AN INTERDISCIPLINARY COACHING APPROACH TO DATA-BASED INDIVIDUALIZATION: A YEAR-LONG PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN MATHEMATICS TEACHERS AND SPECIAL EDUCATION RESEARCHERS

This article describes a year-long partnership between a group of general education mathematics teachers and their special education researcher-coach counterparts, an experience we call interdisciplinary coaching. The purpose of this work was aimed at supporting teachers in adopting and implementing an evidence-based instructional practice intended to address the needs of students experiencing mathematics difficulty, including students with disabilities. Findings from this investigation indicate teachers had high rates of satisfaction with the coaching model and that, by some specific measures, this model demonstrates promise for improving teachers’ assessment practice within a data-based individualization framework. We describe the unique tensions and affordances that arose from this type of partnership and share recommendations for how others might engage in interdisciplinary coaching work.