2014-15 Annual Report Template

Department of Special Education and Child Development

A. HIGHLIGHTS OF THE YEAR

Major accomplishments (including student accomplishments) of unit/department/college during the year reported by Academic Affairs Goal.
  1. To offer a portfolio of educational programs that are forward looking and responsive to the intellectual, cultural, and economic needs of the region:

Bachelor of Arts in Special Education: General Curriculum

Bachelor of Arts in Special Education: Adapted Curriculum

Bachelor of Arts in Special Education/ Elementary Education

Bachelor of Arts in Birth through Kindergarten

Graduate Certificate in Special Education General Curriculum

Graduate Certificate in Special Education Adapted Curriculum

Graduate Certificate in Special Education Academically or Intellectually Gifted

Graduate Certificate in Special Education Autism Spectrum Disorders

Graduate Certificate in Child and Family Studies

Master of Arts in Teaching Special Education General Curriculum

Master of Arts in Teaching Special Education Adapted Curriculum

Master of Arts in Child and Family Studies/ Birth through Kindergarten

Master of Education Special Education

Master of Education Special Education Academically or Intellectually Gifted

Master of Education Child and Family Studies

Doctor of Philosophy Special Education

  1. To advance programs of research and scholarship that expand the frontiers of knowledge, including those that solve problems at the interface of disciplines and leverage discovery for the public benefit:

First, it should be noted that Dr. Diane Browder received the Division on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities Research Award at the April 2014 international Council for Exceptional Children conference. Second, it should be noted that Dr. David Test received the Iva Dean Cook Teacher of the Year Award from the Division of Career Development, Council for Exceptional Children. Also, of note is that Dr. Ya-Yu Lo received the Fred Keller Excellence in Behavior Analysis Award from the North Carolina Association for Behavior Analysis. Finally, Dr. Michael Matthews received the Legacy Award for the Best Scholarly Work form the Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented; he was the lead author on a publication for High Ability Studies that was recognized as the journal’s most-downloaded article in 2014.

The Special Education Program at UNC Charlotte has a long history of securing external grants that have funded a wide range of projects addressing important and timely issues in special education. Currently funded grants within the department include projects related to research and development, technical assistance, and personnel preparation. These externally funded research and personnel preparation projects are entitled:

