Faculty in the UTRGV College of Education and P-16 Integration have been awarded a $1.2 million grant for Project PLEASE, a collaborative initiative to help grow leaders in special education administration.
“Project PLEASE is a personnel training grant that will give scholarships and stipends to 14 vetted candidates to complete their doctorate in education in special education administration,” said Hsuying Ward. Ward is an associate professor of Human Development and School Services and also principal investigator on the grant.
This program will collaborate with nine regional school districts: Edinburg, Donna, McAllen, La Joya, PSJA, Weslaco, Harlingen, Mission and Brownsville. The districts will make recommendations on candidates. The applicant then applies through the UTRGV Graduate College and goes through the admission process.
Ward said knowing a special education student’s needs and the parent communication aspect are important components of Project PLEASE.
“In this program, we will affect special education practice,” she said. “We want to help train these administrators so they can avoid potential conflicts with parents. We help provide the knowledge they need of current special education practices. If we train our doctoral students well, we will do a lot of good.”
Improving special education practices
Participants in Project PLEASE will complete 18-20 hours of special education and administration training. They will then earn a doctorate in educational leadership with a specialization in special education. Additionally, every participant’s dissertation will be based on special education. The curriculum in the program will contain practical experiences, such as evaluations of a school district’s special education program; internships in a disability rights organization; and participation in Admission, Review and Dismissal meetings to determine student eligibility for special education.
“The grant is to help improve special education practices in the Rio Grande Valley, to help improve special education students’ outcomes, and to affect special education practices,” Ward said.
The funding comes from the U.S. Department of Education. Project PLEASE stands for Program for Leaders to Educate and Advocate for Special Education. It is a cross-department collaboration between the College of Education and P-16 Integration’s Department of Human Development and School Services, and the Department of Organization and School Leadership.
The grant cycle for Project PLEASE began Nov. 1 and will run until Dec. 31, 2024. The cohort selection takes place in February. The program will start the first summer semester of 2020.