How Should We Teach Math? General and Special Ed. Researchers Don’t Agree

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About a decade ago, leaders at the Kentucky Department of Education set out to develop guidelines for what quality math instruction should looked like in the state, convening educators from the general education and special education teams at the agency.

But those two groups found themselves at odds over one key issue: encouraging “productive struggle.”

Math leaders wanted to include the approach, in which teachers present students with challenging, open-ended questions that prompt them to grapple with mathematical ideas and persevere to solve problems. But special educators were hesitant, said Amanda Waldroup, the assistant director of the division of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act implementation and preschool in the Kentucky education department’s office of special education and early learning.

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