Instructional Adaptation for Students at Risk

Abstract The focus of this study was instructional adaptation for low-achieving students who receive instruction within general education settings. Two types of adaptation were explored: (a) routine adaptation, or the extent to which teachers establish initial routines to facilitate ongoing adaptation, and (b) specialized adaptation, or how teachers modify instructional plans in light of student difficulty. Participants were 110 general educators, each of whom taught reading or mathematics to at least one student with a learning disability. Measures of school achievement were obtained for learning-disabled students, low-achieving nonhandicapped students, and average-achieving students from each class. In addition, teachers reported information about their routines and specialized adaptation and about the characteristics of themselves, their students, and their schools. Results indicated greater routine and specialized adaptation in reading than in mathematics. A regression analysis indicated that students' academic deviance was the strongest predictor for routine adaptation in reading; teachers' knowledge of handling student disruption was the strongest predictor in mathematics. In both academic areas, participative decision making appeared important in determining specialized adaptation; again, however, academic deviance predicted specialized adaptation only in reading. Implications for practice and additional research are discussed.