The Interaction of Learning Disability Status and Student Demographic Characteristics on Mathematics Growth

Joseph J. Stevens, Ann C. Schulte

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

This study examined mathematics achievement growth of students without disabilities (SWoD) and students with learning disabilities (LD) and tested whether growth and LD status interacted with student demographic characteristics. Growth was estimated in a statewide sample of 79,554 students over Grades 3 to 7. The LD group was significantly lower in achievement in each grade and had less growth than the SWoD group. We also found that student demographic characteristics were significantly related to mathematics growth, but only three demographic characteristics were statistically significant as interactions. We found that LD-SWoD differences at Grade 3 were moderated by student sex, while Black race/ethnicity and free or reduced lunch (FRL) status moderated LD-SWoD differences at all grades. These results provide practitioners and policy makers with more specific information about which particular LD students show faster or slower growth in mathematics. Our results show that simply including predictors in a regression equation may produce different results than direct testing of interactions and achievement gaps may be larger for some LD subgroups of students than previously reported.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)261-274
Number of pages14
JournalJournal of Learning Disabilities
Volume50
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - May 1 2017

Keywords

  • interaction effects
  • mathematics achievement growth
  • student demographic characteristics
  • students with learning disabilities

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Health(social science)
  • Education
  • General Health Professions

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