Perceptions by High School Teachers of Mathematical Readiness of Students with Disabilities Transitioning to College

More and more students with mild disabilities enroll in and attend college. However, test scores and other achievement measures show that they are well behindtheir regular education peers in math achievement, and thus unprepared for the rigors of college. While much has been done to revise laws and policy involving students with disabilities and academic core standards to increase preparedness, it is still what happens in the classroom that has the greatest effect on student preparation. Due tothe nature of pullout/resource classes where pacing is typically slower and less content is covered, special education teachers make a myriad of decisions every day about what to cover in depth, what to reteach, and what to leave out entirely. Thus, teacher perceptions about student math abilities and the importance of specific math topics and college attendance are critical, because they greatly influence those daily instructional choices. The student researcher conducted a survey to determine high school special education teacher perceptions of student math preparation for college. Participants included 47 teachers from across the state. Question format was either rating scale based or open-ended. The ideas surveyed included student ability and topic importance in specific math skills, calculator skills, and study skills. Teachers were also asked about time spent teaching those topics, student strengths and weaknesses, and barriers and solutions to math preparation. In general, participants believed that their students have potential to be more than “somewhat successful in college” and that is more than “important” for them to attend college. However, they perceive their students to be less than “adequately” prepared mathematically, indicating a large gap. Areas of particular concern were calculator skills, study skills, and reasoning and generalization. Participants also offered a wide variety of perceived barriers (lack of parent involvement, low student motivation, and that it is too late by the time students reach high school, etc.) and perceived solutions (more parent involvement, better teaching in younger grade, etc.). The study has implications that educators need to implement solutions to increase math preparation for students with disabilities