Predicting Eighth-Grade Algebra Students with Individualized Education Programs.

Abstract

In this era of data-based decision making, it is important to understand whether student performance indicators are driving important placement decisions. This is particularly true for students with disabilities, who have specific legal protections in place (i.e., the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, IDEA). Research and policy recommendations in both special and general education have begun to turn toward academic indicators and responsiveness to instruction to assess students' risks and needs (Fuchs et al., 2005; Fuchs, Fuchs, & Hollenbeck, 2007; Marzano, 2003; Stecker & Fuchs, 2000). The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the interplay of teacher perception of student mathematical performance, actual student math performance, and eventual eighth-grade placement in Algebra I demonstrate patterns different for students with individualized education programs (IEPs) than for students without IEPs. Because the level of mathematics placement in middle school is often the primary determinant of how a student will be in high school mathematics courses, and because these high school placements in turn have a large influence on student educational outcomes (Burris, Heubert, & Levin, 2004, 2006; Catsambis, 1994; Dauber, Alexander, & Entwistle, 1996; Gamoran & Mare, 1989; Geiser & Santelices, 2006; Hallinan, 2003; Oakes, 1990), it is essential to understand if students with IEPs are being properly placed into their middle-grade mathematics courses. STUDENT TRACKING, TEACHER PERCEPTION, AND SPEClAL EDUCATION For decades, researchers have investigated issues that arise when students are into different groups or classes according to perceived ability. Initially, research focused on macro-analyses of the sociological and academic causes and effects of schooling andof tracking students (Bowles & Gintis, 2002; Cahan & Linchevski, 1996; Gamoran & Mare, 1989; Hallinan, 1994; Oakes, 1990). These studies led to a general understanding that tracking practices affect students differently according to socioeconomic status and face. During the same general period, the risk model was first popularized as a means of finding students in need of intervention by considering socioeconomic status and face (Donnelly, 1987; Slavin, Lake, & Groff, 2008). Eventually, and concurrently, researchers began to investigate smaller-scale issues regarding tracking and student academic placement, issues that are best investigated at the teacher and classroom level (Eder, 1981; Finley, 1984; Rist, 1970; Ritts, Patterson, & Tubbs, 1992; Useem, 1992). This included research on teacher expectations of student performance (Brophy & Good, 1986; Good & Brophy, 1974; Good, 1987). These studies contributed to the understanding of the dynamic of student placement in academic trajectory. Issues regarding special education dovetail with these issues regarding the dynamics of academic placements for two primary reasons: (a) minority students continue to be identified for special education at a higher rate than majority students (Artiles & Trent, 1994; President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, 2002); and (b) special education students, regularly served in a setting separate from their peers, are thus routinely tracked in their own right (Lipsky & Garmer, 1987). Currently, research and policy recommendations in both special and general education have begun to turn toward academic indicators and responsiveness to academic treatments to assess a student's risks and needs (Fuchs et al., 2005; 2007; Marzano, 2003; Stecker & Fuchs, 2000). TEACHER PERCEPTION AND IMPACT ON PLACEMENT FROM ELEMENTARY TO MIDDLE SCHOOL Research on the teacher's role in student placement in mathematics during the transition from elementary to middle school is limited. In 1990, Oakes characterized studies that investigated teacher judgment of student intellectual ability and the impact of that judgment on outcomes as an often neglected key to understanding the distribution of critical features of mathematics (and science) classrooms (p. …