Loyola faculty receive grant to help develop courses for special education leaders
Irene Bal, lecturer in the Educational Technology Program, and Kelly Keane, Ed.D.,
senior lecturer and director of the Educational Technology Program at Loyola University
Maryland, have been awarded a $100,000 grant from the Maryland State Department of
Education (MSDE), Division of Early Intervention/Special Education Services.
The grant will assist with the design, development, and pilot testing of four to five
fully online micro-credential courses to address Individualized Education Program
(IEP) meetings and support IEP chairpersons in Maryland public schools. The support
from this grant is focused on narrowing the gap for children and youth with disabilities
and their families by focusing on access, equity, and progress through a credentialing
system for IEP chairs.
“Through competency-based learning, we are creating systems to ensure IEP chairperson
who go through this program can demonstrate the skills needed to communicate, collaborate,
and facilitate IEPs in both in-person and online environments,” said Keane.
These micro-credentials for Maryland Special Education Services Chairs will support
special education school leaders in navigating the legal requirements for IEPs, quality
components of IEPs, and the communication, facilitation, coaching and information
dissemination of the IEP process through the lens of their local school system in
Maryland.
Bal and Keane will partner with the MSDE, Division of Early Intervention/Special Education
Services, and the Maryland Coalition of Inclusive Education to develop and launch
this new series of courses. The courses will be designed through the spring and summer
of 2021 with a pilot test including 50 Maryland IEP chairpersons beginning in fall
2021. The grant, “Micro-Credentials for Maryland Special Education Services Chairs
- Addressing Best Practices for Leading IEP Meetings,” will run through February 2022.
“We are excited to work with our partners to support Maryland students and families
for equitable access to learning,” said Bal. “Through this partnership, we will create
courses that focus on the legal components of IEPs and support IEP chairpersons in
the communication and collaboration skills needed in this socially distanced learning
environment.”
Bal and Keane received an additional award from the MSDE to continue their work creating
micro-credentials for Maryland IEP Chairpersons in ASPIRE, Loyola’s extended learning
community. The award is federally funded through the Department of Education’s Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), discretionary grant and passes through MSDE.
This grant provides an additional $46,000 for the team to continue their work and
will support 50 participants to test the micro-credentials in summer 2022.
More about Loyola’s Educational Technology Program
Loyola's Educational Technology graduate program is designed to assist students with becoming educational technology leaders at the
school and district level by emphasizing a conscientious approach to technology that
goes beyond the latest trends. Loyola’s comprehensive course of study blends practical
applications of technology integration—whether developing, implementing, or administering
technological resources or curriculum—with ethical, philosophical, and theoretical
perspectives. Students gain hands-on experience and opportunities to pursue educational
technology research and scholarship, as well as strategies to improve pedagogy and
instructional practice. Loyola’s M.Ed. program is nationally recognized by the International
Society for Technology in Education.
This press release was updated on Dec. 14, 2021.