SU, partners to use grant to support doctoral students in special education

SYRACUSE — Syracuse University (SU) has secured a portion of a $7.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to support students pursuing doctoral degrees in special education.

Florida International University (FIU) and Arizona State University (ASU) are also sharing in the funding, SU said in an Oct. 30 news release.

The grant, along with matching funds, will support a total of 26 doctoral students in Project INCLUDE (INclusive Consortium of Leaders in Urban Disabilities Education) in the SU School of Education and at FIU and ASU. It will fund eight doctoral students at Syracuse, and they will research ways to address the needs of culturally diverse students with disabilities in inclusive urban settings. 

A national recruiting effort is underway to attract a group of applicants who will begin the program in the fall of 2020.

Universities and school districts face shortages of special-education faculty, particularly those who are prepared to work with “culturally and linguistically diverse” students with disabilities, the release stated. Project INCLUDE will boost the ranks of university faculty preparing future teachers for diverse and inclusive classrooms.

“Project INCLUDE will be a leader in creating the next generation of doctoral leaders in inclusive education,” Beth Ferri, professor of inclusive education and coordinator of the doctoral program in special education in the School of Education, said. “To address some of the most pressing issues facing special education, including the school-to-prison nexus and the overrepresentation of students of color in segregated classrooms, there is an urgent need for teacher educators who possess the knowledge and skills to implement culturally sustaining inclusive practices and to improve outcomes of multiple-marginalized students with disabilities in urban schools.”

Co-principal investigators on this grant project are Christy Ashby and Julia White, both associate professors from the department of teaching and leadership in the School of Education.

By recruiting a diverse cohort for the program, Project INCLUDE “will help to diversify” special-education faculty. Research has shown that diversifying the faculty increases the likelihood of success among all students, Syracuse contends.

Students accepted into one of these doctoral programs will work with researchers and their doctoral peers at all three universities. Travel funding will be provided to present joint research projects, and annual research forums will bring students from the three universities together.