Contact: Sammy McDavid
To help teachers obtain special education certification, Mississippi State is announcing a scholarship program involving distance-learning and campus-based courses.
"Project Response" is supported by a recent $600,000 U.S. Department of Education grant awarded to the university's department of curriculum and instruction. Mississippi Valley State University and the University of Mississippi are cooperating in the three-year project that involves the delivery of courses via the statewide Mississippi Star Schools Network.
Project leader John Obringer said the grant helps address "a long-standing need" in Mississippi to have enough qualified special education teachers.
"Teachers currently employed on emergency certificates who wish to complete the special education endorsement often have difficulty accessing the courses they need, especially if they live in areas distant from four-year college or university campuses," he said. "Completing the additional course work also can be costly."
The program addresses both situations by making courses available at locations near where teachers live and paying tuition for the 18 semester hours needed for certification in mild and moderate disabilities.
Frank Elrod, Obringer's departmental colleague and co-author of the grant proposal, is coordinating the summer fieldwork required of all participants. In addition to MSU, this part of the program will be available at Mississippi Valley and Ole Miss.
Jan. 7 is the deadline for teachers wishing to enter the program in the 2000 spring semester.
Emergency certificates are only temporary, Obringer emphasized. "Should teachers desire to remain in special education, they must complete additional course work to be fully certified," he said.
For additional information or to request application packets, contact the project office by telephone at (662) 325-0815 or fax at 325-7857.