Special Ed Target of $4 Million in Federal Grants
A total of $4 million in federal funds is being awarded to institutions training the next generation of special education professionals.
The United States Department of Education has awarded 17 grants to 14 individual institutions grants ranging from $142,000 to $250,000 to "prepare graduate students for leadership positions in special education, early intervention and related services."
The grants are designed to ameliorate the impending shortfall of special ed faculty and administrators as a large number of them head toward retirement age. According to ED: "Some of these grants will help train future leaders at the doctoral and postdoctoral levels to fill faculty positions in special education, early intervention and related services. Other grants will help prepare scholars to serve as supervisors of personnel providing direct services to infants and children with disabilities."
"Our children and youth with disabilities deserve nothing less than a first-rate education," said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan in a prepared statement. "These funds will help train good leaders in our colleges who, in turn, can help lead well-prepared teachers in our schools so our students with disabilities can reach their academic potential."
Grant recipients include:
- Bowie State University in Maryland, $238,844;
- Clemson University in South Carolina, $184,015;
- Drexel University, $248,106;
- Florida State University, $249,998 and $239,282;
- Ohio State University, $232,769;
- State University of New York, University at Albany, $243,925;
- University of Florida, $250,000;
- University of Kansas Center for Research, $250,000;
- University of Massachusetts-Amherst, $225,698;
- University of Nevada, Las Vegas, $142,562;
- University of North Carolina at Charlotte, $249,998;
- University of South Florida, $247,403;
- University of Texas at Austin, $249,696; and
- Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, $250,000, $250,000 and $247,018.
Additional details can be found at the Office of Special Education Programs' portal.