Interdisciplinary collaboration in early childhood education project scholars will have graduate tuition covered
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services has awarded faculty members in UMass Boston’s Curriculum and Instruction and Counseling and School Psychology departments a five-year $1.1 million grant to prepare master’s-level students to serve infants, toddlers, and preschool-age children with disabilities and their families.
The Interdisciplinary Collaboration in Early Childhood Education Project (ICEP) aims to prepare scholars to work as a team with families and other professionals to gather accurate assessment information. There are four major core competency areas: (1) family-centered practice, (2) evidence-based best practice, (3) collaboration and teaming, and (4) professionalism and ethics. Accepted and matriculated ICEP scholars will have their graduate tuition covered.
“This is an example of interdisciplinary collaboration between two disciplines,” said Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education and Care Serra Acar, the principal investigator on the grant. “We will support scholars on assessment, working with families who are culturally and linguistically diverse, and teaming and collaboration.”
Over the course of the five-year grant, there will be 19 ICEP scholars. Students can start applying to be ICEP scholars in summer 2020, when they apply for admission into either the Early Childhood Education and Care or the School Psychology graduate programs.
By the time they graduate, ICEP scholars will be prepared to serve young children with high-intensity needs and their families through shared coursework, group assignments, coordinated field experiences, and structured joint activities. They’ll be able to work in the fields of early intervention and school psychology.
Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education Lianna Pizzo, Lecturer in School Psychology Tracy Paskiewicz, and Associate Professor of Counseling and School Psychology Melissa Pearrow—all from UMass Boston’s College of Education and Human Development—are co-principal investigators on the grant.