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While computational thinking has gained popularity in K-12 schools to increase access to computing tools and practices, there is still limited understanding on how to broaden participation of students with disabilities in computational thinking (CT). One approach to increasing access to computing to students with disabilities is to educate future special education teachers to bring CT into their instruction. This study examined the influence of integrating CT into assistive technology course for special education pre-service teachers. Our results suggest that integrating CT into special educa- tion teacher preparation coursework can have a positive impact on how pre-service teachers see the value of bringing computational practices to students with disabilities.
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Examining Longitudinal Patterns of Special Education Service Receipt
It is important to understand how longitudinal patterns of special education placement differ from cross-sectional incidence estimates in order to improve measurement precision and better target assistance to students with disabilities. This study used latent class growth analysis in a national-level data set to classify four trajectories of special education service receipt from kindergarten to eighth grade (Never, Persistent, Delayed, and Discontinued) and to predict which kindergarteners follow these trajectories of service receipt ( N = 3,970). This study is among the first to identify which kindergarteners with disabilities may experience persistent special education services, which may exit special education, and what patterns of sociodemographic, achievement, and behavior covariates distinguish these groups. Results both align with prior work and offer a fresh perspective for researchers and policymakers as to how placement changes across schooling and for whom.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1749275
- PAR ID:
- 10287963
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Exceptional Children
- Volume:
- 87
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 0014-4029
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 5 to 26
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Posing questions is a direct way for teachers to push students to verbalize justifications and make connections among ideas—a crucial component of giving students with learning disabilities access to high levels of mathematical reasoning—but this skill is difficult to learn. We recruited four pre-service special education teachers to provide 1-1 algebra tutoring to students with learning disabilities while receiving instruction related to posing mathematics questions and supporting students’ reasoning. The pre-service teachers increased their frequency of questions overall and of questions that probed students’ thinking or explored mathematical relationships. Students gave correct and complete responses to these more complex questions approximately half of the time; however, pre-service teachers most often reduced the complexity of their questions when students gave incomplete responses. The findings of this study illustrate the potential for pre-service special education teachers to develop questioning routines that engage students with learning disabilities in mathematical reasoning while scaffolding their progress toward new understanding.more » « less
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null (Ed.)Increasingly in K–12 schools, students are gaining access to computational thinking (CT) and computer science (CS). This access, however, is not always extended to students with disabilities. One way to increase CT and CS (CT/CS) exposure for students with disabilities is through preparing special education teachers to do so. In this study, researchers explore exposing special education preservice teachers to the ideas of CT/CS in the context of a mathematics methods course for students with disabilities or those at risk of disability. Through analyzing lesson plans and reflections from 31 preservice special education teachers, the researchers learned that overall emerging promise exists with regard to the limited exposure of preservice special education teachers to CT/CS in mathematics. Specifically, preservice teachers demonstrated the ability to include CT/CS in math lesson plans and showed understanding of how CT/CS might enhance instruction with students with disabilities via reflections on these lessons. The researchers, however, also found a need for increased experiences and opportunities for preservice special education teachers with CT/CS to more positively impact access for students with disabilities.more » « less
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Increasingly in K–12 schools, students are gaining access to computational thinking (CT) and computer science (CS). This access, however, is not always extended to students with disabilities. One way to increase CT and CS (CT/CS) exposure for students with disabilities is through preparing special education teachers to do so. In this study, researchers explore exposing special education preservice teachers to the ideas of CT/CS in the context of a mathematics methods course for students with disabilities or those at risk of disability. Through analyzing lesson plans and reflections from 31 preservice special education teachers, the researchers learned that overall emerging promise exists with regard to the limited exposure of preservice special education teachers to CT/CS in mathematics. Specifically, preservice teachers demonstrated the ability to include CT/CS in math lesson plans and showed understanding of how CT/CS might enhance instruction with students with disabilities via reflections on these lessons. The researchers, however, also found a need for increased experiences and opportunities for preservice special education teachers with CT/CS to more positively impact access for students with disabilities.more » « less
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Among ongoing eforts to broaden participation in K–12 computer science (CS) education, the Advanced Placement (AP) Computer Science Principles (CSP) course receives a lot of attention. While prior research has shown increased participation among some his- torically underrepresented groups, little is known about how the course serves students with disabilities. This study examines participation patterns of students with dis- abilities in CSP courses across 230 public schools in Pennsylvania during the 2022–2023 academic year. Drawing on statewide enroll- ment data from 306 CSP courses, we conducted a series of statistical analyses to investigate relationships between student participation and school-level capacity factors identifed by the Capacity, Ac- cess, Participation, and Experience (CAPE) framework, including teacher experience, school funding, and locale. Findings show that many factors have a small, but statistically signifcant infuence. However, CSP courses labeled as AP were associated with signif- cantly lower participation rates among students with disabilities, compared to CSP courses without the designation. These fndings suggest that course labeling and underlying assumptions about aca- demic rigor may unintentionally limit opportunities for students with disabilities.more » « less
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1177/0014402920960655
