ELEVATE Grant to Enhance the Lives of Youth With Disabilities

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From left, Department of Curriculum and Instruction faculty Melissa Savage, Suzanne Kucharczyk, Sheida Raley and James Sinclair.

A new, five-year, $6 million U.S. Department of Education training grant will allow faculty at five universities, including the U of A, to develop a doctoral consortium of approximately 20 scholars who will be leaders in supporting the transition to adulthood for youth with disabilities and their families in roles within either school administration or higher education.

The U of A College of Education and Health Professions' Department of Curriculum and Instruction faculty will partner with representatives from the University of Oklahoma, the University of Connecticut, the University of Kansas, Ohio State University and Sam Houston State University. The consortium is titled ELEVATE, an acronym for Equipping Learning, Empowering Vision, Achieving Transitions, and Engaging families.

By integrating more universities in high-quality and rigorous doctoral student preparation, ELEVATE will prepare future faculty and leaders in special education to champion change for youth with disabilities as they transition to postsecondary education, engagement in the workforce and participation in the community.

ELEVATE at the U of A will be led by Sheida Raley, the principal investigator, and co-investigators Suzanne Kucharczyk, Melissa Savage and James Sinclair, all in the Curriculum and Instruction Department. The program builds upon a previous scholar preparation project in the department, Leaders for Transition, which was secured by the U of A and capitalized on a strong collaborative partnership with the University of Oklahoma.

"The overall goal of ELEVATE is to empower scholars to engage in transformative research, teaching and service activities that break down systematic barriers youth with disabilities and their families face as they approach the transition to adulthood and build systems that promote inclusion, equity and self-determination," Raley said. "This demonstrates how ELEVATE is not merely a project to develop a consortium; it is a commitment to shaping research, policy and practice to enhance the lives of youth with disabilities and their families through scholar preparation."