Reaching Educators with an Alternate Certification for Teachers (REACT)

The REACT Project is designed to implement a new alternate certificate program for graduate level personnel in Kentucky to teach students with low incidence disabilities (Le., Moderate/Severe Disabilities). The REACT project will accomplish this through delivering alternate certificate course work from the University of Kentucky (UK) to teachers with temporary provisional certificates employed in settings that serve students with low incidence disabilities. The REACT project will target (a) students who work within at 50-mile radius of students who live in urban Jefferson County through a combination of distance education classes UK's campus through on-campus coursework, (b) students who work in selected distant sites in rural Eastern Kentucky through distance education coursework (e.g., interactive video), and (c) offered through UK and on-campus classes offered through Bellarmine University. Funds are requested for project expenses and for student support for at least 20 students per year across these settings. The REACT projects will have two primary objectives. The first objective is to prepare teachers of students with low incidence disabilities who can (a) implement researchbased practices to assess and instruct students with low incidence disabilities, (b) collaborate with teachers and related service delivery personnel in inclusive general education settings, and (c) meet the needs of students from diverse cultural and language backgrounds. Recruiting students from diverse and underrepresented groups will be a priority. The second objective will be to disseminate evaluation data and delivery models stemming from this project.