[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-590335-105":59,"doc-detail-590335-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","the-missing-middle-general-and-special-educators-views-of-effective-mathematics-instruction","The Missing Middle? General and Special Educators’ Views of Effective Mathematics Instruction","","General educators often lack adequate training to support students with disabilities (SWDs), and a key driver may be the long-standing divide between special and general education researchers, especially in mathematics. An interview study with 22 general and special educators examines goals for mathematics education, revealing strong within-group themes yet meaningful distinctions between groups. The findings identify overlap that can support “bridge building,” concluding with implications for research and teaching practice.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/the-missing-middle-general-and-special-educators-views-of-effective-mathematics-instruction/590335/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/the-missing-middle-general-and-special-educators-views-of-effective-mathematics-instruction/590335.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Pentious","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-04","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":34},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"Why do general educators often struggle to support students with disabilities in mathematics?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"The text argues that general educators are frequently undertrained for SWDs and that an important contributing factor is the separation between special and general education research communities, which limits cross-field transfer of evidence-based strategies.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"What study method is used to explore educators’ views of mathematics instruction?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"The paper uses an interview study with 22 general and special education researchers who were sampled to represent prominent perspectives in each community.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What does the research find about areas of agreement and disagreement?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"It reports considerable heterogeneity within groups, clear shared themes, and distinct differences between groups. It also identifies multiple intersections that create opportunities for bridging perspectives.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},590335,1792208897,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":34,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145,"preview_page_count":4},1374404730887,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_6f874abed73319feea01a86fa6f0fab8","AERA Open  \nJanuary-December 2025, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 1–14 DOI: 10. 1177/23328584251344901  \nArticle reuse guidelines: [sagepub.com/journals-permissions](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[ ](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)© The Author(s) 2025. [https://journals.sagepub.com/home/ero](https://journals.sagepub.com/home/ero)  \nThe Missing Middle? General and Special Educators’Views of Effective Mathematics Instruction  \nJulie Cohen  \nUniversity of Virginia  \nNathan Jones  \nBoston University  \nLynsey Gibbons  \nUniversity of Delaware  \nGeneral educators rarely receive adequate training for supporting students with disabilities (SWDs). We suggest a key contributing factor is the longstanding gap between special and general education researchers, which is especially pronounced in mathematics. Researchers from these fields work in isolation from one another, the result of what sociologists term “epistemic bunkers.” These cross-field divisions have pragmatic consequences. Well-established teaching strategies known to support SWDs are untouched in general teacher education. At the same time, prospective special educators lack exposure to many key instructional principles from mathematics education. In this interview study, 22 general and special education researchers describe their goals for mathematics education. Our data suggest considerable within-group heterogeneity, but also clear within-group themes and between-group distinctions. There were numerous points of intersection between special and general educators’perspectives on mathematics teaching and learning, providing clear opportunities for bridge building. We conclude with implications for research and practice.  \nKeywords: mathematics education, special education, teacher education/development, in-depth interviewing, qualitative research  \nThirTy years following the “Math Wars,” one might question whether our country is anywhere closer to resolving the deep, underlying disagreements that divide researchers in education. Vestiges of the old debates about “reform-oriented” and “traditional” mathematics still show up in disagreements between mathematics educators in special education and general education (Schwartz, 2023) . Just recently, we have seen the National Council on Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) release position statements making claims about the appropriate order of mathematics teaching, noting that “conceptual understanding must precede and coincide with instruction on procedure”(NCTM, 2023, Declaration 1) . At the same time, a group of special educators have advocated for a new Science of Math, focused largely on “dispelling myths” in mathematics teaching, including this very claim and others espoused by NCTM in their position statements (The Science of Math, n.d.) . Education Week recently surveyed a nationally representative sample of mathematics teacher educators and found  \n“widespread division in the field,” noting specific differences between general and special educators in terms of the role of explicit instruction and fact fluency (Schwartz, 2023) . These divisions then translate into incoherent messages to teachers about how to teach mathematics effectively and the ways in which “effective instruction” might vary based on the particulars of the instructional goals and the students with whom one is working.  \nIn this paper, we suggest that these longstanding disagreements are the pernicious effects of what sociologists have referred to as “epistemic bunkers”(Furman, 2023) or“epistemic echo chambers” that divide the general and special education researchers who focus on mathematics teaching and learning (C. T. Nguyen, 2020) . Put simply, the fields of mathematics education and special education have, overtime, come to filter out sources of evidence or new knowledge from the other community. Efforts to promote agreement around key features of “high-quality” mathematics instruction, such as the National Mathematics Advisory  \nCreative Commons Non Commercial C","cbCaiqXZUIhcnZx9","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiqXZUIhcnZx9","pdf",508578,14,"English","# Introduction\n## Persistent disagreements in mathematics education\n# Epistemic bunkers and division between fields\n## Consequences for teaching messages\n# Interview study design and findings\n## Within-group themes and between-group distinctions\n# Implications for research and practice","[{\"question\":\"Why do general educators often struggle to support students with disabilities in mathematics?\",\"answer\":\"The text argues that general educators are frequently undertrained for SWDs and that an important contributing factor is the separation between special and general education research communities, which limits cross-field transfer of evidence-based strategies.\"},{\"question\":\"What study method is used to explore educators’ views of mathematics instruction?\",\"answer\":\"The paper uses an interview study with 22 general and special education researchers who were sampled to represent prominent perspectives in each community.\"},{\"question\":\"What does the research find about areas of agreement and disagreement?\",\"answer\":\"It reports considerable heterogeneity within groups, clear shared themes, and distinct differences between groups. It also identifies multiple intersections that create opportunities for bridging perspectives.\"}]","The Missing Middle? General and Special Educators’ Views of Effective Mathematics Instruction | PDF",1792069368,35]