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Special Education Initiative - ARCHIVE

The PSLA offers different types of assistance to teachers, administrators, and others interested in developing service-learning programs. In October 2001 the PSLA launched a new initiative, "Service-Learning: A Roadmap for Special Education." This initiative aims to provide special education teachers with training and technical assistance so that service-learning can be incorporated into the Individual Education Plan (IEP) of special education students in Pennsylvania. As a part of this initiative, the PSLA will:

Encourage the incorporation of service-learning projects into Individual Education Plans so that this experiential methodology, which, by its nature, encompasses many IEP goals, is available to more students in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Establish a professional network of teachers, administrators, professors, and university students pursuing special education certification who are interested in special education issues and the service-learning teaching methodology.

Offer workshops to help teachers develop and implement service-learning projects with their special education students.

Issue mini-grants through a competitive process to pay for special education service-learning projects.

Provide resources for special education teachers, including an electronic bulletin, "The Special Ed Update," a web page, and a team of 10 peer consultants who can mentor other special education teachers with the integration of service-learning into the IEP and special education curriculum.

Conduct a service fair for all students, regardless of academic track, to make them aware of post high school opportunities within the National Service community, including AmeriCorps, AmericCorps VISTA, and AmeriCorps NCCC.

Implement a conference for teachers and administrators that will highlight and encourage the education community to develop special education service-learning initiatives. This conference will be a vehicle for promoting the PSLA's technical training and support for educators, administrators and others who are working to involve students with disabilities in service-learning.