School-Age Services Projects & Centers
The School-Age Program Area emphasizes activities that enhance the full inclusion and support of children with disabilities in our educational systems, social environments, and communities. Activities include training for professionals and paraprofessionals in the education and health care arenas, applied research and technical assistance on policy and practice, and creation of information resources for school personnel, policymakers, other community professionals serving children, youth, and families. Particular areas of focus include standards-based reform in education in relation to students with disabilities, dropout prevention, and cross-cultural educational services and programs.
Affiliated Centers
National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO) provides national leadership in the participation
of students with disabilities in district, state, and
national assessments; standards-setting efforts; and
graduation requirements. It conducts research, provides
technical assistance, networks funded assessment research
projects, and publishes over 250 reports and other publications on a range of topics related to educational outcomes of students with disabilities. Funded by the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, Office of Special Education Programs, U.S. Department of Education. Contact: Martha Thurlow, 612-624-4826, thurl001@umn.edu.
North Central Regional Resource Center (NCRRC) provides technical assistance and dissemination support to State Departments of Education in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin as they seek to sustain systems change efforts that improve educational results and accountability for children and youth with disabilities and their families. Activities include providing technical assistance to States in Part B policy improvement and implementation, supporting States in the development and evaluation of high quality State Performance Plans and State improvement planning efforts as well as providing assistance in Web-based professional development training and reporting and information/research services. An example of how NCRRC supports its States in their improvement planning efforts is by providing training on an improvement planning process -- Thinking Through Improvement. Thinking Through Improvement teaches a process that will allow participants to develop skills for analyzing and using data to make good decisions and improvements to existing programs. This training is available to all States and local education agencies as well as other agencies interested in improvement planning. Funded by the Office of Special Education Programs, U.S. Department of Education. Contact: Maureen Hawes, 612-624-1144, hawes001@umn.edu.
Partnership
for Accessible Reading Assessment (PARA) engages in research on and development of accessible reading
assessments that provide a valid demonstration of reading proficiency for
increasingly diverse populations of students in our public schools, and particularly
for those students who have disabilities that affect reading. Operated
by a consortium consisting of the Institute's National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO);
the University of Minnesota Department of Curriculum and Instruction; the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing
(CRESST); the University of California, Davis; and Westat. Funded by the National Center for Special Education Research. Contact: Martha Thurlow, 612-624-4826, thurl001@umn.edu.
Research Institute on Progress Monitoring (RIPM) engages in development of a seamless and flexible system of
student progress monitoring to be used in K-12 schools
across ages, abilities, and curricula. The system that
results from RIPM's research will be used
to evaluate the effects of individualized instruction
on access to and progress in the general education
curriculum for students with disabilities,
resulting in improved instructional decision-making and
more successful instructional programs in general education
for students with disabilities. Funded by the Office
of Special Education Programs, U.S.
Department of Education. Contact:
Teri Wallace, 612-626-7220,
ripm@umn.edu.
Current Projects
Bubel/Aiken K-12 Inclusive Service Learning Program develops a sustainable, long-term inclusive service learning program that brings together K-12 students with a wide range of abilities to participate in service learning and bridge the gap between young people with and without disabilities and the world around them. Funded by the Bubel/Aiken Foundation, and the Office of Special Education Programs, U.S. Department of Education. Contact: Brian Abery, 612-625-5592, abery001@umn.edu.
CCSSO Accommodations Monitoring Project develops materials, based on current best practices in states, for states to use to improve the monitoring of accommodations for instruction and assessment. A project of the Institute's National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO) in collaboration with the Assessing Special Education Students (ASES) State Collaborative on Assessments and Student Standards (SCASS), a 31-state group that includes state department personnel from assessment and special education. Funded by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). Contact: Martha Thurlow, 612-624-4826, thurl001@umn.edu.
Check & Connect: Promoting Students' Engagement with School provides training in use of the Check & Connect dropout prevention model to promote students' engagement with school, reduce dropout, and increase school completion. The Check & Connect model originated from a partnership of researchers, practitioners, parents, and students led by the Institute on Community Integration, University of Minnesota. Contact: Sandra L. Christenson (Department of Educational Psychology, University of Minnesota), 612-624-0037, chris002@umn.edu.
Cost Analysis of Designing, Validating and Implementing an Alternate Assessment Based on Modified Achievement Standards (AA-MAS) identifies and quantifies costs for various AA-MAS options. A project of the Institute’s National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO). Funded by a Faculty and Staff Research Award from the College of Education and Human Development, University of Minnesota. Contact: Sheryl Lazarus, 612-625-6032, laza0019@umn.edu.
Demonstrating Progress Monitoring for Early Identification, Accountability and Success develops, implements, and evaluates a response to intervention model to measure children’s progress toward school-readiness and academic goals in a seamless manner from preschool through elementary years for students in both special and regular education. A collaborative effort with the Minneapolis Public Schools. Funded by the Office of Special Education Programs, U.S. Department of Education. Contact: Teri Wallace, 612-626-7220, walla001@umn.edu.
