Stonehill College Wins $1,106,348 Federal Grant to Expand Special Education Teacher Training on Cape Cod and the Islands
Stonehill College, in North Easton, Bristol County, Massachusetts, announced that it has secured a $1,106,348 grant from the U.S. Department of Education to expand special education teacher training on Cape Cod and the Islands through Project CAPE. The funding was secured by Elizabeth Stringer Keefe, associate vice president and dean of Graduate and Professional Studies, and Rebekah Louis, director of Graduate Teacher Education.
Project CAPE, short for Credentialing, Advancing, and Preparing Educators in Special Education, will give 24 prospective teachers comprehensive support, including tuition, to earn Massachusetts special education licensure, a Master of Education degree, or both. An additional 20 early-career Cape Cod teachers will receive support to earn the Massachusetts Autism Endorsement through a 15- to 18-credit graduate certificate, building autism expertise within local schools and districts.
The project will also research the factors that influence the recruitment and retention of special educators in the region, with a focus on rural, geographically isolated and island communities. Massachusetts lists special education as a shortage area, and 15 of the 23 towns on Cape Cod and the Islands are classified as rural, leaving qualified special education teachers in short supply.
The grant comes through the federal Personnel Development to Improve Services and Results for Children with Disabilities program. Since 2021, Stonehill has run a weekend master's degree site on Cape Cod at the Riverview School in Sandwich. "We are honored to receive this grant, which is an endorsement of the excellence that students can expect when they choose Stonehill," Stringer Keefe said. "Over the past several years, the College has expanded its presence on the Cape, investing significant time and resources to make our offerings accessible to future practitioners from the region."
Stonehill College announcement
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: Stonehill学院MacPhaidin图书馆（资料图）。Kenneth C. Zirkel 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / MacPhaidin Library at Stonehill College (file photo). Photo by Kenneth C. Zirkel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
