In July, the Virginia Department of Education is expected to release an updated Guidance for Specially Designed Instruction (SDI) and Inclusive Best-Practices in Mathematics Classrooms document.
This document will detail what specially designed instruction should look like in Virginia mathematics classrooms. The goal is to improve student achievement for students with disabilities and all students who struggle in the areas of mathematics. The document provides guidance and instructional strategies on how to tailor instruction to meet the individual needs of students with disabilities. Strategies and resources are provided with details on how to use student data to specially design instructional supports.
The document is broken down into the following components:
1. High Leverage Practices and Explicit Instruction
According to the Council for Exceptional Children, High Leverage Practices are fundamental to effective teaching. In partnership with the Collaboration for Effective Educator Development, Accountability and Reform (CEEDAR), the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) has developed and published a set of high-leverage practices (HLPs) for special educators and teacher candidates. The HLPs are organized around four aspects of practice; collaboration, assessment, social/emotional/behavioral, and instruction. HLPs reinforce methodological best practices which are required for SDI. Explicit instruction is often referred to as the cornerstone of effective mathematics instruction for students with learning difficulties and is an evidence based practice (EBP) and systematic instructional approach
focused on critical mathematics content that is sequenced and scaffolded to facilitate learning.
2. Mathematical language, Communication and Discourse
Mathematical discourse or engaging students in conversations about math is crucial for enhancing learning, building skills, and promoting deeper understanding. It provides opportunities for students to articulate their thinking, refine their ideas, and learn from others. Discourse also helps teachers understand student thinking and tailor instruction accordingly.
3. Contextual Understanding and Problem Solving
Teaching problem solving methods is an essential evidence based strategy for supporting students with mathematics difficulty. The focus of this section is effective instruction related to problem solving. Problem solving provides an opportunity for students to demonstrate mathematics competency yet often proves challenging for students with learning difficulties.
4. Concrete-Representational-Abstract
The concrete-representational-abstract (C-R-A) framework is an evidence based instructional practice supported by research that provides a foundation for learning to each and every student, including those who have mathematics learning difficulties and disabilities (e.g., Flores et al.,
2014; Witzel et al., 2008). The use of this framework should be the foundation of every teacher’s Tier 1 instructional practices.
5. Computational Fluency and Automaticity
The Virginia Department of Education’s 2023 Mathematics Standards of Learning define computational fluency as the ability to use flexible, efficient, and accurate methods for computing. Automaticity means being able to efficiently produce answers from a memory network via automatic reasoning processes or fact recall (Baroody, 2016).
6. Co-teaching
Co-teaching supports specially designed instruction in mathematics and assists with closing learning gaps by targeting individual student needs. Marilyn Friend and Lynne Cook identify “co-teaching as a specific service delivery option that is based on collaboration.” Co-teaching involves two or more certified professionals who share instructional responsibility for a group of students – for specific content and objectives with pooled resources, joint accountability, and mutual ownership (Friend & Cook, 2016).
Be on the lookout for the release of the document this summer.
