Infusing Culturally Responsive Instruction to Improve Mathematics Performance of Latino Students with Specific Learning Disabilities

Culturally responsive instruction has the advantage of helping diverse students make academic gains. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of culturally infused mathematics lessons on the academic achievement of five middle school Latino students with specific learning disabilities in a resource classroom. We used an ABACACA multiple treatment reversal design, in which two forms of culturally responsive instruction (B) and its modification (C) were compared with the traditional instruction (A). The results of the study indicated that the modified culturally responsive mathematics instruction (C) was associated with increases in positive gains in participants' daily mathematics quizzes. Limitations and implications are discussed in relation to culturally responsive instruction for middle school Latino students with specific learning disabilities.     

Educating for competence in professional practice

In educating for the professions, teachers seek to enable students to engage in professional practice as competent practitioners. In this paper we question the adequacy of traditional approaches for promoting competent practice. These traditional approaches typically view competence in terms of attributes, such as knowledge, skills and attitudes. Competence development is then seen in terms of acquiring the necessary attributes. From an alternative view of competence as based on ways of experiencing practice, we argue that competence development focus on enriching experience of practice. More specifically, we point out that competence development involves change in the structure of the meaning for practice. Change in meaning structure for practice involves both a significant shift from one way of experiencing practice to another, as well as refinement and elaboration of the way of experiencing practice. Implications of this view of competence development for professional education are discussed. In particular, we deal with implications relating to the teaching-learning relation and the form the educational programme takes. In summay, we argue that enabling students to develop competence through experience of engaging in practice is most closely directed to the aims of education for the professions.