those and what are the interactive learning experiences that students could play around with.
Speaker 3:So some ways that when I think about what are interactive learning experiences, I think about virtual manipulatives. I think about those engaging math games, project-based learning or having students work on real-world projects that require them to apply those math concepts that we're teaching to solve those problems and then even using, like real data sets, as we're talking about analyzing trends and patterns. So just some ideas of what they mean by interactive learning experiences just some ideas of what they mean by interactive learning experiences.
Speaker 1:Glad that you clarified that, dr Evans, because I think from I teach secondary English and when I think about that term of interactive learning I think of a kahoot or like something on the computer that kids are doing. And I think that it expands beyond that and it's not just a computer-based thing. It could physically be manipulatives that they are moving with their hands in that tactile kinesthetic approach. So another one is to use flexible grouping structures to cultivate a community of learning. What does that look like?
Speaker 2:In the classroom teachers. They can learn and implement those universal supports or that universal design for learning, knowing that it's beneficial for all students in the classroom and that flexible grouping is one of those pieces. In the book the Flexibly Grouped Classroom how to Organize Learning for Equity and Growth by Christina Dubé, they highlight a variety of methods for grouping students for different purposes, but all highlighting student learning. So being intentional about how you group students and why you're grouping them that way becomes a method to create that community in your classroom. But it also helps to bolster what learning you're hoping to happen in your classroom. Another one the book Building Thinking Classrooms by Peter Lilje Day. I'll get that right. So, peter Lilje Day. He recommends random grouping so that students can learn with and from each other. So every day he recommends putting different students together for different learning. But thinking about that flexible grouping really helps your students all feel included, and I know Dr Lorton and Dr Evans have both mentioned making sure that our classrooms are inclusive.
Speaker 3:I think the piece that is kind of the other side of this is that ability grouping, and so I think this recommendation of using flexible grouping is moving us away from those rigid ability groups, so putting students in groups based on level and then keeping them in those groups, and so that flexible grouping is really, you know, if we are grouping a little bit on some ability they have, the they're not stagnant in that they have opportunities to move out and to move into different groupings, and so I think that's the piece that I think about is the difference between that ability grouping.
Speaker 1:Well, and I think that there's just that stigma that kids are smart whether you're a first grader or you're a 12th grader.
Speaker 2:Kids know that I'm in the low group.
Speaker 1:Like if they're constantly with the same people. All the time they're like I'm in the low group and so, as a teacher, how can you make that those groups more flexible, so that there isn't the stigma of I'm always in this group, like back in the day it was like the Bluebirds? So our the final recommendation is to build meaningful connections between concepts and procedures.
Speaker 2:So, if you think about everything we've talked about creating those flexible groups, having those interactive learning experiences, giving think time, making them owners of their learning, being proactive with our models for instruction and then having multiple representations all encompasses this last recommendation. We want to build those meaningful connections and we're going to use all the things that we've talked about above to build those connections between the concepts and the procedures so that we're building students who understand the concepts. They're not just cranking a wheel on an algorithm and pops out the answer. We don't want that. We want students to have those conversations, to be in groups where they can learn, to use manipulatives, to learn, use a variety of learning models, to have access to the material, and so NCTM and CEC really just want us to do all of those things to help build that connection between the concepts and the procedures so that students all students, special education students and regular education students have those connections.
Speaker 1:So when I also think about that concepts and procedures is it wrong for me to maybe think it from this perspective that the concepts are the math teachers and the procedures are the special education teachers, and not that there aren't concepts and procedures in the other two? But that idea of like bringing those two together is is what this statement is all about.
Speaker 2:That's Natalie's terms. Go ahead.
Speaker 2:I said that's Natalie's terms Right, I never looked at it from that perspective. But when you're thinking about it from the teacher end, yes, the what we teach and how we teach it would be the concepts and procedures. I was thinking about it from the student perspective. The concepts are the big ideas and the procedures are those algorithms that get the answer, because we want students to have an understanding of what they're learning and what they're doing. But I like your thinking too, because I think that's twofold Teachers need to have the concepts and how to teach them effectively.
Speaker 3:I also think of it as when we're building those connections, but I also think of it as I'm able to apply it into all different kinds of settings. So, because I understand the connection between these concepts and procedures, whenever I need to be flexible and apply it to a new situation, I'm able to do. I kind of think of it that way.
Speaker 1:So anything else that we want to add to. I know we've covered a lot when I think about just this. There's a lot going on here and it's I feel that we want to add to. I know we've covered a lot when I think about just this. There's a lot going on here and it's I feel that we could probably have different podcasts or conversations around each one of them even more in depth than what we have, and we, I feel like, barely skimmed the surface.
Speaker 1:But one thing that I noticed that was said over and over and over again throughout all of this is the universal design for learning, and I don't know if that is a whole nother podcast in itself, to just really break that down, because it literally came up over and over and over again, and I know that there are books out there that teachers can pick up and read, or I'm sure that you could listen to other podcasts, but that might be something that we also explore in an upcoming situation, because I do feel that there was a lot of conversation around that and what that looks like.
Speaker 1:So 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. 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.