WOX Grant Application Form for 2015
01/01/15
Please use this template for submission of your grant. Insert your cursor into the text box provided under each section and begin typing. The box will expand and there is no character limit.
The completed WOX Grant Application must be emailed to and a paper copy with appropriate signatures mailed to Margie Simon, Alumni Building ML 5430 by 5 p.m. March 1, 2015.
NOTE: Proposal assistance is available through the Office of Grant Services. Please contact Shari Howell at 513-745-1904 or email at .
PROPOSAL FOR WOX GRANTInclude the following info in the following order:
Title of Proposed Project:
IEPs through IPE: Innovations in Population Health
Name of Each Applicant and Their Associated Position:
Kathy Winterman, EdD Associate Professor Secondary and Special Education Department
ALL appropriate signatures as outlined in the Guidelines for the WOX Grant Awards document.
For each approval needed, please type the person’s name, title, email address, and then have them physically sign it.
Dr. Mike Flick, Department Chair Secondary and Special Education
Sr. Nancy Linenkugel, Interim Dean College of Social Sciences, Health, and Education
ABSTRACT
Summarize your proposal request as indicated below:
Title of the Proposed Project:
IEPs through IPE: Innovations in Population Health
The project will develop interprofessional training seminarsfor educators, related service personnel (nurses, occupational therapists, social workers, counselors, and psychologists), and parents to improve collaboration and problem-solving in writing meaningful and compliant Individual Education Plans (IEPs) from ideation, implementation through progress monitoring. As a potential Interprofessional Education (IPE) passport activity, team members (students) will establish an alliance with the ultimate goal of creating compliant and meaningful IEP documents which will be utilized in designing instruction for individuals with special needs. This training provides value for Xavier’s students and community parents to learn critical skills needed to be active team members in the development of IEPs, learning their role within the IEP meeting, and to learn how to work as a collaborative team member for the betterment of the child. The foci will support the population health improved quality of life for the students served by IEP team members.
IEPs through IPE will assist students in learning the components of an IEP through the unique perspective of an interprofessional framework. Students in social sciences fields (education, special education, nurses, occupational therapists, counselors, social workers, and psychologists) are taught components of an IEP; yet, they do not have an opportunity to participate in a true IEP meeting which is a collaborative event in which the child’s entire team engages in the development of the document which guides and determines the services necessary to meet the child’s unique needs.
Beyond exploring the components of an IEP, the team will learn through developing IEPs and then determining educational and therapeutic strategies to support the learners. As stated in IDEA (2004) and No Child Left Behind (NCLB, 2001), all team members are held accountable for the IEPs’ implementation and progress monitoring. This will support students’ professional knowledge and practice given guidance from current practitioners.
This project is an extension of the IPE collaborative course (NURS779/ EDSP 203/503) where students will have an opportunity to work as skilled practitioners representing their field of training with parents from the community which will provide a service to the community. This project is needed to impact change the educational field to develop authentic activities which empower our Xavier students to be leaders in the field by changing the educational outcomes of students with disabilities. To support ongoing instruction of students, these trainings will be videotaped and utilized in subsequent semesters to educate Xavier students.
BUDGET
What is the amount of funding requested?
Provide a detailed budget with justification/need for each itemized expense.
Project Expenses
- Training Expenses
Update: Five training dates took place in which 45 students in the fall and 15 students in the spring participated. We also had 6 parents in the fall participate and 2 parents in the spring attended.
The funds were used to purchase training materials as well as provide snacks for participants. We were under budget because I was able to find a less expensive location to have the workshops (Cohen 187a). In doing this, less expensive technological support was able to be provided.
- Student Worker
Update: Our student worker did not work out as planned. Following the winter break, she continued to state that she would complete work but she did not. This resulted in her being relieved of her duties and the posting and rehiring time is extremely lengthy. We did get a second student but lost some of our momentum in the process.
- Module Development
($600.00 for 40 hours of student videotaping)
($1400.00 for 40 hours of editing and graphing support)
Update: The five training dates were videotaped and edited to develop training modules which were then utilized in the spring session.
- Parent Stipends
(1,000.00 10 parents to receive $100.00 gift card each)
Update: Gift cards were purchased and given to 6 parent participants. Receipts for the final 2 are coming.
- Dissemination of Results
Update: The submission date for the Lilly Conference is June 21 and the conference is November, 2016. These receipts are still coming.
NARRATIVE
- How does this proposed project enhance the mission and purpose of Women of Excellence?
