Date of Conferral

2017

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Education

Advisor

Stephanie Gaddy

Abstract

Despite the academic gap between students with learning disabilities (LD) and their nondisabled peers, schools continue to educate students with LD in regular education classrooms. In secondary math classes, such as Algebra 1, students with LD have high percentages of failure. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to examine the relationship between teachers' personal theories of teaching and learning and their use of math interventions. Fox's (1983) theoretical framework of teaching and learning was used as a conceptual lens. Surveys were administered to 20 high school math teachers in an urban Northeastern U.S. school district. An ordinal logistic regression statistical test was used to analyze relationships between teachers' personal theories of teaching and learning and their use of math interventions, years of experience, gender, ethnicity, and age. A statistically significant relationship was found between teachers' years of experience and their use of math interventions, p = .031. Teachers with 6 or more years of teaching experience self-reported using math interventions more frequently than did teachers with 5 or fewer years of teaching experience. Recommendations for future research include examining why teachers with more years of teaching self-reported using math interventions more than did less experienced teachers and the impact, if any, of the use of math interventions on students with LD's academic performance in Algebra 1. This study can lead to positive social change by providing college and university secondary math candidates with training on how to use math intervention to teach algebra to students with LD.

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