The Need to Address Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students with Disabilities

The project will investigate the following student functions: math knowledge, thinking processes, mathematics problem solving skills, and success in math applications as measured by standards set by three major groups: 1) special educators in IDEA Õ97, 2) the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, and 3) the National Council of Bilingual Education.

IDEA ' 97 provision. In its reauthorization of IDEA in 1997, Congress affirmed that: (a) U.S. society is increasingly diverse; (b) its racial profile is changing rapidly; (c) the limited-English population in the United States is the fastest growing population; and (d) minority and under-served people are socially disadvantaged because of the lack of opportunities in training and educational programs (Turnbull & Turnbull, 2000).

Mathematics Review Standards. Findings from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS, 1997) indicated that the mathematics curriculum from grades five through eight may be weak in the U.S. educational system. TIMSS also found that U.S. mathematics classes require students to engage in less high-level mathematical thought and solve fewer multistep problems than classes in other countries. They concluded that U.S. mathematics teachers' typical goal is to teach students the mechanics of solving a problem instead of methods to understand mathematical concepts.

National Association of Bilingual Education. Congress passed the Bilingual Education Act in 1968 in recognition of the growing number of linguistically and culturally diverse children enrolled in schools who, because of their limited English proficiency, were not receiving an education equal to their English-proficient peers (OBEMLA, 2000). Throughout the twenty-first century, public school enrollments will continue to increase with students who bring the richness of linguistic and cultural diversity. Thus, a percentage of those enrollments will be bilingual special education students.

The Need to Address Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students with Disabilities. The project focuses on groups of high school students from culturally and linguistically diverse Spanish backgrounds, who are attending special education classes (identified as having learning disabilities or emotional disturbances). The net effect of failure in the U.S. to attend to cultural aspects of mathematics has been a tendency to explain performance discrepancies between Latino and Anglo students, for example on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, as attributable to cultural or congenital factors (Jimenez, Garcia, Pearson, 1996; NCES, 1999). Partially in reaction to this negative tradition, the researcher has chosen to examine bilingualism as a potential strength—which might facilitate mathematics development—rather than an inherent weakness.