About STEP=UP

Dave works with STEP=UP studentsThe STEP=UP program is designed to recruit and prepare both exceptional teachers and university faculty who are dedicated to working in urban settings with children, adolescents, and families from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

STEP=UP offers a Master's Degree program, which addresses the shortage of certified special educators in schools across the country, as well as a Leadership Scholars program, which prepares candidates for positions as university faculty members. In both programs, participants benefit from carefully structured seminars and mentoring relationships, all designed to help bridge the gap between coursework and the real-life demands of a career in special education. To further help smooth this transition, STEP=UP has begun developing comprehensive induction materials for new special education teachers, including seminars for recent program graduates and a web-based multimedia module that teachers anywhere in the world can access to help them generate ideas and problem-solve issues of practice.

The work of preparing future teachers and professors goes hand in hand with a robust program of scholarship and inquiry into the methods by which universities prepare special educators. Project directors Marie Tejero Hughes and Michelle Parker-Katz have made numerous poster presentations and published frequently on the design of the STEP=UP program and the Transitioning to Special Education Teaching module. Project members look forward to continuing this scholarship in the future, as more data can be gathered about outcomes of these innovative programs.

Read more about:

Contact Information

To find out more about the STEP=UP project, please email steprecruit@yahoo.com, or feel free to contact one of our staff members individually.

You may also sign up to receive email updates about the project and a copy of our quarterly newsletter through our sign up form.