The George Washington University Bilingual Special Education Program
Learning through Interdisciplinary Frameworks for Teachers (LIFT)
Amy Mazur, Ed.D., Principal Investigator. Contact info:
[email protected]; 202-994-1511
History and background
Offers graduate teacher preparation at the certificate, M.A., Ed.S., and Ed.D. levels
NCATE recognition in ESOL, special education, and bilingual special education
Established in the 1980s in response to identified school system and national needs
One of only seven bilingual special education programs in the U.S.
History and background (cont’d)
Currently has over 167 enrolled students, including both grant-funded and paying students Recipient of numerous U.S. Department of Education grants (six professional development grants at present)
Established an online-learning program serving national and international students
Impetus for the LIFT project
Demographics – America’s school-aged children
There are currently 74,548,215 children living in U.S. 951,329 are Native American/Alaskan Native 2,491,422 identify 2 or more races
Demographics – America’s school-aged children (cont’d)
3,480,257 are Asian/Pacific Islander
11,280,366 are Black
16,750,075 are Hispanic
41,225,410 are White
Children’s Defense Fund, 2010
Demographics – child poverty in the United States
15.5 million, or 1 in every 5 in America, lived in poverty in 2009 – this is an increase of nearly 4 million since 2000 Almost half of all poor children (6.9 million) lived in extreme poverty (less than half the poverty rate)
Children’s Defense Fund, 2010
LIFT project goals
Infuse a cross-disciplinary set of competencies into an existing, nationally recognized teacher preparation program Institutionalize improvements within the program and share knowledge gained throughout the University Develop a cross-disciplinary framework to ensure further collaboration
LIFT project goals (cont’d)
Disseminate ideas and knowledge gained from this work to a national audience in order to facilitate similar processes at other universities Provide technical assistance to other universities seeking to adopt a similar focus
Key stakeholders/advisors
University experts in ESOL, sociology, public health, medicine, nursing, and related fields Experts from peer universities in English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) programs Collaborators from advocacy, policy and research organizations (e.g., National Association of School Psychologists, School Social Work Association, etc.)
Activities to date
Collaboration with University ACCESS Institute for ELL Students’ Success Development of survey for current and prospective students regarding professional knowledge Communication with advisory board, stakeholders, and panels of experts
Activities to date (cont’d)
Needs assessment discussions with panel of experts in teacher preparation and English learners Initial meetings and conference calls with advisory panel scheduled for summer and fall Meetings with evaluator and consultation on research design
Upcoming/pending activities
Development and deployment of survey
Continued needs assessment activities
Modification of objectives, competencies and activities in core courses Development of project website and social networking forum
Reference: Children’s Defense Fund. (2010). State of the Children Report. http://www.childrensdefense.org/childresearch-data-publications/data/state-of-americaschildren.pdf.
Questions or Comments