October 18, 2019
Special Education interns participate in reading curriculum training for students with disabilities
Teachers from Lenoir and Wilson Counties joined ECU COE special education students for a professional development workshop.
On September 12 and 13, 2019, teachers from Lenoir and Wilson counties joined East Carolina University special education students in Greenville for a professional development workshop for the Hill Reading Achievement Program (HillRAP). The HillRAP curriculum provides teachers with a research-based, individualized, multisensory, and direct instruction reading program for teaching students with disabilities. The HillRAP training was provided by the Durham-based Hill Learning Center (hillcenter.org), which provides direct services to students in the Triangle and trains educators across the Southeast. The training was held in Mendenhall on ECU’s main campus.
The Special Education-General Curriculum student interns and teachers were able to practice the components of the structured reading program and learn how to use evidence-based practices to address the National Reading Panel’s five key areas of effective reading instruction. Student interns had the opportunity to attend the training through ECU’s participation in North Carolina’s Department of Public Instruction Exceptional Children Division’s State Improvement Project for Improving Instruction for Students with Disabilities (ncsip.org). ECU has participated in the grant project since 2012. Dr. Stacy L. Weiss, Associate Professor in Special Education, leads ECU’s work with the grant.
The group practiced components of the structured reading program and learned how to use evidence-based practices.