Building Relationships In Diverse General Education Settings (BRIDGES): -

Building Relationships in Diverse General Education Settings (BRIDGES) is a personnel preparation program in severe disabilities that will prepare over 250 special educators over a five-year period. BRIDGES consists of 3 options: -

a) full time, on campus undergraduate and master's degree option leading to initial certification;

b) part-time, on-campus master's degree program focusing on professional development for current teachers; and

c) part-time, off-campus master's degree program for individuals working within the Chicago Public Schools.

There are four unique features to BRIDGES. First, BRIDGES will provide teacher candidates in special education and general education opportunities to collaborate with one another through seminars on diversity, web board chat rooms, and cohort-based field placements. Second, BRIDGES will be based on the recently established Illinois Professional Teaching Standards and participants' skills and knowledge will be evaluated using an innovative, performance-based assessment model. Third, due to the shortage of qualified special educators in the area of severe disabilities within the Chicago Public Schools, a special emphasis of project activities will be on preparing teachers to work in diverse, urban settings. Through close collaboration with the Chicago Public Schools, a Chicago cohort will receive our distance-based program. All on-campus students will receive externship experiences in the Chicago Public Schools paired with a series of seminars focusing on issues related to culturally diverse, urban environments. Fourth, because Illinois has entered into reciprocal teaching agreements with 28 other states, this proposal will prepare teachers who can teach nationwide.

Program Options: -

Option 1: Teacher Candidates Seeking Initial Certification

The preservice teacher preparation option will be a two-year program at the graduate or undergraduate levels. Those seeking graduate admissions must have earned a baccalaureate degree upon enrollment in the program; undergraduate students seeking admission must be juniors. In the undergraduate initial certification program, 15 students will be admitted each year, and in the graduate certification program, 10 students will be admitted each year (totaling 25 initial certification students admitted yearly).

The first year of the certification program will focus on the development of the basic skills required to be an effective teacher (e.g., methods and curriculum development). Teacher candidates will be given the opportunity to acquire and practice these skills in classes and practicum settings.

The second year of this program option will focus on the development of effective decision making and collaboration skills. In conjunction with practicum experiences, the students will attend a seminar focusing on reflective teaching, diversity, and collaboration. These seminars will be coordinated across semesters and collaborative with students from the Department of Curriculum and Instruction (C&I).

Option 2: Chicago Cohort

In order to provide a graduate program to individuals in Chicago, faculty will develop and deliver distance education courses via synchronous and asynchronous learning. Beginning in the summer of 2002, courses will be offered face-to-face or via interactive video conferencing and web based instruction. Synchronous learning activities will be provided via interactive video conferencing and involve Chicago students at the CPS satellite and on-campus students at the University. Asynchronous activities will be provided on the Web. Individuals entering graduate studies on a part-time basis will be admitted as a cohort from the Chicago area. Cohorts of 15 students, each, will be admitted to the program beginning in the summer, 2002. Over the course of the grant funding, 4 cohorts (total of 60 students) from Chicago will be accepted into BRIDGES. The specialty area associated with teaching students with severe disabilities in Illinois (Learning Behavior Specialist II: Multiple Disabilities) will be obtainable through this program. Participants will be supported by grant funds with tuition stipends from the University and provided with instructional facilities and school placement flexibility by the Chicago Public Schools in order meet practica requirements.

Option 3: Practicing Teachers Seeking Specialty Credentials (LBSII)

As students with severe disabilities return to home districts and to inclusive educational settings, administrators are finding that practicing teachers do not hold appropriate endorsements to serve these students. However, the numbers of students returning are not big enough to warrant hiring a new teacher. Additionally, with the new models focusing on collaboration between professionals for inclusion, practicing teachers are finding a need for both theory and practice in collaboration.

Each year practicing professionals who currently hold an Illinois Standard Teaching Certificate (Learning Behavior Specialist I) will be selected to participate in BRIDGES, 10 in the full-time option, and 10 in the part-time on-campus option (totaling 20 practicing professionals). These teachers will have the opportunity to return to the University on a full-time or part-time basis for a master's degree, taking coursework to obtain additional specialty teaching areas (Learning Behavior Specialist II) and to improve their skills in working with diverse groups in collaboration with other professionals.

The specialty area associated with teaching students with severe disabilities in Illinois (Learning Behavior Specialist II: Multiple Disabilities) will be obtainable through this program A cluster of courses relevant to the LBSII will be required in addition to graduate courses in collaboration, diversity, and teaming. Since these program participants will be practicing teachers, they will all be required to go through state transcript review to validate their deficiencies, which will guide program, planning for additional requirements. These practicing teachers will be supported by grant funds with tuition stipends, or will be eligible for receiving a tuition and fee waiver through the University of Illinois, (Council on Teacher Education), by serving as cooperating professionals.

Externships in Diverse Settings: -

Experiences with culturally and linguistically diverse groups of students and in a range of school settings are key to BRIDGES. Therefore, the cohorts of students in the local full-time option and the part-time Chicago option will be provided externship experiences. The local students will be given externships in the CPS in years one and two of their program. This will provide the opportunity for the local, on-campus, students to observe and experience education in urban, culturally diverse schools at the elementary and secondary levels. Similarly, the Chicago Cohort will have the opportunity to come to campus during their first and second years of study to observe and participate in the school programs in the Champaign-Urbana area and to interact intensively with BRIDGES’ faculty. In addition to school experiences, seminars addressing inclusion, diversity, learning standards and access to general education curriculum will be conducted at each externship site.