Challenge

Schools have long struggled to deliver high-quality mathematics education to students with disabilities and to students from other traditionally marginalized groups. Nationwide, teachers need effective strategies to enhance mathematics instruction for these students. Yet few programs have been available to support them in doing so.

The Math for All (MFA) professional development program prepares grade K–5 teachers to help students with diverse strengths and needs—including those with disabilities—achieve high-quality, standards-based learning outcomes in mathematics. To advance knowledge of MFA’s impacts, EDC and partners conducted a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of the program’s impact on teachers’ knowledge, skills, and classroom practices and on students’ learning.

Key Activities

The activities of the MFA study included the following:

Impact

The study found that teachers who participated in the MFA program were:

  • Significantly more likely than control group teachers to report feeling comfortable and prepared to teach mathematics to diverse learners, including students with disabilities
  • More likely to reflect on teaching practices and more frequently use lesson planning and differentiated instruction strategies to support students than control group teachers
  • Rated by trained observers as providing more emotional support, instructional support, classroom observation, and student engagement than control group teachers
  • Found to have students—both with and without disabilities—who performed higher on the NWEA MAP assessment than students in the control group

Learn More

PROJECT DIRECTOR
DURATION
2014–2019
FUNDED BY
Institute for Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education
PARTNERS

Bank Street College of Education; ICF; Indiana University; Teachers College, Columbia University; Chicago Public Schools