Sarah Powell

The purpose of this efficacy study was to assess whether equation-solving instruction, conducted within the context of word-problem tutoring, led to improved word-problem solving outcomes. Word-problem proficiency is necessary to demonstrate successful mathematics performance. Many students, however, are inadequately prepared to solve word problems, and this is especially true for students with or at risk for mathematics difficulty (MD). Students with or at risk for MD demonstrate significan...

The purpose of this project is to develop Math Words, an intervention designed to improve the understanding of mathematics vocabulary for third and fourth grade students with or at risk for disability in math. Success with math involves understanding the language of math, which may be through interpretation of numbers, symbols, and words but also through speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Math vocabulary is complex because math terms may have multiple meanings across content areas (s...

The purpose of this project is to evaluate different levels of intensity of a professional development (PD) and coaching model for middle school special education teachers to accelerate pandemic recovery in mathematics for their students with disabilities. Due to pandemic-related school closures, many students have not received enough instruction to develop a deep understanding of mathematics content. Students who experienced mathematics difficulties prior to the pandemic are at even greater...

The goal of this project is to conduct an initial evaluation of Math SPIRAL (Specialized Intervention to Reach All Learners), an educator-provided mathematics intervention for students in grades 4 and 5. In this project, support will be provided to educators in a large urban school district to teach math to small groups of students identified as needing intervention through state achievement testing. In 2021, the percentage of students in the district who required small-group math interventi...

The purpose of this initial efficacy study is to assess whether algebraic reasoning instruction, conducted within the context of word-problem intervention, leads to increases word-problem performance on one- and multi-step word problems. Research indicates students with mathematics difficulty (MD) demonstrate lower performance on setting up and solving word problems compared to peers without MD. The use of schemas has been shown to be an effective method of word-problem instruction for stude...