Developmental Disabilities Rotation for Pediatricians coordinates several components of the developmental disabilities rotation required of all pediatric residents in the University of Minnesota Medical School, acquainting them with the design and implementation of community services for persons with disabilities. A collaboration with the Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare. Funded by the Administration on Developmental Disabilities, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Contacts: Beth Fondell, 612-624-6830, fond0030@umn.edu; Amy Hewitt, 612-625-1098, hewit005@umn.edu.
Global Resource Center for Inclusive Education assists national education agencies and non-governmental organizations around the world in the systemic improvement of education programs, practices, and policies that impact children, youth, and adults with disabilities and their families in all economic development circumstances. Contact: Christopher Johnstone, 612-626-1936, john4810@umn.edu.
Intersecting Cultures: Where Anishinaabe Arts Overlap with Standards-Based Curriculum develops a model for embedding American Indian culture and art into K-8 standards-based arts education, language arts, math, and science curricula in two Minnesota school districts. The goal is to improve American Indian student academic performance and create a learning environment in which American Indian and non-Indian students gain basic skills within two cultures. A collaborative project with Independent School District 94 in Cloquet, Minnesota; Fond du Lac Ojibwe School on the Fond du Lac Reservation in Minnesota; and the University's Department of Curriculum and Instruction Art Education program. Funded by the Office of Innovation and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education. Contact: Jean Ness, 612-625-5322, nessx008@umn.edu. See more about Project Intersect on the Expanding the Circle Web site.
Minnesota Paraprofessional Training Project coordinates statewide training and technical assistance for the Minnesota Paraprofessional Consortium of state agency representatives, educators, paraprofessionals, parents, and others. The goal is to build a system that prepares the paraprofessional workforce to better contribute as team members in education. Funded by the Minnesota Department of Education. Contact: Teri Wallace, 612-626-7220, walla001@umn.edu.
Multi-State GSEG Consortium Towards a Defensible Alternate Assessment Based on Modified Achievement Standards (AA-MAS) explores (a) how student data gathered by states can be used to improve student assessment and instruction for students with disabilities, (b) the intended and unintended consequences of various assessment options for students with disabilities, and (c) how the instruction and assessments of students who may qualify for an AA-MAS may need to be changed to ensure that there are high expectations for learning and that the students will have the opportunity to demonstrate what they know. A project of the Institute’s National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO) in collaboration with the Departments of Education in five states (Alabama, Hawaii, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Wisconsin). Funded by the Office of Special Education Programs, U.S. Department of Education. Contact: Sheryl Lazarus, 612-625-6032, laza0019@umn.edu.
National Alternate Assessment Center brings together and builds on the current research base on high quality, technically sound alternate assessments based on alternate achievement standards and alternate assessments based on grade-level achievement standards. Additionally, it provides technical assistance to states as they endeavor to design or redesign their alternate assessments, and demonstrates through the center's partnerships with states high quality design and administration of alternate assessments. Based at the University of Kentucky, it operates in collaboration with the Institute on Community Integration's National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO); the University of North Carolina, Charlotte; CAST; and state partners Connecticut, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Funded by the Office of Special Education Programs, U.S. Department of Education. Contact: Martha Thurlow, 612-624-4826, thurl001@umn.edu.
National Study of Alternate Assessments describes the status of the development and implementation of alternate assessments that are based on alternate achievement standards for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. A project of the Institute’s National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO) in partnership with SRI and with Policy Studies Associates. Funded by the National Center for Special Education Research in the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Contact: Rachel Quenemoen, 612-624-9340, quene003@umn.edu.
National Technical Assistance Center on Assessment for Children with Disabilities conducts information gathering and needs assessments, provides technical assistance, and engages in dissemination to improve results for students with disabilities by increasing their participation rates in high-quality assessment and accountability systems, improving the quality of assessments in which they participate, improving the capacity of states to meet data collection requirements, and strengthening accountability for results. Funded by the Office of Special Education Programs, U.S. Department of Education. Contacts: Martha Thurlow, 612-624-4826, thurl001@umn.edu; Rachel Quenemoen, 612-624-9340, quene003@umn.edu.
A State Consortium to Examine the Consequential Validity of Alternate Assessments Based on Alternate Achievement Standards (AA-AAS), conducts a nine-year longitudinal study to ascertain the consequential evidence of the AA-AAS used within the states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. The goal of this project is to collect and analyze data to investigate, ascertain, and inform States of the consequential evidence characteristics of their AA-AAS. Consortium members are the Institute's North Central Regional Resource Center (NCRRC) and the States of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Funded by the Office of Special Education Programs, U.S. Department of Education. Contacts: Brian Abery, 612-625-5592, abery001@umn.edu; Erin Faasuamalie, 612-624-1145, jannx004@umn.edu.
Technology Assisted Reading Assessment (TARA) focuses on a program of research and development to improve reading assessments for students with visual impairments or blindness, examining the properties of existing assessments for these students and developing an assessment of reading with a particular focus on independent technology assisted reading. A project of the Institute's National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO) and the Educational Testing Service, with support from the Center for Applied Special Technology. Funded by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Contact: Martha Thurlow, 612-624-4826, thurl001@umn.edu.
Project Archive
The projects in the archive have ended, but their Web sites continue to provide access to data, resources, and other information from their work.