  • Collaborative Preservice: Preservice: Preparing Excellent Teachers for All Students
  • A Study of the Effects of a Three-Tier Model of interagency Collaboration on Transition Outcomes for Students with Disabilities.
  • Transition to College and Careers Center
  • Personnel Preparation Program in Low Incidence Severe Disabilities
  • Center on Secondary Education for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders
  • Project BRIDGES: Building Reading Intervention Designed for General Education Subjects
  • Preparation of Leadership Personnel
  • UNC Charlotte's Ph.D. Program in Special Education with a Specialty in Multi-tiered Interventions
  • The Solutions Project: Teaching Students with Moderate/Severe Intellectual Disability to Solve Mathematical Problems
  • Project Early Childhood Special Education
  • National Secondary Transition Technical Assistance Center/ Transition to College and Careers Center
  • North Carolina Post-Schools Outcomes Project
  • UNC Charlotte NC State Improvement Project/ Institutions of Higher Education Partnership
  • National Center and State Collaborative General Supervision Enhancement Grant
  • Establishing Safe, Positive, Inclusion
  • FLEX Literacy Efficacy Study
  1. To graduate students prepared for personal success and civic responsibility in the 21st century by offering challenging degree programs, encouraging community engagement, and integrating the values of liberal education throughout the undergraduate curriculum:
  • The Department had 180students (91 in fall, 89 in spring) enrolled this year in the Special Education BA Program, 110(50 in fall, 60 in spring) students enrolled in the BA in Child and Family Development, and 93(49 in fall, 44 in spring) enrolled in the BA for the Dual Licensure Program.
  • The Department enrolled 102(55 in fall, 47 in spring) students designated as Pre- Special Education majors and 126(72 in fall, 54 in spring) students designated as Pre-Child and Family Development majors.
  • The Department enrolled 140Child and Family Development Program minors in the fall and spring semesters.
  • The Department had 36graduate students enrolled this year in the Special Education Graduate Certificate in Special Education Program. Forty-two students (27 in fall, 15 in spring) were enrolled in Phase II (MAT Program).
  • The Department had 15 graduate students enrolled this year in the Special Education M.Ed. program and 12 graduate students enrolled in the Child and Family Studies M.Ed. program.
  • The Department enrolled 17 students in the Ph.D. Program during 2014-2015. Nine new students have been admitted for 2015-16.
  • The Department’s distance education programs had1929 total enrolments in fiscal year 2014-15. This count includes: (1) AIG, (2) Special Education-General Curriculum Graduate Certificate and M.A.T. (3) Special Education-Adapted Curriculum Graduate Certificate and MAT, (4) SPED 2100 and (5) Special Education ASD Graduate Certificate.
  • Fifty-eight special education undergraduate majors who enrolled in student teaching (24 General Curriculum, 10 Adapted Curriculum and 23 Dual Licensure Program) were recommended for licensure in 2013-2014. Data are not yet available on the number of graduates recommended for licensure in 2014-15; however, it should be assumed that the 12 students who graduated in Fall of 2014 also obtained licensure.
  • The Department graduated 42 student with the MAT in Special Education in 2013-14, 29 students in 2012-13 22 students in 2011-12, 19 students in 2010-11, 22 students in 2009-10, 25 students in 2008-09, 15 students in 2007-08, 26 students in 2006-07, and 17 students in 2005-06.Data are not yet available on the number of MAT graduates in 2014-15.
  • The Department graduated 8 students with the M.Ed. in Special Education in in 2013-14, 7 students in 2012-13, 5 students in 2011-12, 14 students in 2010-11, 16 students in 2009-10, 27 students in 2008-09, 6 students in 2007-08, 11 students in 2006-07, and 3 students in 2005-06.Data are not yet available on the number of M.Ed. graduates in 2014-15; however, 2 students completed the M.Ed. in Special Education in Fall of 2014.
  • The Department graduated 2 students with the M.Ed. in Child and Family Studies 2013-13, 3 students in 2012-13, 15 students in 2011-12, 13 students in 2010-11, 24 students in 2009-10, ?? students in 2008-09,10 students in 2007-08, 7 student in 2006-07, and 7 students during 2005-06.Data are not yet available on the number of CHFD graduates in 2014-15.
  • Thirty-four graduate students in Special Education who enrolled in student teaching (23 in General and 11 in Adapted Curriculum) were successful in their student teaching and were recommended for licensure in 2013-2014.Data are not yet available on the number of graduates recommended for licensure in 2014-15; however it can be assumed that the 12 students who graduated in Fall of 2014 were successful in completing their student teaching semester.
  • Sixteen undergraduate and 6 graduate students successfully completed their student teaching in the Child and Family Development program and were recommended for B-K licensure in 2013-2014.Data are not yet available on the number of graduates recommended for licensure in 2014-15; however, it should be assumed that the 3 undergraduate students who graduated in the Summer of Fall of 2014 successfully completed student teaching and were recommended for licensure.
  • Eighty-six graduate students in the Academically or Intellectually Gifted Program completed all requirements for licensure in 2013-14.Data are not yet available on the number recommended for licensure in 2014-15; however, 6 students completed these requirements in the Summer or Fall of 2014.
  1. To integrate at the graduate level quality teaching and mentoring with research to prepare the next generation of leaders:

This year’s graduates from the Department of Special Education and Child Development’s Ph.D. Program in Special Education have accepted faculty positions at comprehensive, doctoral degree granting or research intensive universities around the nation or in leadership positions in public school programs. Listed below are doctoral graduates and the universities/ programs where they have been hired:

  • Karen Diegelman
  • Kim Bunch-Crump, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS
  • Angela Lee, Research Associate, UNC Charlotte, Charlotte, NC
  • Katie Swart, NC Smart Start, Charlotte, NC
  • Alicia Saunders, Research Associate, UNC Charlotte, Charlotte, NC
  • Julie Thompson, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Michigan State University, E. Lansing, MI

The Departments doctoral students often receive awards for their work. The following awards were received by current and recent doctoral students.

  • Jenny Root’s article, “Effects of schoolwide cluster grouping and within-class ability grouping on elementary school students’ academic achievement growth” was named the “Most Read Article throughout 2014” by High Ability Studies.
  • Jennifer Ritchottereceived the “Doctoral Student Award” from the National Association for Gifted Children in 2014.
  • Bethany McKissick received the “Research of the Year Award” from the Mississippi Council for Exceptional Children.
  • April Mustian received the “Outstanding University Teacher Award-Teaching Initiative Award” from Illinois State University.
  • Adrienne Anderson received the CEC Division for Research 2015 Student Research Award.
  • Kimberly Bunch-Crump received the CEC Council for Children with Behavioral Disorders 2015 Car Fenichel Memorial Research Award.
  • Jennifer Cease-Cook received the Presidential Citation for the Service to Winthrop University award in 2015.

