An overriding goal of the program is to increase the achievement of all students, particularly those students receiving special education services. Results of this project will be of interest locally, statewide, and nationally, as all institutions currently share the need to increase achievement of students with disabilities and to address critical shortages in special education staffing. This partnership is an outgrowth of a long-standing Teacher Education Center partnership. It serves 25-30 members of a Masters Certification Cohort with both elementary and secondary components. Candidates are placed in three to four elementary schools, one middle school, and one to two high schools.
Interns begin their coursework in summer.
They continue coursework in the fall as they begin field placements. Field placements evolve into an extended internship with the same mentor in the spring. There is an opportunity for interns to do a short field placement in a different classroom at the conclusion of the internship. The program concludes at the end of the school year with an action research presentation. Action research is a focus of this program.