Oregonian
June 19th, 2015
Portland State University has been awarded a $1.25 million grant to prepare bilingual teachers to work with students with autism and other profound disabilities.
Julie Esparza Brown, a PSU education professor newly elected to the Portland school board, won the grant from the U.S. Department of Education and will co-direct the training.
The program will enroll seven graduate students each year for five years, and train them for one year full-time or two years part-time to get a master's degree in special education. Most if not all will enter the program already fluent in English and another language, primarily Spanish, Brown said.
The grant will cover nearly all their tuition plus the costs of some credentialing tests and specialize training, Brown said.