BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Center for Urban Education has won a new grant of nearly $760,000 from the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs that will help children with disabilities in poor school districts meet achievement goals.

The grant will fund a new program called Cultivating Leaders for Inclusive, Diverse Environments (CLIDE). The UAB program will prepare special education administrators for high-needs school districts and teach them best practices in educating ethnically diverse students who have disabilities. Program participants also will learn ways to recruit and retain highly qualified, special education teachers and to better meet the mandates of No Child Left Behind and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004.

Nationwide, a shortage of qualified special-education administrators has reached 10 percent, according to one study, says UAB Associate Professor Deborah Voltz, Ed.D., who directs the center. She also is the co-principal investigator on the grant with Associate Professor Loucrecia Collins, Ed.D., in the UAB School of Education Department of Leadership, Special Education and Foundations.

Another study found that only 37 percent of classroom teachers reported feeling equipped to instruct students with disabilities according to state standards. In addition, the increasing ethnic and language diversity found in many poor school districts adds to the challenges faced by many special education teachers today, Voltz says.

"This underscores the need for skills in culturally responsive instruction and the ability to address the disproportionate representation of minority groups in special education," Voltz says.

To address the issues, the Birmingham and Bessemer city schools and the Alabama Department of Education's Office of Special Education Services will work through UAB CLIDE to prepare special-education administrators who can address these challenges. Through CLIDE, 30 special-education administrators will take courses offered through the UAB Department of Leadership, Special Education and Foundations toward a specialist degree in educational leadership.

Classes will begin in spring 2010. For more information, contact Kathy Lowe at klowe@uab.edu or call 205-996-9882.

About the UAB Center for Urban Education

The UAB Center for Urban Education promotes the recruitment, development and retention of leaders for urban school environments and offers education courses centered on issues of race, class and culture. Faculty in the center also study new ways to enhance the educational achievement of students in urban schools.

About the UAB Department of Leadership, Special Education and Foundations

The UAB Department of Leadership, Special Education and Foundations, housed in the School of Education, offers a variety of disciplines that prepare students for careers in administration and special education.