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<div style="FONT-FAMILY: arial,helvetica; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">-----Original Message-----<br>
From: Florida State University News <news-office@unicomm.fsu.edu><br>
To: undisclosed-recipients:;<br>
Sent: Tue, Nov 16, 2010 12:53 pm<br>
Subject: FSU NEWS: GRANT TO HELP TRAIN TEACHERS OF STUDENTS WITH VISUAL IMPAIRMENTS<br>
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<div class=MsoNormal><FONT size=+1 face=Optima><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Optima"> </SPAN><IMG alt="" src="cid:part1.03060900.04070304@unicomm.fsu.edu"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Optima"> <br>
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<div class=MsoNormal><FONT size=+1 face=Optima><B><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Optima">CONTACT:</SPAN></B><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Optima"> Amy R. McKenzie</SPAN></FONT></div>
<div style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=+1 face=Optima><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Optima">(850) 645-6588; <A href="mailto:armckenzie@fsu.edu"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Times">armckenzie@fsu.edu</SPAN></A></SPAN></FONT></div>
<div class=MsoNormal><FONT size=+1 face=Optima><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Optima">By Barry Ray</SPAN></FONT></div>
<div style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=+1 face=Optima><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Optima">November 2010</SPAN></FONT></div>
<H1 style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 6pt" align=center><FONT size=+2 face=Optima>GRANT TO HELP TRAIN TEACHERS OF STUDENTS WITH VISUAL IMPAIRMENTS</FONT></H1>
<div style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=+1 face=Optima><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Optima">TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — With support from the U.S. Department of Education (DOE), a Florida State University education researcher is developing a program to increase the number of teachers possessing the highly specialized skills needed to work with students who are visually impaired.</SPAN></FONT></div>
<div style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=+1 face=Optima><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Optima">Amy R. McKenzie, an assistant professor in FSU’s School of Teacher Education, has been awarded a four-year, $1.2 million grant from the DOE to address a “critical need” area in Florida: a shortage of teachers trained to work with visually impaired students ages 3 to 21 as they seek to gain access to the general educational curriculum.</SPAN></FONT></div>
<div style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=+1 face=Optima><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Optima">“Teaching children with visual impairments is a very different process from teaching sighted children,” McKenzie said. “For sighted children, vision provides a vital foundation for learning, for organizing and for synthesizing the events that make up the world. However, students with visual impairments don’t learn as easily by observing their environment, so they require direct experiences with, and specific instruction about, their world.</SPAN></FONT></div>
<div style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=+1 face=Optima><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Optima">“The experiential, hands-on, real-life activities that promote learning in youngsters with visual impairments require flexible learning environments with low student-teacher ratios,” she said. “Recruiting teachers to meet these needs, and developing a rigorous evaluation system to ensure that students’ needs are being met, are at the core of our program.”</SPAN></FONT></div>
<div style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=+1 face=Optima><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Optima">As the only university-based program of its type in the state, Florida State’s <A href="http://www.careersinblindness.com/" target=_blank><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Times">Visual Disabilities Program</SPAN></A> is virtually alone in providing Florida’s schools with teachers who possess the skills to work in the highly specialized field. In fact, the next closest university to offer a program in visual impairments is the University of South Carolina, meaning much of the southeastern United States relies on FSU to help address critical shortages of teachers of students with visual impairments.</SPAN></FONT></div>
<div style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 3pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=+1 face=Optima><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Optima">“This is a problem of national scope,” said Sandra Lewis, a professor in Florida State’s School of Teacher Education and director of the <SPAN style="COLOR: black">Visual Disabilities Program</SPAN>. “Florida State is one of only three universities in the entire United States that offers education for visually impaired students as an undergraduate degree. So both here in Florida and nationally, we’re not keeping up with the demand created by attrition from teacher retirements and career changes, much less the increased numbers of students in need of these services. Hopefully this grant will enable us to begin to turn the tide.”</SPAN></FONT></div>
<div style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 3pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=+1 face=Optima><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Optima"> </SPAN></FONT></div>
<div style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=+1 face=Optima><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Optima">With the DOE grant, McKenzie, Lewis and other affiliated faculty will pursue five key initiatives:</SPAN></FONT></div>