The Department continued to receive funds to support doctoral students through external funding from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs under two grants: University of North Carolina at Charlotte PhD Program(2014-15, no cost extension) and Ph.D. Program in Special Education with a Specialty in Multi-tiered Interventions(3rd year of 4-year project). A new UNC Charlotte Personal Preparation Leadership Development proposal was funded in 2014 University of North Carolina at Charlotte PhD Program) through the U.S Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs and will admit four doctoral students in the fall of 2015.

Dr. Belva Collins (Department Chair) is the Department’s representative on the national Higher Education Consortium in Special Education (HECSE) and serves on the Executive Board of HECSE as Treasurer. In addition, Dr. Fred Spooner is a co-representative of the Department, and Dr. Diane Browder (Doctoral program director) serves as a backup representative.

The Department continues to promote the success of doctoral students through opportunities to participate in research, preparation of manuscripts for publications, and quality teaching. Each doctoral student demonstrates competence in abilities to summarize, synthesize, and evaluate studies that use a variety of research designs, plan and implement studies that meet standards from quality research, and synthesize a collection of studies to determine if a study is evidence based.The ultimate outcome of their individual research project is the preparation of a manuscript for submission to a peer-reviewed journal. In the area of teaching, all doctoral students complete co-teaching assignments with veteran faculty members in the department. In addition, their “college teaching” experiences provide them the opportunity to deliver a complete course (under guided supervision).

Finally, Department faculty members work with doctoral candidates to prepare chapters, manuscripts or curriculum guides for publication. Listed below are publications completed in collaboration among current doctoral candidates, recent program completers and faculty members during 2014-15:

Chapters:

Spooner, F., McKissick, B. R., Hudson, M., & Browder, D. M. (2014). Access to the general curriculum in general education classes. In M. Agran, F. Brown, C. Hughes, C. Quirk, & D. Ryndak (Eds.), Equity and full participation for individuals with severe disabilities: A vision for the future. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes.

Spooner, F., McKissick, B. R., Knight, V., & Walker, R. (2014). Teaching science concepts. In D. M. Browder & F. Spooner (Eds.), MORE language arts, math, and science. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes.

Thompson, J. L., Bethune, K. S., Wood, C. L., & Pugalee, D. K. (2014). Teaching grade-aligned math skills. In D. Browder & F. Spooner (Eds.), MORE language arts, math, and science for students with severe disabilities. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brooks.

Articles:

Fleury, V. P., Hedges, S., Hume, K., Browder, D. M., Thompson, J. L., Fallin, K., El Zein, F., Reutebuch, C. K., & Vaughn, S. (2014). Academic performance of secondary students on the autism spectrum. Remedial and Special Education, 35, 68-79.

Jimenez, B. A.,Lo, Y., & Saunders, A. (2014). The additive effects of scripted lessons plus guided notes on science quiz scores of students with intellectual disabilities and autism. Journal of Special Education. 47, 231-244. doi:10.1177/0022466912437937

Matthews, M. S.,Ritchotte, J. A., & Jolly, J. (2014). What's wrong with giftedness? Parents' perceptions of the gifted label. International Studies in Sociology of Education: Special Issue, 24, 372-393.

Plavnick, J. B., Marchand-Martella, N. E., Martella, R. C., Thompson, J. L.,Wood, A. L. (2014). A review of explicit and systematic scripted instructional programs for students with autism spectrum disorder. Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, Advance online publication. doi:10.1007/s40489-014-0036-3

Povenmire-Kirk, T., Diegelmann, K., Crump, K.,Schnorr, C., Test, D., Flowers, C, & Aspel, N. (2015). Implementing CIRCLES: A new model for interagency collaboration in transition planning.Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, 42, 51-65.

Spooner, F., Ahlgrim-Delzell, L., Kemp Inman, A.,Wood, L. (2014). Using an iPad2® to teach shared stories for elementary-aged students with developmental disabilities. Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities, 39, 30-46. doi: 10.1177/1540796914534631

Ritchotte, J. A., Matthews, M. S., & Flowers, C. P. (2014). The validity of the Achievement-Orientation Model for gifted middle school students. Gifted Child Quarterly, 58, 183-198.

Thompson, J.L., & Knight, V.(2015). Chapter 10: Teaching students with Autism Spectrum Disorder. In C. O’Brien & J. Beatties (Eds.), Teaching Students with Special Needs (2nd Edition). Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt Publishing.

