Report: Local students with disabilities doing better in math than reading
Published: Sunday, May 4, 2014 at 7:41 p.m.
Last Modified: Sunday, May 4, 2014 at 10:39 p.m.
PALM COAST — Students with disabilities in Flagler County are more proficient in math than in reading, with the percentage of capable high school math students more than double that for reading, according to a recent performance report.
“It is definitely evident that (Exceptional Student Education) students are doing better in math than reading,” said Shawn Schmidli, the Flagler County School District’s coordinator of assessment and accountability, who compiled the data.
According to Schmidli’s report, 31 percent of all special needs students in Flagler County are considered proficient in math, while 23 percent are proficient in reading. If only high school ESE students in Flagler County are counted, 48 percent are proficient in math while 22 percent are proficient in reading.
In Volusia County the numbers are closer, with 25 percent proficient in math and 22 percent in reading. The state school district with the highest percentage of proficiency is Okaloosa County with 45 percent proficient in math and 40 percent proficient in reading.
“You would usually see a 5- to 10-point difference between math and reading,” according to David Allsopp, a professor of special education at the University of South Florida. “Reading is a difficult task to learn because once (students) learn how to read, then it’s a matter of learning how to learn from reading text.”
The numbers are based on a report of annual measurable objectives required by the U.S. Department of Education and unique to each state. The report categorizes students in eight different subgroups, including students with disabilities.
One explanation for the apparent discrepancy might be that math is “a universal language,” said Tracy Umpenhour, director of the Flagler district’s ESE department.
“There’s some truth to that in the sense that math is a language, and certainly (math) is universal,” said Allsopp, who has specialized in effective math instruction for students with learning difficulties for almost 20 years.
However, Allsopp’s research indicates that there is actually less emphasis on math in schools as it relates to students with special needs than there is on reading. He said younger ESE students still typically perform better in math because elementary-level skills are more basic.
“In math, the curriculum builds on itself so what you see early on is students doing well because there are pretty basic kinds of concepts,” he said. “But eventually it begins to add up and you start seeing a decreased level of performance. Memorization itself doesn’t work too well and having that hole in their knowledge begins to add up because of the curriculum.”
Another explanation for why students with disabilities might be more proficient in math is because the math FCAT, administered to students in grades 3 through 8, can be read aloud to them while the reading portion, given to students in grades 3 through 10, can’t, said Otto Hoover, ESE coordinator at Indian Trails Middle School.
“When they take the reading exam they’re on their own; the teacher can’t help them at all, can’t sound out the word for them,” he said. “But with math, you can read the question to the student ... They’ll ask you five, 10 times to read it over again.”
Only the math assessment can be read aloud because it does not change what is being tested, according to the Florida Department of Education’s accommodations and modifications for special programs.
Jill Lively, the Flagler district’s K-12 reading curriculum specialist, agreed that is a factor, adding that “ESE students typically struggle with phonics, fluency and vocabulary,” which they don’t get help with on the FCAT, and that leads to comprehension issues.
But Allsopp warned against inferring too much from data drawn from tests that change over time and are taken by students with varying disabilities.
State Department of Education spokeswoman Cheryl Etters acknowledged in an email that a broad explanation is unlikely.
“I don’t think we can say if this is a general trend,” she said. “Sounds like it really is a local issue in that teachers are differentiating instruction to meet each student’s needs.”
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