Special Education Research and Development Center Program and Other Special Initiatives

The Special Education Research and Development (R & D) Center Program contributes to the solution of significant special education and early intervention problems in the United States. The R & D Centers engage in research, development, evaluation, and national leadership activities aimed at improving child outcomes through enhancements in the special education and early intervention systems. Each Center conducts a focused program of research in a specific topic area and works cooperatively with the Institute to provide relatively rapid research and scholarship on supplemental questions that emerge within the Center's topic area and that are not being addressed adequately elsewhere. In addition, each Center provides national leadership in advancing evidence-based practice and policy within its topic area. To date, there have been seven National R&D Centers.

There is also one NCSER special initiative included below, which tackles the problem of academic achievement of students with learning disabilities who demonstrate the most intractable learning problems.

• National Disability Center for Student Success
  This Center is exploring the experiences, obstacles, and opportunities to support the success of postsecondary students with disabilities while enrolled in postsecondary programs and institutions and as they enter the workforce.
• Special Education Research and Development Center on Reading Instruction for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students
  This Center explored language and literacy skills in early elementary school students who are deaf or hard of hearing as well as developing and testing interventions to improve the early reading skills of these students.
• Center on Secondary Education for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (CSESA)
  This Center developed and evaluated the efficacy of a comprehensive school-based treatment model for high school students with ASD.
• Center for Response to Intervention in Early Childhood
  This Center developed and tested intensive preschool language and literacy interventions for use within an RtI model. The team also developed and validated an assessment system linked to the interventions.
• National Research and Development Center on Improving Mathematics Instruction for Students with Mathematics Difficulties
  This Center conducted exploratory studies to establish the conceptual and procedural knowledge for understanding fractions and identify the key cognitive processes. In addition, the team developed an intervention package for students with math difficulties to improve their fraction skills.
• National Research and Development Center on Serious Behavior Disorders at the Secondary Level
  This Center developed and evaluated the efficacy of intervention strategies to reduce significant behavioral and academic challenges experienced by high school students with behavior disorders.
• National Research and Development Center on Assessment and Accountability for Special Education
  This Center is identifying academic growth trajectories of students with disabilities. The team has also been developing and testing various approaches for measuring the achievement growth of students with disabilities for use in accountability systems.

Special Initiative

• Accelerating the Academic Achievement of Students with Learning Disabilities

Center on Secondary Education for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (CSESA)

CSESA, based at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, focuses on developing, adapting, and evaluating a comprehensive school and community-based education program for high school students on the autism spectrum.

• Learn More about this R&D Center
• CSESA Website

Center for Literacy and Deafness (CLAD)

CLAD is exploring child and instructional factors that affect language and literacy skills in early elementary school students who are deaf or hard of hearing as well as developing and testing interventions designed for deaf or hard of hearing struggling readers in this grade range.

• Learn more about this R&D Center
• CLAD website

National Education Research and Development Centers

The National Center for Education Research also funds R&D Centers that address important issues in education at all levels.

• National Education Research and Development Centers

Special Education Research Programs

• Special Education Research
• Special Education Research and Development Centers
• Research Training Programs in Special Education
• Low-Cost, Short-Duration Evaluations
• Research Networks Focused on Critical Problems of Policy and Practice in Special Education
• Small Business Innovation Research
• NCER Education Research