Date
3-22-2024
Department
School of Education
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy in Education (PhD)
Chair
Laura J. Mansfield
Keywords
prerequisite skills, intervention, working memory, specific learning disability, math
Disciplines
Education | Special Education and Teaching
Recommended Citation
Reedy, Timothy, "How Prerequisite Skills Training Affects Math Achievement Scores for Students with Learning Disabilities: A Quasi-Experimental Control Group Study" (2024). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 5263.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/5263
Abstract
The purpose of this quantitative, quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest control group design, while controlling for math achievement pretest scores, was to investigate the impact prerequisite skills instruction has on math achievement scores for ninth-grade pre-algebra students with specific learning disabilities (SLDs) in math. While there have been several studies on how prerequisite skills affect students with learning disabilities in elementary school, very little research has extended into high school. Convenience sampling was used in the study and included 70 students from a high school that serves students across the state of Pennsylvania. The Mathematics Achievement Test (MAT) was used as the primary instrument for the study. Data was collected throughout the 8-week study with a pretest, an exit ticket at the end of the class, and a posttest. The researcher used a one-way Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) and observed a significant difference between the test scores of the control group and the experimental group. Recommendations for future research included conducting research with a larger, more diverse group of students, and conducting the research using other methods of instruction involving prerequisite skills.
