Understanding Special Student Populations: Educational Impact and Strategies for Success

Assessment

Take some time now to answer the following questions. Please note that the IRIS Center does not collect your Assessment responses. If this is a course assignment, you should turn them in to your professor using whatever method he or she requires. If you have trouble answering any of the questions, go back and review the Perspectives & Resources pages in this module.

1. Schools are enrolling greater numbers of students from a range of different backgrounds, experiences, and skills.
   1. List four types of student differences that can affect school performance.
   2. Briefly describe at least three frameworks or practices that teachers can use to address the broadest range of student needs.
2. Imagine you are an eighth-grade social studies teacher whose students are learning about the voting process in the United States. Identify four ways you could incorporate students’ background knowledge, experiences, and interests into lessons.
3. Zahara, a sixth-grade student who recently moved to the United States from Kazakhstan, seems capable of expressing her needs and desires socially with her new peers and teachers. However, she struggles to understand the content presented in class and in the text.
   1. Explain why Zahara might be more successful in social situations than in academic ones.
   2. Describe at least three effective supports and strategies Zahara’s teacher might use to strengthen her learning outcomes.
4. You have just learned that you will have three students with disabilities in your classroom. List three ways you could better meet their needs.
5. Arlene is a ninth-grade student from a low-SES household. Though capable academically, she is not performing at grade level, does not complete or turn in her homework, and has difficulty staying engaged during her classes.
   1. Identify at least three challenges related to low SES that might explain why Arlene is having difficulty in school.
   2. After speaking to Arlene and confirming your suspicions, explain four ways you could help her succeed in the classroom.