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General
Curriculum Projects
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General Curriculum Projects:
 Based on our belief that all
students should have the opportunity to learn academic
skills like reading and math which is supported by IDEA and
NCLB legislation, the research team at The University of
North Carolina a t
Charlotte has undertaken a series of studies aimed at
finding ways to teach academic skills to students with
significant cognitive disabilities that are linked to grade
level content standards. Our purpose is to improve the
educational programs of these students through research that
opens new opportunities for learning. Our success is
measured by the extent to which we increase expectations and
positive outcomes for these students.
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For students with
significant cognitive disabilities to have full access to the
general curriculum they must have opportunities and
instructional support to learn the core academic content typical
of their grade level. The purpose of the University of North
Carolina at Charlotte General Curriculum Projects is to
research and develop evidence-based practices for assessing and
teaching academic content that is aligned with grade level
standards. To achieve this purpose we have assembled a team not
only of researchers in severe disabilities, but also researchers
from high incidence disabilities, reading, math, and science
education and measurement and evaluation.
 We are a partner with
the Charlotte Mecklenburg School System.
Our primary partner
within the school system is the Exceptional Children’s Division,
but we also benefit from the expertise of researchers,
measurement, and curriculum experts within this system. The
teachers within CMS have also been our teachers as they
work closely with us to implement and evaluate new ideas. By
partnering with a large urban system we are also fortunate
to have access to a large population of students with low
incidence disabilities. Our goal is to serve students and
their parents by implementing research that not only answers
national questions, but improves the educational program of
each student who participates.
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Our research has two major
strands- alternate assessment and academic instruction. We are a
partner with the National Center on Alternate Assessment at the
University of Kentucky (www.naacpartners.org) As a partner, our work focuses primarily
on the alignment between assessment, curriculum, and instruction
for students who participate in alternate assessments. Our
second strand focuses on teaching literacy, math, and science. One of our projects, RAISE, is one of the U.S. Department of
Education’s national centers on reading for this population and
involves a longitudinal students on teaching reading to
elementary-age students with emergent literacy skills. Our model
demonstration project on Reading, Writing, Math, and Science
also includes literacy research as well as math and science.
This website also contains information from some of our earlier
projects on alternate assessment and general curriculum access.
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I hope that you will find
the information contained in this website useful to your work on
behalf of students with significant cognitive disabilities. We
welcome your feedback which you can give us by
clicking here. We also would be delighted to hear about your innovations, new
ideas, resources, and questions for future research. Thank you
for taking the time to visit us.
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Diane
M. Browder, PhD
Snyder
Distinguished Professor of Special Education
General Curriculum Projects Director
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Curriculum Project Office Special Education & Child Development
Department
College of Education Building
9201 University City Blvd
Charlotte, NC 28223-0001
Phone: (704) 687-8492
Fax: (704) 687-2916
Click here to send us feedback about our
website or your questions, comments and concerns.
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General
Curriculum Home
