Special Education

EDC will create professional development modules to help middle-grades teachers improve accessibility to the general mathematics curriculum for students with mild to moderate disabilities. At the center of each module will be a DVD that shows classroom footage of accessibility strategies in action. In addition to the videotape, each module will include a facilitator’s guide with professional development activities, handouts, PowerPoint slides, and other resources.

This project addressed gaps in the current state assessment system and explored the following questions: Where are the gaps in the assessment system? Who are the students affected by these gaps? What are the appropriate assessment systems for students in the gaps? After answering these questions, the project developed and piloted an assessment prototype to address the problem and meet student needs. Completed research studies are available on the project Web site. TMAS is a cross center project with EEC and FSC within EDC.

Supported Literacy for Adolescents is a research-based literacy program developed over 10 years by EDC, with funding from the U.S. Department of Education (Office of Special education Programs and Institute of Educational Sciences), Annenberg Foundation, and MetLife Foundation. Its goal is to improve reading, writing, and comprehension among both high risk and typically achieving populations. It is deeply rooted in standards-based curriculum design, and all components of the program are aligned with national reading and writing standards, as well as selected content standards.

The User-Centered Digital Library project will implement IMS/ISO Access specifications in the Teachers’ Domain online digital library to enable users (teachers and students with disabilities) to conduct searches for accessible content that is formatted to meet specific students’ needs. As part of the project, an evaluation will be conducted to both inform project activities in adapting the Teachers’ Domain digital library and to document the impact of the resources to be adapted on teachers and students with disabilities.

This project is creating two professional development courses, with both on-site and online versions to build the capacity of middle school teachers of mathematics and special educators and their administrators to enable students with disabilities to be successful mathematics learners. During the project, one eight-session course for classroom teachers and their special education colleagues and a six-session course for school administrators will be developed, tested, and disseminated.

CCT is conducting a five-year study, funded by the National Science Foundation, to investigate an online professional development course’s impact on teachers’ content and pedagogical knowledge as well as their students’ knowledge. CCT is working in partnership with PBS TeacherLine New York and the Buffalo PBS affiliate WNED on the study, which will involve New York State public high school 9th or 10th grade biology teachers whose students are eligible to take the state’s Living Environment Regents Examination.