National University has been awarded a grant in the amount of $777,015 from the United States Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.
The grant is part of Project PEBSE: Preparing Evidenced-Based Special Educators, which will be implemented in collaboration with eight school districts in San Diego and San Francisco.
Funds from the grant will be used for a four-year project designed to prepare highly-qualified teachers to serve mild/moderate and moderate/severe students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds in high-need school districts.
The project will prepare a minimum of 124 highly qualified special educators to serve these students. The 124 scholars could serve up to 1,860 students per year in special education and inclusion classrooms (an average of 15 students per year); in 10 years, that number could go up to 18,600 students served, providing long lasting benefits in the field.
Joy Kutaka Kennedy and Joan Sebastian from the Department of Special Education in National University's School of Education will co-direct the grant in the northern and southern regions of California.