The Iowa Exceptional Teacher Project
Frank W. Kohler and Amy Staples
Funded by the U.S. Department of Education
The goal of this five year grant is to improve the quality of the K–12 special education program at the University of Northern Iowa (UNI) to ensure that graduates are able to meet the HQT requirements of IDEA and prepared to serve children with high incidence disabilities. The project will involve ongoing collaboration between faculty in the College of Education at UNI, a nationally recognized consultant from the University of Milwaukee-Wisconsin, teachers and administers from numerous school districts in Iowa, and representatives from Iowa Area Educational Agencies, the State Department of Education, and the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners
This project will address two objectives that relate to areas of need within the State of Iowa and throughout the nation. A first goal is to increase the number and diversity of special education teachers who are prepared to teach students with high incidence disabilities. The accomplishment of this objective will require special education faculty at UNI to examine and modify coursework to increase the emphasis on the characteristics of children from diverse cultural and language backgrounds (including limited English proficient children), evidence-based interventions, and collaboration with parents and school and community personnel. We will also examine and modify the field-based practica that preservice teachers enroll in during their program at UNI. For example, we will identify schools that include children with diverse language and cultural backgrounds, as well as schools that are not making adequate yearly progress on the standards of No Child Left Behind. We will also increase the emphasis on preservice teachers’ use of evidence-based interventions and collaboration with other general educators and other school personnel. The second objective is to support the induction and retention of new special educators who are responsible for children with high incidence disabilities. This will require working with faculty from the Office of Student Field Experiences at UNI and representatives from the state Area Educational Agencies, State Department of Education, and multiple school districts throughout Iowa.
Project evaluations will focus on a wide variety of outcomes, including records of changes in program curriculum and field experiences, evidence of preservice teachers’ achievement and performance during their preparation program, the quality of teacher work samples completed during student teaching experiences, and portfolio and survey assessments of graduates during their first two years of teaching.