Many college programs for students with intellectual disabilities are not accredited. A new grant-funded effort aims to change that.
The U.S. Department of Education awarded $1 million to the University of Rochester and the Inclusive Higher Education Accreditation Council to improve the quality of higher education opportunities at college campuses across the nation.
The project, “Advancing Workforce Outcomes through Postsecondary Program Accreditation,” aims to establish accreditation for collegiate programs that are designed for students with intellectual disabilities.
“These would be programs where students with intellectual disability can go to college, can audit classes, attend classes,” said Mary Judge-Diegert, associate director of URochester’s Center for Disability and Education. “They won't graduate as a traditional student will, but they'll complete courses that will allow them to exit with a certificate."
Of more than 350 programs nationwide, about four are accredited, Judge-Diegert said.
“All these years, there hasn't been anything that would set the bar and ensure that there's quality programming that's happening, that there's accountability and that there's consistency across these programs,” she said.
As a condition of the four-year grant, the university is expected to provide professional learning for staff of college programs that are pursuing accreditation and conduct reviews of at least six higher education certification programs.
“Students and their families need clear, reliable information about program quality, student learning, and employment outcomes to make informed decisions,” Martha Mock, executive director of the Inclusive Higher Education Accreditation Council, said in a statement. “Accreditation plays a critical role in ensuring accountability, consistency, and continuous improvement across these postsecondary programs.”
It matters, Judge-Diegert said, because those programs can shape students’ expectations for themselves, and present an opportunity to explore possible life-long ambitions and career options.
One local student who was non-verbal, she said, exemplified this.
“She attended school, like K-12, but was often kept separate in a class with students that had intellectual disability,” Judge-Diegert said. “So they were often just kept together. They didn't — weren't experiencing students without disability or intellectual disability.”
The student’s aunt heard about inclusive higher education and advocated for her to attend a program at the University of Rochester.
"And she did. And it turns out she actually is now very verbal and is really a fantastic artist,” she said. “Either she wasn't in a space that she felt comfortable bringing who she really was out, or no one really asked the right questions or gave her the opportunity to kind of explore different things to see what interested her.”
Inclusion was the key, she said.
“Once she was in a space where she could have access to things that she was curious about, in an inclusive higher education program on a college campus, she was really drawn to art,” she said. “And she blew a lot of people away, including myself.
“Just to see some of her artwork, it's been wonderful.”
