The Project INSPIRE 2 staff and Advisory Board identified the following beliefs that guide our work.
- Educational team members, including teachers of students with visual impairments, paraprofessionals, general/special education teachers, and teachers of students who are deafblind bring their personal lived experiences to their work and may or may not have familiarity with the backgrounds and beliefs of their students.
- Students who are blind or have low vision are diverse in their disability identity, ethnicity, race, gender, lived experiences, and learning needs and the intersectionality of any or all of these.
- All students can learn and have a right to an accessible and equitable education including high-quality instruction, accessible instructional materials, manipulatives, technology, and learning tools that are appropriate and meaningful to them.
- Math learning is not universal as not all students learn in the same way. For example, for children who have some lived experiences there is an emphasis on shared problem solving rather than individual problem solving.
- Educators should create learning opportunities that accommodate a wide range of students at different learning levels by designing tasks or problems that offer multiple entry points. Tasks that have a low floor which are accessible for beginners and also have a high ceiling which offer continued learning for advanced learners help all students feel engaged, challenged, and successful.
- Students, families, and educators have different experiences with math learning and may display differing levels of confidence in their ability to engage and support math learning.
- Some educators may not have the skills and knowledge to support students in math learning at all levels for a variety of reasons (e.g., math concepts are now taught differently than when they learned as a child, school districts vary in the level of support they provide educators).
- Students need opportunities to build knowledge and skills with digital tools to fully engage in math learning. Educators, in turn, require the technology skills, resources, and collaboration needed to effectively support their students in using these tools for mathematical success.
- Educators and families are encouraged to partner to ensure equitable learning by creating opportunities for math learning and the transferring of skills from the classroom to the home and community.