Improving Math IEP Goals Through the Phases of Learning Framework
Location
Room 3152
Start Date
27-2-2026 12:25 PM
End Date
27-2-2026 1:00 PM
First Presenter's Brief Biography
Danielle Morsching, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Special Education at Georgia Southern University. She has 15 years of K–5 teaching experience, which informs her work with future teachers and school partners. Danielle’s research focuses on mathematics instruction for students with disabilities and teacher preparation.
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Presentation Type
Concurrent Session
Panel, poster
Abstract
This session explores how the phases of learning—acquisition, fluency, maintenance, and generalization—can guide effective math instruction and high-quality IEP goal development for students with disabilities. Participants will learn to identify a student’s phase of mastery, select aligned evidence-based practices, and write measurable math goals.
Conference Strands
Content Area Math
Description
The phases of learning—acquisition, fluency, maintenance, and generalization—provide a research-aligned framework for designing instruction and writing IEP goals that accurately reflect a student’s level of mastery and guide meaningful progress. These phases, applied in special education to support instructional decision-making and individualized programming (Jimenez et al., 2024), help educators design targeted math instruction, select appropriate practice opportunities, and develop precise, measurable goals that support long-term success.
During the acquisition phase, students require explicit modeling, scaffolded practice, immediate feedback, and concrete representations to build initial accuracy and conceptual understanding. When students achieve accurate performance, instruction shifts to the fluency phase, emphasizing efficient, confident use of math skills through structured and distributed practice. Maintenance focuses on a student’s ability to retain a skill over time and perform it independently after instruction fades. Regular review cycles and cumulative practice help ensure that skills remain stable and do not regress. Generalization—the final phase—requires applying skills across new contexts, materials, and problem types.
When IEP goals and instructional approaches are aligned with a student’s phase of learning, educators can more accurately target needs and support meaningful progress. Conversely, misalignment—such as placing a student in fluency tasks when they are still in acquisition—can create frustration. This session will help participants identify a student’s phase using data, select evidence-based math practices aligned to each phase, and write high-quality, measurable math IEP goals.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Improving Math IEP Goals Through the Phases of Learning Framework
Room 3152
This session explores how the phases of learning—acquisition, fluency, maintenance, and generalization—can guide effective math instruction and high-quality IEP goal development for students with disabilities. Participants will learn to identify a student’s phase of mastery, select aligned evidence-based practices, and write measurable math goals.
