Matrix Centers
Professional Development / Personnel
CONNECT: The Center to Mobilize Early Childhood Knowledge
CONNECT is developing web-based, instructional resources for faculty and other professional development providers that focus on and respond to challenges faced each day by those working with young children with disabilities and their families. The modules help build practitioners’ abilities to make evidence-based decisions. They emphasize a decision-making process, realistic problems to solve, the importance of integrating multiple perspectives and sources of evidence, the relevance and quality of content, and feedback. These practice-based modules are free and include video clips, activities, and handouts. They can be embedded into existing curricula, coursework and other professional development opportunities.
IRIS Center for Training Enhancements
The IRIS (IDEA '04 and Research for Inclusive Settings) Center creates free training enhancement resources for college faculty who are preparing the next generation of school personnel and for professional development providers who are training current school professionals. IRIS training enhancements are designed to equip school personnel with the knowledge and skills necessary to effectively teach students with disabilities in general education classrooms. The IRIS array of materials includes online interactive modules, case studies, information briefs, activities, a searchable directory of disability-related Web sites, and an online dictionary of disability-related terms. These materials are available for free at http://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu
Monarch Center II: National Outreach and Technical Assistance Center on Discretionary Awards for Minority Institutions
This project will improve educational results for students with disabilities by: (a) promoting the successful participation of minority institutions of higher education (MIHEs) in IDEA personnel preparation competitions, and (b) supporting the development and enhancement of special education and related services programs at MIHEs.
National Center to Improve Recruitment and Retention of Qualified Personnel for Children with Disabilities (Personnel Improvement Center- PIC)
The Personnel Improvement Center works to increase the nation's capacity to recruit, prepare and retain highly qualified and fully certified special education, early intervention and related services personnel, including paraprofessionals. Our work in selected states and their local programs is focused on increasing capacity to hire and develop personnel to serve children and youth with disabilities, birth to 21, and their families.
National Center to Inform Policy and Practice in Special Education Professional Development
NCIPP is a national center house at the University of Florida (UF) and designed to (a) inform special education teacher preparation policy and practice by examining and recommending to IHEs, SEAs, and LEAS those policies and practices that improve retention of beginning special education teachers, and (b) recommend implementation strategies for policies and practices that provided beginning special education and regular education teachers with the knowledge and skills to effectively support students with disabilities in different classroom settings, including collaborative practices in regular classroom settings.
National Professional Development Center on Autism Spectrum Disorders
The mission of the National Professional Development Center on ASD is to provided resources, professional development, and technical assistance that will increase the number of highly qualified personnel serving children and youth with ASD. The NPDC is a collaborative project among investigators at the Frank Porter Graham child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the M.I.N.D. Institute at the University of California at Davis Medical School, and the Waisman Center at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Investigators from these partner sites work with selected states (total of 12 during funding cycle) to build capacity in the use of EBP at selected sites in the state.