MCPER and a team of national partners have secured a $20 million, 5-year federal award to establish a national center focused on postsecondary outcomes for deaf individuals.
The new center, which will be part of MCPER’s Deaf and Hard of Hearing Institute, will launch on January 1, 2017. Institute Director Stephanie Cawthon and Co-Investigator Carrie Lou Garberoglio will lead the initiative.
The overall goals of the center are to increase the numbers of deaf individuals who, without requiring remedial coursework, are admitted to, persist in, and complete postsecondary education or training; improve collaborations between community organizations, institutions, and state-level agencies; increase institutional capacity to implement evidence-based practices and strategies; increase knowledge on how to use technology to promote access and provide accommodations; and disseminate lessons learned.
“Ultimately, we seek to change the culture surrounding postsecondary outcomes for deaf individuals and create conditions for success in a way that recognizes and honors their experiences, perspectives, and abilities,” Garberoglio said.
Services the center will provide include professional development opportunities, intensive training, live chat support, dissemination of promising models, community engagement activities, mobilization of local resources, national task forces, state collaboratives, national data reports, and research-to-practice activities.
The grant is through the Office of Special Education Programs in the U.S. Department of Education.