<div style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; MARGIN-LEFT: 0.25in" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=+1 face=Optima><B><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Optima"><SPAN>1.<SPAN style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; FONT-VARIANT: normal; FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-SIZE: 7pt; FONT-WEIGHT: normal"> </SPAN></SPAN></SPAN></B><B><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Optima">Undergraduate Teacher Preparation. </SPAN></B><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Optima">Florida State’s on-campus teacher-preparation program for undergraduates will be reviewed and improved as necessary. In addition, the grant will enable the <SPAN style="COLOR: black">Visual Disabilities Program</SPAN> to continue offering a two-year course of study leading to a Bachelor of Science degree to a diverse population of undergraduates at the program’s South Florida satellite campus in Miami. Miami-Dade County Public Schools will be a key collaborator in that effort.</SPAN></FONT></div>
<div style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; MARGIN-LEFT: 0.25in" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=+1 face=Optima><B><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Optima"><SPAN>2.<SPAN style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; FONT-VARIANT: normal; FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-SIZE: 7pt; FONT-WEIGHT: normal"> </SPAN></SPAN></SPAN></B><B><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Optima">Support of Interdisciplinary Graduate Teacher Preparation. </SPAN></B><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Optima">Graduate students participating in a proposed pre-service personnel program at FSU, the Miami satellite program or via distance education will be required to become a “master” at providing services within another discipline related to the needs of students with visual impairments. Specialized areas may include orientation and mobility, early childhood education services for young children with visual impairments, transitioning planning and services, or meeting the needs of students with visual impairments who have severe and profound disabilities.</SPAN><B><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Optima"></SPAN></B></FONT></div>
<div style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; MARGIN-LEFT: 0.25in" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=+1 face=Optima><B><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Optima"><SPAN>3.<SPAN style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; FONT-VARIANT: normal; FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-SIZE: 7pt; FONT-WEIGHT: normal"> </SPAN></SPAN></SPAN></B><B><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Optima">Systemic Evaluation of Students and Graduates. </SPAN></B><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Optima">A rigorous evaluation system will be designed, field-tested and implemented to assess the knowledge and skills of FSU students seeking teacher certification in the area of visual impairments. The evaluation system will include the tracking of student learning during coursework, the use of knowledge and skills during practicum and student teaching experiences, and the tracking of program graduates’ impact on K-12 student learning for five years.</SPAN><B><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Optima"></SPAN></B></FONT></div>
<div style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; MARGIN-LEFT: 0.25in" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=+1 face=Optima><B><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Optima"><SPAN>4.<SPAN style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; FONT-VARIANT: normal; FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-SIZE: 7pt; FONT-WEIGHT: normal"> </SPAN></SPAN></SPAN></B><B><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Optima">Aggressive Recruitment Efforts. </SPAN></B><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Optima">A critical element of the grant is the inclusion of a systematic and aggressive recruitment plan designed to target incoming students attending community colleges in Florida that have large enrollments of students from underrepresented groups. The goal is to encourage their participation in the program through financial support.</SPAN><B><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Optima"></SPAN></B></FONT></div>
<div style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 12pt 0.25in" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=+1 face=Optima><B><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Optima"><SPAN>5.<SPAN style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; FONT-VARIANT: normal; FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-SIZE: 7pt; FONT-WEIGHT: normal"> </SPAN></SPAN></SPAN></B><B><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Optima">Mentoring Program. </SPAN></B><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Optima">The project will improve the outcomes of the graduates of FSU’s </SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Optima; COLOR: black">Visual Disabilities Program</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Optima"> at both the undergraduate and graduate levels by continuing to develop and implement a mentoring program to support the future teachers throughout their training and during their first year of teaching.</SPAN><B><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Optima"></SPAN></B></FONT></div>
<div style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=+1 face=Optima><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Optima">“It is our hope that this grant will result in an additional 27 teachers of students with visual impairments who have undergraduate degrees and 33 who have master’s degrees as well as interdisciplinary training in other special education areas,” McKenzie said.</SPAN></FONT></div>
<div style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=+1 face=Optima><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Optima">In addition to the main FSU campus and the satellite campus in Miami, the Visual Disabilities Program prepares professionals to work with children with visual impairments at the University Partnership Center, located at St. Petersburg College in Seminole.</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Optima"></SPAN></FONT></div>
<div class=MsoNormal><FONT size=+1 face=Optima><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Optima">Since the Program in Visual Impairment was established in 1963, more than 800 individuals have completed certification requirements and/or received a degree in this manner.</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Optima"></SPAN></FONT></div>
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