Special services.

This March, the U.S. Department of Education will announce the names of six states chosen to take part in the development of a new national education center aimed at improving student achievement, particularly for students with disabilities. The Department awarded a $5 million grant over the next five years to the University of South Florida to establish the Center on State Implementation and Scaling-up of Evidence-based Practices at its Tampa campus, in order to broaden the use of proven, well-researched education strategies. Through a partnership with the universities of Connecticut and Oregon, researchers at South Florida will work initially with the selected states to increase their capacity to provide the technical assistance needed by school districts in such areas as inclusion, assessments and Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) to support the achievement of students with special needs. Lessons learned from these states will be disseminated nationwide through a Web site, conferences and publications.

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