ABSTRACT
Community colleges are key providers of early childhood teacher and paraprofessional education, and their programs include content knowledge that helps future educators work effectively with young children with and without disabilities in inclusive environments. In this article, we describe the Advancing Community College Efforts in Paraprofessional Training (ACCEPT) Project, a multi-year collaboration to infuse special education content into four North Carolina early childhood workforce education associate degree programs. The goals of the project included creating a climate that fostered and encouraged ongoing community college and university faculty collaboration around the planning, delivery, and assessment of special education content infused within multiple early childhood program courses. Project objectives are presented within the framework employed by Murray (1995, 1998, 1999, 2000) that includes climate, structure, connections with rewards, faculty ownership, colleague support, and perceived value by administrators. Implications for practice include the importance of content, project standards, and faculty ownership.
Funding
The ACCEPT Project is funded through a cooperative agreement [U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) Grant # H325N110001]. The contents of this article do not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Education and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government. Project Officer: Julia Martin Eile.