Rationale: Elementary math
While not as commonly discussed as the prevalence of reading disabilities, sizeable numbers of students with learning disabilities perform below their grade-level counterparts in mathematics. This is the case for significant numbers of Illinois students with learning disabilities, and by high school the achievement gap in mathematics between students with and without IEPs is just as large as the gap in reading scores.1 Special education teachers require the same foundation in elementary mathematics concepts as general elementary teachers.
1The 2001-2009 11th grade PSAE scores are provided by the Interactive Illinois Report Card (http://iirc.niu.edu/Default.aspx) Achievement
gaps are evident on: http://iirc.niu.edu/State.aspx?source=Test_Results&source2=Achievement_Gap
