REED is  is a personnel preparation project funded by the U.S.Department of Education— Office of Special Education Programs. Project # H325K110157

 

There is a critical need to prepare highly qualified personnel to work with infants, toddlers and young children with disabilities and their families.  The purpose of this project is to support a newly revised undergraduate program and to develop a new graduate emphasis area. These programs will prepare responsive, early education and care providers in response to a relatively new Georgia teaching certification in birth through age 5. This program is a joint effort between the Department of Communication Sciences and Special Education at the University of Georgia, Clarke County School’s Office of Early Learning (high-need urban), and Madison County School’s preschool special education program (high-need rural).

Over the course of the five year funding cycle, a total of 47 professionals will be prepared to work with high-need infants, toddlers and young children and their families. These graduates will be eligible for Georgia’s Birth through Five and Preschool Special Education certification that is based on both DEC and NAEYC standards. Undergraduate students will earn a BSED in Special Education with an emphasis in Birth through Five, while graduate students will add the Birth through Five endorsement onto masters or EDS degrees in special education or related areas such as speech language therapy or social work. All students will be prepared and certified to take positions that primarily serve students with disabilities, eligible for Part C or Part B preschool- kindergarten services. Grant funds will support students who will commit to provide 2-4 years of teaching service to these programs.  The percent of total annual funding designated for student support is 66% for year one and does not go below the 65% total budget requirement over the 5 year funding cycle. Special recruitment efforts will target bilingual students and those who represent diverse populations.

Along with the new Birth through Five personnel preparation curriculum, this project will target the following focus areas: 1. meeting the needs of young learners and families who live in poverty including English language learners, specifically, our growing Latino population; 2. early literacy for diverse learners; 3. early social emotional development and positive behavior support, and 4. coaching.  These focus areas, grounded in evidence based practices, will be threaded throughout the curriculum along with the principle of teaming and partnering with families and other professionals.  In addition, the REED seminar series will target these focus areas.  Seminars will be open for students, university faculty, community early care teachers, providers and families.

Quality inclusive field placements with Clarke Co., Madison Co. and Babies Can’t Wait (Georgia’s Part C program) will be tied to coursework throughout the program.  These settings include children and families from high-poverty, rural and urban communities. These intensive context based experiences will be followed by an induction year as these scholars enter their first year teaching.  This will include site based mentorship, web-based community of learner support and a mini-conference to be held Spring of their induction year.