Math Study Evaluates Digital Aids

Researchers in Kentucky are learning important lessons about whether students with disabilities are benefiting from a digital math textbook that speaks words and equations aloud while highlighting those elements on a computer screen. The research is one of several federally funded projects to identify ways to deliver curriculum content that are more effective than printed books or the common forms of digital textbooks.

The small group of students from two middle schools in Clark County, Ky., all had “print disabilities,” an umbrella term for a variety of physical, visual, or learning issues that interfere with the ability to read text on a printed page. Students in the study had learning disabilities, including dyslexia, attention deficit disorders, cognitive issues, or other conditions, but not visual impairment.

Findings for the first year of the study were positive, if tentative, according researchers at the University of Louisville and...