Doctoral Training in Learning Disabilities
Special education faces a shortage of university faculty, a situation predicted to worsen over time. New doctoral graduates who assume faculty positions will encounter new and increasing challenges to improving educational outcomes for students with learning disabilities (SWLD). For example, the LD literature reveals a surprising and disappointing lack of attention to interventions for improving reading and math outcomes for SWLD, with few intervention studies and even fewer that employ randomized controlled research designs, which represent the highest standard of evidence to support the effectiveness of an intervention, and are being increasingly required to obtain research funding.
Furthermore, many future special education personnel are unprepared to work with students from diverse backgrounds. Faculty must collaborate with public school personnel, disseminate their findings in a manner that informs practitioners as well as researchers, and successfully train future teachers to employ research validated practices. In addition, it is critical that the ranks of special education faculty are diversified to reflect the cultural and linguistic backgrounds of our nation's schoolchildren.
The Leadership Training Program in LD incorporates an innovative approach to training leadership personnel in the area of LD to address these needs to (1) Design and conduct randomized controlled studies in reading, mathematics, and writing; (2) forge university-school partnerships; (3) disseminate research-based interventions using state-of-the-art dissemination methods; (4) effectively prepare undergraduate and master's level students in how to use research-based interventions; (5) develop and test interventions appropriate for use in general education; and (6) work effectively with culturally and linguistically diverse populations.
The Program includes:
- Full tuition leading to the Ph.D. degree
- Monthly living stipend for which 20 hours per week is required working on a research study
- Full-time student status
Participating faculty include:
Douglas Fuchs, Lynn Fuchs, Donald Compton, and Naomi Tyler.
For more information, contact Donald Compton, phone: 615-322-8282, email: donald.l.compton@vanderbilt.edu
Apply online!
