Support Access to General Education(SAGE)

Abstract:

Across the country, state and local education agencies are struggling to meet accountability expectations for all students, including those with identified disabilities. While educators can and must be focused on developing programs of high quality instruction for students with disabilities that are anchored to the general education curriculum(Hock, 2000), many teachers feel unequipped to provide instruction that meets the needs of students with high incidence disabilities in the general education classroom.

This proposal seeks funding to develop and implement a cross-university graduate level specialization for both general and special educators. The project is designed to utilize distance learning modalities to provide statewide access to this program. The specialization will focus on the skills necessary to Support Access to General Education for students with disabilities(i.e., Project SAGE) within the context of standards-based reform. These courses will constitute an area of specialization within a Master's program at either the University of Montana or Montana State University-Billings. Courses have been designed to introduce and then structure the utilization of research-based solutions to the needs of special and general educators to support students with disabilities in general education classrooms. In awarding tuition support dollars for these courses, preference will be given to teams of general and special educators from the same school who complete the entire sequence of courses together.

Contact Info:

Gail McGregor
Project Director
mcgregor@ruralinstitute.umt.edu
406-243-5305