Posted on September 4, 2002 at 10:54 a.m.

BIRMINGHAM, AL — The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Education has won a four-year, $800,000 federal grant to develop a program that will help teachers work effectively with disabled children and those who speak little or no English.

UAB was selected for the grant by the U.S. Department of Education and was one of 14 recipients nationwide to receive the award. The grant monies will support the new program in which teachers can earn a master’s degree in special education and English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) teacher certification. The program will help Birmingham area teachers manage a more diverse classroom, said UAB Professor Renitta Goldman, Ph.D., project director for the grant. Goldman teaches special education in the Department of Leadership, Special Education and Foundations.

“There’s a shortage of special education teachers,” Goldman said. “At the same time, more and more children are entering Birmingham area schools from other countries, and with that, teachers are seeing increasing numbers of students with limited English language skills who are also disabled. So this program will be a natural blending of special education and ESL.”

Thirty-five teachers will enter the program over the next year. The teachers will receive instruction on methods for teaching children with various physical and learning disabilities such as mental retardation and autism. The program will include a literacy component so teachers can learn methods for helping students improve their reading skills. Teachers enrolled in the program will receive stipends for books, tuition and other school expenses.

Goldman, along with School of Education professors Lou Anne Worthington, Ph.D., and Jerry Aldridge, Ed.D., and ESL instructors Lynn Froning, M.A., and Julia Austin, Ph.D., will teach courses offered by the program.

The grant was provided under the federal Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, which ensures that students with disabilities receive free and appropriate public education and the related services and support needed to attain that education.