Wood, A. L.Thompson, J. L. (2014) Navigating the job search process: A timeline for doctoral candidates in education. The Researcher, 26(2), 6-14.

Other:

Browder, D. M., Wood, L.,Thompson, J. L., & Ribuffo, C. (2014). Evidence-based practices for students with severe disabilities (Document No. IC-3). Retrieved from University of Florida, Collaboration for Effective Educator, Development, Accountability, and Reform Center website:

  1. To respond to the educational needs of a diverse community of learners through innovative programming and delivery of credit and non-credit programs of study:
  • The Department’s Academically and Intellectually Gifted program enrolled 101 students in distance education courses in 2014-15.In comparison.Numbers for the past years were 99 students in 2013-14, 203students in 2012-13; 182 students in 2011-12; 231 students in 2010-11; 278 students in 2009-10; 284 students in 2008-09; 346 students in 2007-08, 292 students in 2006-07, and 196 students in 2005-06.
  • The Department’s Autism Spectrum Disorders Graduate Certificate program enrolled 14 students in distance education courses in 2014-15.In comparison, numbers for the past years were 25 students in 2013-14, 29 studentsin 2012-13, and 42 students in 2011-12. It is possible that earlier numbers were higher because the program was new and meeting a need; now that the initial students have completed the certificate, the certificate program enrollment is stabilizing. It also should be noted that the reported number does not include Summer 1 of 2014, which will increase the number for the fiscal year.
  • The Department’s baccalaureate dual licensure preparation program in special education and elementary education enrolled 93 students (49 in fall, 44 in spring) in 2014-15.In comparison, numbers for past years were 63 studentsin 2013-14and 45 students in 2012-13. Funding from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs supported the Collaborative Preservice: Preparing Excellent Teachers for All Students grant that began this program. It is now operating with carryover funds.
  • Michael Matthews and Gloria Campbell Whatley, along with other faculty from the College, taught in the Best Practices in Urban Education Institute at UNC Charlotte’s Center City Building in the summer of 2014. This was co-sponsored by the College of Education and the Teaching Fellows Institute at Charlotte.
  • Kristen Beach offered SPED 4277 in the Kennedy CTL classroom, allowing her to use technology to support an active learning environment. Instructors in this classroom meet three times per semester to discuss how to better meet the needs of student in terms of engagement and application of course content.
  • CHFD majors regularly work in diverse settings in the community. These include Head Start, Easter Seals, Mary Francis Wall Center, and in a Parents as Teachers program. Students complete a required internship in a variety of agencies that work with families from diverse populations and settings.
  • The distance education program in special education is experimenting with remote technologies to complete supervision and provide online support for the completion of assessment activities through edTPA.
  • Students in the dual licensure program must complete a reading course in special education; this course is now part of a reading minor.
  1. To promote student achievement and personal development by providing high quality advising, academic services, curricular enrichment, and international experiences:

The Department of Special Education and Child Development continues to update all degree, licensure and certificate program’s planning worksheets to reflect the priority of “Graduation Planning.” Changes in the Planning Sheets are designed to enhance graduation oriented advising specifically for first time, full time freshmen.

Advising in the Department is conducted by a number of faculty as follows: (a) Undergraduate Special Education – Special Education Program Director Baxter, (b) Graduate certificate/distance education/MATin Special Education – Faculty Advisor Jordan, (b) M.Ed. in Special Education and Graduate Certificate in Autism Spectrum Disorders – Special Education Graduate Program Director Wood, (c) Undergraduate/Graduate Child and Family Development – Child and Family Development Program Director Murphy, (d) Child and Family Development Minor – Clinical Faculty Member Brown, (e) Graduate certificate/MAT in Child and Family Development – Faculty Member Lamorey, (f) Gifted graduate certificate/M.Ed. – Faculty Member Matthews, (g) Dual Licensure in Special Education/Elementary Education – Faculty Member K. Anderson, and (h) Doctoral program – Doctoral Program Director Browder. In addition to advising, each of these individuals collects data on program-specific standards of learning and compiles the annual assessment report for their respective programs. Advisors in the Teacher Education, Advising Licensure, Recruitment and Retention (TEAL-R) Office support Department faculty in advising students.

In addition to the department’s monthly faculty meeting, the department has three monthly program meetings: (a) Child and Family Development Program, (b) Special Education Program, and (c) Doctoral Committee.During these meetings, program faculty discuss all programmatic and student issues. The Department Chair attends all meetings.