“This is a wonderful project because we often don’t look at students’ own perceptions. Students with and without disabilities will be asked to conduct self-assessments on how well they think they are prepared for college. This will help us better understand if (and if so, how) students with disabilities differ in terms of college and career readiness. This new measure may also be used as an age-appropriate transition assessment.” — Dr. Allison Lombardi - Director, Postsecondary Disability Services Online Graduate Certificate
Dr. Lombardi Awarded $1.4M Grant
UConn’s Neag School of Education is pleased to announce that Dr. Allison Lombardi, director of the online graduate certificate programs in Special Education Transition to Adulthood and Postsecondary Disability Services, has been awarded $1.4 million in grant funding by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). The funds will be used over four years to create a new measure entitled: “College and Career Readiness for Transition (CCR4T): Development and Validation of a Student Measure.” The project is designed to evaluate the perceptions of high school students, including students with and without disabilities, of their own college and career readiness (CCR). Ultimately, it will provide high school educators in Connecticut, Arkansas, Delaware, Massachusetts, and North Carolina with a validated tool for assessing CCR.
As Dr. Lombardi explains, “While many students lack the necessary academic preparation to enroll and succeed in credit-bearing postsecondary courses, students with disabilities are especially underprepared for enrollment in postsecondary educational settings and are less likely to attain and maintain employment or pursue post-secondary educational experiences that will prepare them for jobs and careers.”
As Principal Investigator, Dr. Lombardi will be joined by three co-investigators from the University of Connecticut, including Drs. Hariharan Swaminathan, H. Jane Rogers, and Jennifer Freeman, as well as Dr. Mary E. Morningstar from Portland State University and Dr. Valerie Mazzotti from UNC Charlotte.