|
Greetings!
On behalf of the Linking Academic Scholars to Educational
Resources (LASER) Project, we welcome you to LASER Research
Community. LASER is a federally funded project
that is housed at the University of South Florida in Tampa. Funded by the US
Office of Special Education Programs, the project is committed to developing
a national urban research agenda that impacts children from culturally diverse
and/or impoverished backgrounds.
Having been in operation six years,
LASER responds to several long-standing phenomena that have
and continue
to plague our field. The project is predicated
on culturally affirming relationship building and service delivery models.
Simply put, we fortify old relationships and forge many new and exciting
partnerships. Without those partnerships, LASER would
simply amount to an overly ambitious
undertaking. Instead, it is an ambitious, but doable, project that is highly
focused on outcomes.
LASER engineers multi-tiered strategies that without fail
remain focused with laser beam precision. LASER provides
support to faculty in special education
and related areas, such as educational psychology, counseling, speech pathology
and bilingual education at minority serving institutions.
The 5th Annual LASER Conference was held September
21-25, 2005 in Tampa, Florida. The participation of faculty,
students, and the community has impacted
the lives of urban and impoverished children
with identified or suspected disabilities and their families.
Warmest regards,
Project LASER
Linking Academic Scholars to Education Resources (LASER)
ensures the development and implementation of a definitive
urban special education research agenda and thereby aims
to improve the schooling of urban and impoverished children
and youth. Our website highlights this federally funded
project, while offering urban special education researchers,
educators, and policymakers easy access to information about LASER's initiatives which focus on the needs of faculty and
graduate students at minority institutions, including:
- details
on applying to the University of South Florida's Doctoral
Program for Ethnic Minorities in Urban Special Education
as LASER scholars
- the
latest research, issues, and trends
- current
resources, and news and events in the field, including
LASER's annual conference which showcases and disseminates our urban special
education research to lay and professional audiences
- a
premier network of researchers from minority institutions across the
country
- a
new online forum to share, discuss, and advance their work
LASER
is one of many innovative projects of the Center for Action
Research on Urban Schools and Effective Leadership (CAROUSEL
Center) at the College
of Education , Department
of Special Education at the University of South Florida.
LASER is a partner of the Urban
Special Education Leadership Collaborative at Education
Development Center, Inc.
Download the LASER brochure
Mission
- To
develop cadres of faculty and graduate students in
minority institutions who will conduct and sustain urban
special
education research/scholarship
- To
develop a national strengths-based model that documents
strategies for enhancing
individual and institutional research capacities
- To
define and coordinate a national agenda that narrows
that gap between research and urban school practice
Objectives
- Increase
the success of faculty and graduate
students at minority institutions in seeking funding
for special education
and related research
projects in urban and high poverty
schools
- Enhance
the professional development of faculty and graduate students at minority institutions
to increase their urban special education research and scholarship
- Facilitate
faculty and graduate students in minority institutions in their endeavors to
conduct special education research in urban and high poverty schools and related
settings
- Collaboratively
develop and/or enhance the institutional infrastructure
needed to support and sustain faculty and graduate students'
urban special education research initiatives
- Prepare
cohorts of ethnic minority doctoral student
specifically for research careers in urban special education
- Coordinate
and define a national research agenda relative to preventing
or intervening with disabilities that occur, or are
suspected of
occurring, among urban and impoverished
children and youth
- Enhance
knowledge and awareness of issues related
to urban and high poverty children among disability
and rehabilitation researchers
- Narrow
the gap between urban/high poverty special
education research and urban/high poverty schools'
policies and practices
- Develop
a model for capacity building and faculty/graduate
student development in minority institutions
- Improve
outcomes for children with or suspected
of having disabilities in urban and poverty schools
- Position
a consortium of minority institutions to secure and
house LASER at a minority institution during the next
funding
cycle
|
