Establishing a Partnership Between a Rural School and an Urban University to Support Algebra 1 Learning for Students with Learning Disabilities

Tutoring programs that are jointly supported by schools and universities can offer benefits to both parties. Schools benefit by receiving additional instructional support for their students. Universities benefit by providing meaningful, one-on-one teaching experiences for their students who are studying to become teachers. Tutoring programs, however, are only helpful to the extent they respond to the needs and interests of the students and schools they serve. This project will establish a partnership between a large, urban university and a small, rural high school to collaboratively create a tutoring program to support the mathematics learning of students with learning disabilities. Mathematics tutoring can be especially helpful for students with learning disabilities, who likely need support for strategically organizing mathematical information and who may also experience math anxiety. Building on promising work in urban school settings, the project will co-create a model of mathematics support that is informed by the rural community intended to receive the support.

Using a framework adapted from collaborative, participatory research, the university team will work with teachers, students, and other school personnel in a rural high school—along with leaders from local businesses and community organizations—to examine the most productive models of tutoring for students with learning disabilities. The design of this project draws on research from special education and, respectively, mathematics education documenting the cognitive and affective needs of students with learning disabilities in math. Across the yearlong project, meetings will be held to assess the needs and strengths of the project partners, plan and evaluate pilot tutoring programs, and establish a long-term partnership to support both high school students in math and college students preparing for future careers as teachers. Transcripts and field notes collected throughout the work will be analyzed and synthesized in an ongoing project report. An advisory board, comprising school and community members, will provide ongoing evaluation of the work and its outcomes through review of the project report and independent review of transcripts and field notes. The final product will be an established tutoring program as well as a set of recommendations for mathematics tutoring for students with learning disabilities in remote, rural settings.