This project directly enhances the mission of the Women of Excellence by educating Xavier students to be women and men for others. Students will be provided an authentic experience to practice skills needed to be leaders within their respective fields while providing a service to community parents of children with special needs. Students in the fields of education, nursing, occupational therapy, social work, and counseling all interact with individuals with disabilities. The IEPs through IPE will aide in building collaborative teaming skills which will be a lifelong benefit to the participants. Future semesters of students will benefit as well through the development of training modules which supports of WOX mission of sustainability of its efforts to pass it forward.
Update: This project enhanced the mission of the Women of Excellence by educating Xavier students while providing a service to the community and having a positive impact on the population health of Greater Cincinnati. Sixty students from a variety of professional fields were trained as were eight parents who will serve as a resource to other parents.
- How will this project further the mission of Xavier University to “engage and form students intellectually, morally and spiritually, with rigor and compassion, toward lives of solidarity, service and success?”
The IEPs through IPE: innovation in Population Health project specifically furthers the University’s mission of engaging and forming students intellectually, morally, and spiritually, with rigor and compassion, towards lives of solidarity, service, and success. Students will be trained along with parents to be collaborative team members in developing educational plans for children with disabilities. Xavier students will become leaders in their respective fields due to their unique collaborative interprofessional training which will offer them a perspective of how multiple disciplines interface.
Update: Students’ comments demonstrate their better understanding of being men and women for and with others.
- How has your thinking about collaboration changed?
-Not just “checking in” but communicating & working together
-Harder than I thought
-Collaboration is very important. So many parts and pieces
-It is not a benefit it is a must. Without collaboration, it is very easy to miss big components that need to be addressed.
-It takes a lot more work to have effective collaboration in order to actually put ideas in to action. It is important too.
-It is harder than I original thought. The process of working together involves many pieces. The part of the parents is very important and they tend to be emotional.
-We collaborated together with everyone because we all have different views
-Getting medical sides, parent sides, and education perspectives has opened our eyes to different views and understanding.
-Many medical majors have experienced patients with special needs and enjoyed seeing what they go through in other portions of their lives
-Different professions have so many different roles, so you can’t assume what collaboration is going to look like
-I am learning a lot about education and the school system. I enjoyed learning from other disciplines. When I can listen and engage with a discussion I can remember important points better.
-My thinking about collaboration has changed because I realized how important it is for people of different subject/ areas of study to work together.
-I have learned that working with a group to collaborate efforts in order to create an IEP is much more successful than working as an individual. Each person of our group brought something different to the table and opened my eyes to questions I hadn’t thought to ask.
-Collaboration is key to the success for many of these students. It is imperative, not only because each student is different, but that each one will have needs not the same as another, even if the diagnosis is the same.
-Collaboration involves getting into group discussions to share ideas, opinions and giving feedback to one another in a group. This has changed my thinking because I have never thought that someone like me coming from a different profession would be able to contribute and share my ideas to something that is completely different to what I do at work.
-I was unaware of the large number of people involved in working with students and developing IEP’s. (intervention specialist, teacher, parent, school psychiatrist)
-It has changed by verifying that I do collaborate and other from different areas and am comfortable with it. I can learn much by listening.
-It’s not always a matter of profession, people speak up/ take leadership role as they have relevant personal experience. Professional. Etc.
-Collaboration doesn’t have to be expertise cantered—everyone can have valuable input in all areas—more based on unique individual personalities/ experiences than specific thing they are educated in
-Collaboration is vital in any situation to accomplish the best possible outcomes.
- How has your thinking about meeting the needs of students evolved?
-Need of parents too
-First must understand the needs. Huge task.
-Family input is extremely important and needs to be considered.
-I think it is important to understand parent’s needs in order to meet student’s needs.
-I realized there are always more details and concern of the parents and the need must be addressed. These must be addressed carefully
-With regard to students, I didn’t realize how many needs to be address in the school setting. A typical day at school involves so many skills that I took for granted. I’ve seen how a student with one area of deficit/ difficulty can then have issues in numerous areas.
-I feel like it is very important to meet the needs of the student it make me wish that I knew these things when my son was in school. I think it would have helped make his education journey a lot easier for him.
-Meeting the needs of students has always been very important to me. This class has not changed that, but it helped me understand how to meet the needs of students in different situations.
-I am shocked to see the data on how many children on IEP’s fall behind or through the cracks completely. We have a long way to go to educate those involved in those children’s lives to make sure they receive the services they deserve
-It was eye opening how much goes into planning for the needs of these children with special needs. The detail and collaboration, not only between teachers and parents, but the OT/PT, psychologist and medical team. Very interesting to see how each role improves the outcome.
