UCLA

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 2004) cemented the fact that students with disabilities must be placed in the least restrictive environment and be given the necessary supports to help them succeed (Lawrence-Brown, 2004). This provides significant challenges for general education teachers, especially in an era of standards based reform with the adoption of the Common Core State Standards (CCSSI, 2014) by most states, along with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS, 2013). While a variety of methods, strategies, and techniques are available to teachers, there is a dearth of literature that clearly investigates how teachers take into account the ability and motivation of students with special needs when planning and implementing curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Thus, this study sought to investigate this facet through the lens of differentiation, personalization, individualization and universal design for learning (UDL) (CAST, 2015), all of which are designed to meet the needs of diverse learners, including students with special needs. An embedded single-case study design (Yin, 2011) was used in this study with the case being differentiated and/or personalized curriculum, instruction and/or assessment, along with UDL for students with special needs, with each embedded unit of analysis being one eighth grade general education science teacher. Analyzing each sub-unit or case, along with a cross-case analysis, three eighth grade general education science teachers were observed over the course of two 10-day units of study in the fall and spring, as they collected artifacts and completed annotations within their electronic portfolios (ePortfolios). All three eighth grade general education science teachers collected ePortfolios as part of their participation in a larger study within California, “Measuring Next Generation Science Instruction Using Tablet-Based Teacher Portfolios,” funded by the National Science Foundation. Each teacher also provided an in-depth interview as part of the data collection. This comprehensive set of over 200 pieces of data, which includes observations and interviews, as well as artifacts and annotations from the ePortfolios, was analyzed using a grounded theory approach (Strauss & Corbin, 1990). Six central themes emerged from the data.

The findings indicated that teachers incorporated some elements of differentiation, personalization and a limited number of components under UDL to support all learners, including students with special needs. There was no indication that the teachers implemented individualization. In other words, there was limited evidence that teachers planned specifically for meeting the needs of students with a specific disability; rather, they focused on collectively meeting the needs of all learners. They recognized the importance of accounting for student motivation and sought to provide hands-on, authentic learning opportunities to motivate and engage students. Yet, they did not survey and/or ask students for their perception of their classroom experiences. While teachers did utilize the electronic portfolio and found it valuable to varying degrees, they indicated that collaboration and visiting other classrooms were essential to their professional development. Implications from this study include (1) ensuring that teachers understand the differences among differentiation, personalization, individualization and universal design for learning; (2) training for teachers on how to properly differentiate, personalize and individualize instruction, as well as how to implement universal design for learning; (3) providing teachers with follow-up support within the classroom to properly implement the approaches mentioned above; (4) training for teachers on the importance of eliciting students’ perceptions and how to gauge those perceptions; (5) properly disseminating information to policymakers on the realities of the classrooms and the challenges in accounting for the needs of diverse learners. Overall, teaching is complex, especially when supporting students with special needs in urban schools, and teachers need to be not only trusted, but supported in a professional manner.