Math achievement of BVI students lags sighted peers and the gap widens with age¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · review r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2022 · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 2 of 2 entries) · not reviewed by a person · recheck by 2027: baselines and conditions change

Subclaims¶

q2 i? BVI students fall behind in mathematics and the gap with non-disabled peers progressively widens as they get older. → Steinbach 2022 q2 i? Surveyed statistics show 75% of BVI students at least one grade behind and 20% four or more grades behind in achievement. → Steinbach 2022 (2)

Evidence¶

Steinbach 2022¶

Steinbach, S. (2022). Looking beyond vision: Supports for students who are blind or visually impaired in mathematics. NWEA. https://www.nwea.org/research/publication/looking-beyond-vision-supports-for-students-who-are-blind-or-visually-impaired-in-mathematics/

q2 · i? · review · r2

The review reports, citing Bell & Silverman (2019), Cryer et al. (2013) and Giesen et al. (2012), that BVI students are "falling behind in mathematics classes" and that the gap with non-disabled peers progressively widens with age. No effect sizes are printed.

"Students who are blind or visually impaired (BVIs) are falling behind in mathematics classes (Bell & Silverman, 2019; Cryer et al., 2013), and as they get older, the gap between them and their non-disabled peers progressively widens (Giesen et al., 2012)."

Steinbach 2022 (2)¶

Steinbach, S. (2022). Looking beyond vision: Supports for students who are blind or visually impaired in mathematics. NWEA. https://www.nwea.org/research/publication/looking-beyond-vision-supports-for-students-who-are-blind-or-visually-impaired-in-mathematics/

q2 · i? · review · r2

The review attributes to Gulley et al. (2017) the statistics that "75% of BVI students are at least one grade behind" and 20% are four or more grades behind. These are descriptive percentages, not effect sizes.

"With regard to achievement, 75% of BVI students are at least one grade behind and 20% are four or more grades behind (Gulley et al., 2017)."

Studies bearing on this claim¶

Do learners with visual or hearing impairments fall behind their peers, and does the gap close as schooling goes on? This table gathers the studies behind this claim and the 8 narrower claims that bear on it: 4 distinct studies (3 associational, 1 review), q1–q2, 0 of 4 with an effect size coded. One row per study, codes as each entry records them; no effect is averaged and no verdict is drawn. Built by scripts/synthesize_claim.py from eval/synthesis/; a row that looks wrong is fixed on the claim it comes from.

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Access — predictor: learners who differ on it differ in outcomes

Related Claims¶

• BVI students in schools with more academic supports outperform on standardized math tests — related
• Vision is not required for developing number sense and math skills in BVI learners — reports the opposite
• Black–White achievement gaps widen during the school year in both rural and nonrural schools — related
• Students with visual impairments show lower initial reading achievement in third grade than the national norm — related
• Inclusion of students with disabilities often falls short because efforts start from a place of exclusion, making students guests who must earn access — related
• Failure to transition to literacy early triggers a Matthew effect of widening reading and vocabulary gaps — related
• Students with visual impairments show accelerated reading growth between 9th and 10th grade while the nationally normed group tends to drop — related