-Involving the parents, is very important and helpful because parents usually have pre-set ideas on what they want to accomplish. Plus they know their child very well.
-I have learned how much can be incorporated into IEP’s. It doesn’t have to be exclusively goals that relate to academic subjects/ progress. Behavioral and motor skills, and emotional goals can also be beneficial.
-Meeting the education needs of children is very similar to meeting the physical needs of patients. Different backgrounds can look at needs differently and bring in different focus.
-Meeting needs of students is a team effort. Multiple teachers, spec/ gen, activities leaders, family, peers, student
-I’ve learned a lot- there are so many factors to consider- sometimes- or a lot of the time the solution can be creative and simple
-Yes the IEP is very complex and the book helped me understand the general concept/ usefulness of this plan. The class/ collaboration helped me open my mind to additional opportunities that could be initiated into the plan to help the student succeed.
3.Why is this project important? Does it address a gap within existing University programs?
Ineffective IEPs result in students with disabilities who do not meet their potential and live lives that are met with unfulfilled potential. Results of the Adequate Yearly Progress data clearly indicates that students with disabilities are not making progress toward state standards as mandated by NCLB and IDEA 2004 (Winterman & Rosas, 2012). These students’ passage rates in reading and math assessments are less than 60%. This lack of progress suggests that these students are not receiving equal access to the general education curriculum. To address the need, professional development that addresses critical elements of the curriculum and collaborative practices is necessary if students with disabilities are to receive equal opportunities to meet educational standards. This change in mindset offers a means for challenging the current practices and provide for a truly just education for all students. Students’ educational success determines their ultimate health and life success. Xavier University students will become leaders in collaborative teaming to develop more effective educational plans for students with disabilities. Currently, university students do not have an opportunity to work together with families to demonstrate and practice these skills.
Update: Students will be practicing professionals from a variety of fields. Learning how to communicate with different professionals and families is a lifelong skill that will improve the outcomes for the children and families they serve.
4.What is the expected outcome of your project? How many people (faculty, staff, students) will be engaged in your project?
The target population for this study is a total of 50 students representing five disciplines (education, nursing, occupational therapy, social work, and counseling). In addition, ten parents will be recruited to participate in the trainings to create an atmosphere that most simulates an educational team. The training will take place over one academic school year. The training will include four seminars and offers overview training with additional sessions of guided practice and specific reference to meeting the unique educational needs of children with special needs. Interprofessional teams will learn how to collaborate to write relevant and compliant IEPs that will then be used as a roadmap in designing instruction to meet the needs of students with disabilities. By designing instruction to meet the needs of students with disabilities, opportunities to access the general education curriculum in meaningful fashion will lead to improved students’ success and academic achievement in all content areas.
These focused research questions will guide this study: (1) Will providing training on writing IEPs increase students’ confidence in advocating for the children they serve? (2) Will the training increase collaboration among team members? (3) Will an IEP rubric increase the development of compliant IEP documents? (4) Following the training, do students feel more empowered to participate as an active IEP team member? and (5) Will students demonstrate effective means for evaluating students’ progress.
Update: Following the training, both parents and professionals expressed increased confidence in their ability to advocate and design IEP goals and objectives to meet children’s needs.
5.How will you measure the success of your project, if funded? What are the qualitative and quantitative measures that you will use to assess impact and effectiveness?
How will you define and evaluate the success of this project?
Success will be determined by participants’ pre and post surveys, the evidence in the development of IEPs, and progress monitoring reports submitted by educational teams following the trainings. Teams will complete evaluative documents to determine IDEA and NCLB compliance. Within the training, students will be trained on utilizing an IEP Rubric and IEP progress monitoring document. Students’ effective use of these documents will provide students with a framework for developing, evaluating, and monitoring IEPs for the future of their careers. Success will include training IEP team members including parent participants to be collaborative team members.
Update: See the comments posted above.
6.If your project is funded, how will the WOX Giving Circle be recognized as having played a role in the success/completion of your project? Give specific examples.
Recognition of the WOX Giving Circle
The WOX Giving Circle will be acknowledged in all promotional flyers and training handouts as well as in all presentations and publications that result from this endeavor. In addition, the Women of Excellence will be acknowledged on the training modules that will be used by students in subsequent courses and semesters.
Update: The Women of Excellence were recognized on all materials and ongoing in the modules.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION