Purpose
Kentucky Educators Maximizing Postsecondary Outcomes for Workforce and Education Results for Students (Kentucky EMPOWERS) seeks to increase the quality of transition programming throughout Kentucky school districts in the areas of student skills, career development, collaborative systems, policy and Individual Education Program (IEP) development by implementing a tiered model of professional learning. This program model will have three levels of professional learning including universal supports, targeted coaching through a cohort model and a community of practice.
The program model will include three levels of professional learning: Level 1, universal support; Level 2, a cohort model with blended asynchronous and synchronous activities; and Level 3, membership within a community of practice. Program co-directors will oversee the development and implementation of Level 1 universal support and Level 2 training activities. Coaching support for participants in Levels 2 and 3 will be provided by coaching and training specialists. Evaluation activities include the collection of formative and summative data (quantitative and qualitative) to assess the impact of professional learning on the capacity of participants to build capacity and gain implementation fidelity in the five Kentucky EMPOWERS focus areas.
Explore Cohort Projects
2023 Connecticut
The purpose of this project is to build the capacity of educators through robust professional learning activities to foster high quality progress monitoring, data collection, and data based decisions to develop IEP goals, and adjust the student’s educational program when needed.
2023 Northern Mariana Islands
The Project Higai improves educational results of children with disabilities through: (a) establishing a stakeholder-responsive professional development (PD) system that engages special education, general education, and families to ensure PD translates to improved practice; (b) expanding current
2023 Alaska
The GREAT Alaska project will increase the number of special education teachers that are local to rural districts and less likely to leave the district and increase all teachers’ capacity to better provide reading intervention and instruction to Native Alaska students with disabilities.