Evidence-Based Interventions in High-Need Schools: An Interdisciplinary Program to Prepare Special Education Faculty

Evidence-Based Interventions in High-Need Schools: An Interdisciplinary Program to Prepare Special Education Faculty Evidence-Based Interventions in High-Need Schools: An Interdisciplinary Program to Prepare Special Education Faculty Abstract This project will prepare five special education doctoral students to become leaders in the fields of learning disabilities (LD) and emotional/behavioral disorders (E/BD) through their research, teaching, and service. The focus of this program will be on preparing future scholars to address the development, scaling up, and sustainability of evidence based interventions (EBIs) in highneed, culturally diverse schools with the explicit aim of improving the outcomes of students with disabilities. The purpose of this leadership program, therefore, is to prepare national leaders who can (a) increase the amount and quality of EBI research for students with LD and E/BD in highneed, culturally diverse schools, (b) use quantitative, qualitative and mixed research methods to address critical issues in learning, development, and behavior, (c) use interdisciplinary theories and research findings on the cultural nature of student and professional learning in the design of EBIs, and (d) provide educational leadership in personnel preparation for a culturally diverse student population. The proposed leadership program responds to leaders preparation needs for addressing complex demands in high need, culturally diverse schools, which are facing the convergence of multiple policy requirements. The program will prepare students to conduct research, teach, and engage in service activities with a deep understanding of the design, use, and evaluation of EBIs for students with LD and E/BD in high-need, culturally diverse schools. Equally important, the program will prepare graduates to understand, study, and promote teacher learning of EBIs in high-need, culturally diverse schools. Students will enroll full time, receive intensive mentoring from participating ASU special education faculty and targeted national faculty, and follow an interdisciplinary sequence of courses and apprenticeship activities with nationally renowned scholars in the target areas of the project to graduate in a timely fashion. The program will offer key courses taught by core program faculty. The program faculty will also meet regularly with students in the context of research groups to offer formative feedback and mentoring as they develop competencies and attain milestones aligned with the work they will do as university faculty in the areas of research, teaching, and service. Ongoing sponsored projects at ASU (e.g., Learning Sciences Institute, Project RISE) and project partners (e.g. National Institute for Learning Disabilities, Civil Rights Project) will be tapped to provide additional mentoring opportunities and authentic collaborative experiences to all program participants. The five graduates of the project will become faculty members who can (1) understand the shifting demographic, sociocultural, and contextual characteristics of the U.S. educational system, (2) design and implement research on high quality EBIs and how these and other existing EBIs can be scaled up and sustained for students with LD and E/BD, and (3) disseminating this knowledge to future special educators and school professionals.