A U.S. Department of Education report shows that 39 states and Washington, D.C., reported an insufficient supply of teachers who are trained to support students with high-intensity needs for the 2024-25 school year.

In response, UCF is collaborating with five other universities to create the Special Education Teacher Education Policy, Practice and Research Doctoral Training Consortium, or Project SPARC. The collaborative doctoral training consortium will prepare 22 scholars for leadership positions in higher-education institutions across the nation. Project SPARC’s goal is to increase the number of leaders in exceptional student education with expertise in evidence-based and responsive instruction, interventions and services that improve outcomes for children with high-intensity needs.

Matthew Marino, director of the Toni Jennings Exceptional Education Institute at UCF, serves as co-principal investigator on the consortium. Partner universities include Florida State University, George Mason University, North Carolina State University, Texas A&M University and University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Marino says the idea was sparked at the Higher Education Consortium for Special Education’s Winter Summit, which took place in Washington, D.C., in January. There, experts developed the idea to recruit scholars from across different institutions nationwide and their combined knowledge to leverage the best resources and practices.

“We’re going to be preparing these doctoral students for special education leadership, and the ultimate idea is that each one of those individuals will then go out and prepare their own students to combat the nationwide exceptional student education teacher shortage,” Marino says. “We’re talking about serving students who have the most intense needs and require the most support. They need teachers who are adequately prepared to do that, and that’s really what this is about.”

Funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs, the five-year, $6.5 million grant empowers the consortium to address the exceptional student education teacher shortage. One of just two such awards given, Project SPARC aims to accomplish this by equipping each scholar with expertise in teaching, research, recruitment, retention, policy, advocacy and research-to-practice partnerships. Collectively, these scholars stand to impact 11,000 students with disabilities annually.

Of the 22 total scholars across the six universities, five will call UCF home and ultimately graduate with a fully funded doctoral degree in exceptional education. The consortium model, however, is unique in that it operates on a shared set of coursework and experiences connecting the students across all partner universities, including opportunities for them to network and present together. The shared series of courses will be taught at different institutions on a rotating basis.

“For example, at UCF, in the summer of year two, I will be teaching a grant-writing class that will be offered to all participating students,” Marino says. “These classes also give us a recruiting mechanism to bring in future faculty who we know are highly prepared because we’ll have worked with them during their doctoral program.”

Additionally, each scholar will have the opportunity to participate in unique internships at any of the six different sites.

“Because of that, we have an opportunity to bring people in to see how students with high-intensity needs can integrate into an active community and hone job skills,” Marino says.

Marino and the Project SPARC team are currently recruiting for the first cohort, which is set to begin in Fall 2025. Eligible candidates must have a master’s degree and at least three years of teaching or comparable experience. They’ll also need to demonstrate commitment to a full-time, in-person doctoral program. Each will receive significant benefits, including tuition assistance, stipends, health insurance, and research and relocation funding. Potential candidates interested in more information on Project SPARC should contact Marino.

“Leveraging our resources and contributions to evidence-based practices is going to be highly beneficial to the group, and I’m excited to be working with some of the best people in the country on this project,” Marino says.

Researcher Credentials

Marino is a professor of exceptional student education in UCF’s School of Teacher Education. He is also the principal investigator for the Inclusive Education Services program, which aims to enhance workforce readiness and participation for young adults with intellectual disabilities. His research focuses on game-based learning, STEM education, universal design for learning, school-to-work transition and teacher preparation. His research has been supported in part by over $17 million in federal grants from the Institute of Education Sciences, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs and the U.S. National Science Foundation.