Newswise — The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Education has won a four-year, $800,000 federal grant. The monies will support a new program that aims to raise the numbers of special education teachers who are qualified to instruct children with disabilities who have reading difficulties.
The new UAB program is Project Evidence-Based Special Education Preparation Program (ESEPP), and it is designed to train teachers on how to instruct children with mild to moderate disabilities who also have problems in reading. The goal of ESEPP is to alleviate the shortages of special education teachers particularly in schools that serve African-American and Hispanic students.
ESEPP will train 35 teachers in literacy and cultural awareness and give them the skills needed to instruct K-6 students in inclusive settings where children with and without disabilities are taught together in the same class. Teachers who complete ESEPP training will earn a master's degree in special education with an emphasis on literacy. In addition, they will receive training in leadership.The teachers who complete the training will disseminate their newly learned expertise to teachers within the greater Birmingham area as well as throughout the state and nation.
ESEPP will be administered under the guidance of UAB professor of special education Renitta Goldman, Ph.D., and Associate Professor Lou Anne Worthington, Ph.D. Goldman and Worthington teach in the UAB Department of Leadership, Special Education and Foundations.
RSS