Dec. 15, 1998
Contact: Ida Lee Wootten
(804) 924-6857
							

NEW GRANT FOSTERS JOINT EFFORTS BETWEEN U.VA. AND HISTORICALLY BLACK
INSTITUTIONS TO PROMOTE UNDERSTANDING OF MULTICULTURAL ISSUES IN SPECIAL
EDUCATION

	The University of Virginia's Curry School of Education has
received a federal grant to help meet a national shortage of teachers
and administrators knowledgeable about minority issues in special
education.
	The U.S. Department of Education has awarded the Curry School
$674,542 to create a Multicultural Special Education Leadership Training
Project.  The grant will allow U.Va. doctoral students to gain an
unusual understanding of ethnic and cultural issues in special education
through academic work with both U.Va. faculty and those at historically
black universities in the region.
	Throughout the United States few minority students are pursuing
doctorate degrees in education, national data shows, and the U.S. is
facing a shortage of leaders knowledgeable about multicultural issues in
special education.
	"Remedial special education services are provided
disproportionately to youths of color.  At the same time, gifted
programs are provided to a disproportionately high number of white
children.  It is critical that universities graduate future teachers and
administrators who are knowledgeable about the cultural and educational
ramifications of such findings and work to address them," said education
professor James Kauffman, who is project director and co-principal
investigator.
	The three-year grant, which was awarded this fall, will allow
U.Va. faculty to develop courses, symposia and internships that focus on
minority issues in special education with faculty at historically black
colleges and universities such as Virginia Union University, Hampton
University, Norfolk State University, and North Carolina Agricultural
and Technical State University.   
	Visiting faculty from some of these schools will teach at least
one seminar session at U.Va. each semester, and Curry faculty will be
occasional guest instructors at the participating universities.  In
addition, each of the participating institutions, including U.Va., will
hold colloquia devising specific procedures for multicultural special
education. 
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	In their final year of doctoral study students in the training
project will serve as interns and teach courses at one of the
historically black universities.  Faculty from the historically black
institutions will be invited to serve on the students' doctoral
committees.
	"A feature that appealed to the people reviewing our grant
proposal was the exchange of work between U.Va. and the historically
black institutions," Kauffman said.
	Faculty and students will also work closely with U.Va.'s Center
of Minority Research in Special Education and the University of New
Mexico's New Alliance Project, a program that promotes educational
services for minorities.
	The grant will support six students pursuing doctorate degrees.
Students selected for the training must, in addition to meeting normal
admission requirements, demonstrate a strong interest in multicultural
issues in teacher education, Kauffman said.  
	To date four students have been selected and have begun their
first year of study.
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	For more information, contact James Kauffman at (804) 924-0763
or jmk9t@virginia.edu Television reporters should contact the TV News
Office at (804) 924-7550.