UNLV's department of special education was recently awarded a $632,000 grant by the U.S. Department of Education. The highly competitive grant was awarded through the Fund for the Improvement of Post-secondary Education (FIPSE) program. The FIPSE program supports innovative educational improvement projects that respond to problems of national significance, such as the national teacher shortage.

The funds will be used to help teachers who are already in classrooms through alternative licensure programs learn the best techniques and tools for teaching special education students, said Kyle Higgins, project director and a professor of special education.

"With 20,000 to 30,000 teaching positions open across the country, many school districts have started alternative licensure programs that place new teachers in the classroom who don't hold degrees in special education, or even in education," Higgins said. "Right now, so many of the teachers are 'flying solo' without some of the educational tools they need for teaching special education students. Our goal is to give those teachers 24-hour access to what we call learning modules, or tools for learning the best practices in teaching."

This year, UNLV is partnering with the Clark County School District to develop and implement the learning modules for area teachers. Next year, UNLV will work with another university and school district to implement the program. In the third year, the program will expand to four other institutions before being made available nationwide.