UF Inclusion Grant Named Top Federal Funding Priority

Decades of research have shown that children with severe disabilities benefit by interacting with their non-disabled peers, yet most severely disabled students remain isolated in classrooms that serve only students with severe disabilities, according to University of Florida special education researchers.

UF’s Project RISE (Research in Inclusion and Systems Change in Special Education) hopes to change that. Conceived by faculty at the College of Education, RISE is an effort to prepare new leaders in the field who can conduct research on instructional methods, provide support to practicing teachers who want to provide more effective services, and ultimately facilitate systemic change in schools to get better results for all students, including students with severe disabilities. With schools nationwide facing a shortage of qualified special education instructors, and many leadership roles remaining unfilled, the project ranked No. 1 on the U.S. Department of Education’s list of funded projects for leadership training this year.

UF doctoral students Ann-Marie Orlando, Jennifer Montgomery and Jill Storch, along with post-doctoral student David Hoppey, are working with Associate Professor Diane Ryndak on the project. They are involved in three aspects of leadership training. The first aspect of Project RISE involves conducting research on the most effective services for students
with severe disabilities, within settings where they have access to classmates who do not have disabilities.

“If only six students with disabilities are in a classroom, who do they get to share things with? By putting them in a classroom with classmates who do not have disabilities, the students interact and communicate more,” Ryndak said. “They have more opportunities to demonstrate that they understand what is going on in the class and chances to demonstrate their knowledge with classmates.”

The second aspect of leadership addressed in Project RISE is helping current and future teachers develop the expertise required to implement effective services in inclusive settings. The third aspect of leadership is engaging in systemic reform efforts with districts and schools that want to implement inclusive services more effectively.