The changing demographics within the United States and in particular in the Arizona public schools, point to the need for preparing special education teachers who have the knowledge and competencies for developing and designing special education programs for the rapidly increasing population of students from linguistically and culturally diverse backgrounds, particularly Hispanic and Native American, with learning disabilities. At present, there is a critical shortage of well prepared special education teachers and a significant underrepresentation of teachers from diverse backgrounds in the field of special education (Cook & Boe, 1995; Smith & Pierce, 1995). This accentuates the urgency to train qualified personnel in the field of learning disabilities who can provide culturally and linguistically appropriate expertise in the identification, placement, and instruction of students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds in diverse educational settings.

In Arizona, Senate Bill 1160 which took effect in the Fall of 1987 mandates that any school district which has ten or more limited English proficient students in any program or grade shall be instructed by personnel with a bilingual or English as a Second Language (ESL) endorsement. The proportion of Hispanic and Native-American students in the public schools is even greater in the southern part of the state where the University of Arizona is located, and the proportion is projected to increase significantly into the twenty-first century. The 1999 statistics from the Arizona Department of Education indicate that about 33% or 45,232 students served in the learning disability category are of Hispanic background and 8% are Native-American. According to the Arizona Department of Education (1999), there are only 6 bilingually endorsed special education teachers and 293 ESL endorsed special education teachers in the state. In a recent survey of the Southern Arizona Special Education Administrator's Association which represents over 60 school districts, there was an identified need in the next three years for over 100 LD teachers. The preference and need for filling these positions as voiced by directors of Special Education was for teachers with bilingual/ESL education expertise.

The purpose of Project Interface 2000 is to recruit and train 25-30 educators to serve Hispanic and Native-American students with special learning needs. Personnel trained in Project Interface 2000 will be able to assume the role of educational diagnostician and/or teacher of LEP/bilingual students with disabilities in a variety of educational settings. This competency based program of study will be provided through an interdisciplinary collaborative effort between the Department of Special Education, Rehabilitation and School Psychology, the Department of Language, Reading, and Culture, the Department of Teaching and Teacher Education, and the Department of English.

The project provides students with:
 
     a. a high quality pre-service program with course work in 
        special education, learning disabilities, bilingual education, 
        and English as a second language that reflects the use of current 
        research-based assessment and intervention practices;
 
     b. a variety of public school experiences in high poverty urban/rural 
        schools involving the provision of services to students from culturally 
        and linguistically diverse backgrounds with learning disabilities 
        in inclusive and other settings;
 
     c. experiences in interdisciplinary clinical and academic settings
        with Hispanic and Native-American students with learning 
        disabilities;
 
     d. experiences involving collaboration and consultation with general
        and bilingual educators to meet the needs of Hispanic and 
        Native-American students with learning disabilities in the general 
        and bilingual education classrooms.
 
The improvements made in Project Interface III include: 
    (1) New course work in collaboration and consultation and educational 
        technology; 
    (2) a clinical summer practicum/internship for part-time students; 
    (3) the establishment of a mentoring program for students in the program; 
        and 
    (4) release time for part-time students to complete internship competencies 
        will be provided by local school districts where these students are 
        employed. 

PROJECT DIRECTOR:

Todd Fletcher, Ph.D.

Department of Special Education, Rehabilitation, & School Psychology
      The University of Arizona
      College of Education
      1430 E. 2nd Street
      P.O. Box 210069
      Tucson, Arizona 85721-0069
         Phone: (520) 621-0939
           FAX: (520) 621-3821
         Email: toddf@u.arizona.edu

Secretary: Patricia Foreman, (520) 621-3216 - Email: pforeman@u.arizona.edu

View: LD/Bilingual Education Scope of Program,

Verano en Mexico, (SERP 575/599) a bilingual foreign study program sponsored by
The University of Arizona and the Study Abroad Office
Verano En Mexico Education in Mexico  Brochure
Pictures from Verano en Mexico:  foreign study abroad

The home page for the Department of Special Education, Rehabilitation, & School Psychology is: SERSP,

INTERFACE III / VERANO Web Pages created by Patricia Foreman