An Examination of the Effects of a Systemic Approach to Mathematics Reform on the Attitudes and Practices of Special and General Educators in an Inclusive Setting

Abstract

This study examined the interfacing of reform-based teaching with inclusion. It utilized an ethnographic approach to examine what happens when the influences that drive reform-based teaching and those behind inclusion intersect. The research focused on how exposure to a reform-based approach to teaching mathematics affected two educators in an inclusive setting. It examined how their exposure to reformed-based teaching affected their attitudes and interactions with each other and students. It also focused on six students who were identified as special need in mathematics and the effect the reform-based approach had on them. The research enumerated some influences that are impinging upon the implementation of reform-based teaching in the inclusive setting and some unique observations that were garnered about the interfacing of reform-based teaching and inclusion.