 Education majors in Thompson Hall. |
The College of Education's Rhea Simmons, Kathleen Magiera and Christine Givner have successfully obtained a $500,000 award over five years from the New York State 352T US Department of Education grants program.
The grant will aim to achieve the following goals:
- To improve and enhance the quality of the special education teacher preparation program (Grades 1-6) to ensure that graduates meet the highly qualified standard criteria in special education and general education in accordance with IDEA and New York State teacher certification requirements; with a focus on collegial collaboration and curriculum revision to integrate evidence-based interventions that improve the outcomes for children with high incidence disabilities.
- To improve the integration and embedding of special education skills and knowledge throughout the special education program within the curriculum leading to highly qualified special education teacher candidates to:
- Increase their knowledge of children with high incidence disabilities from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds including limited English proficiency children with disabilities.
- Extend field experiences and learning opportunities to incorporate evidence-based practices in meeting New York State academic achievement standards.
- Participate in field experiences in high poverty schools not making annual yearly progress under No Child Left Behind with supports from special education teacher mentoring to enhance the successful completion of their special education teacher training.
- To enhance the knowledge and skills of beginning special education teachers to collaborate and work with general education teachers, families, and other professionals (educational and community) to provide effective services and instruction of children with high incidence disabilities in general education classrooms (Grades 1-6).
- To develop an evaluation process to determine the effectiveness of the redesigned special education teacher preparation program, including enhanced field experiences.
