KU leading partnership to develop new special education leaders across the country

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas has secured a $3.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs to lead a new special education leadership program. 

Project ALIGNS, Advancing Leadership Through Interdisciplinary Graduate Networks in Special Education, is a university consortium designed to prepare the next generation of special education faculty, researchers, policymakers and systems leaders. 

The project brings together the strengths of KU, Howard University and the University of Kentucky to address critical national needs in leadership preparation and personnel development in special education.

Project ALIGNS is led by Lisa Dieker, Williamson Family Distinguished Professor of Special Education at KU, in collaboration with KU co-principal investigators Kathleen Lane, Maggie Mosher and Mark Buckman. Together with faculty and leadership partners across the three universities, the project will create a national network dedicated to preparing highly skilled leaders capable of advancing research, policy, educator preparation and services for individuals with disabilities.

Nationwide shortages of special education faculty, researchers, administrators and policy leaders have created an urgent need for advanced leadership preparation programs capable of developing future scholars and systems leaders. Project ALIGNS was created to address that need by combining doctoral preparation, leadership development, mentorship and authentic field experiences across multiple institutions and professional settings.

“Project ALIGNS reflects our commitment to preparing scholars who can lead meaningful change in special education,” Dieker said. “By bringing together nationally recognized expertise across universities and connecting scholars with leaders throughout the country, we are creating a powerful pathway for developing the next generation of faculty, researchers and systems leaders.”

The partnership brings together institutions with nationally recognized and complementary expertise. KU contributes the nation’s No. 1 ranked special education program, internationally recognized expertise in artificial intelligence and educational technology, leadership in tiered intervention systems and longstanding partnerships with school districts, state education agencies and community organizations across the United States.

Howard University, a historically Black university founded in 1867, brings a longstanding tradition of scholars and professionals across disciplines. The Communication Sciences and Disorders Department offers graduate preparation in speech-language pathology, with doctoral alumni serving in academic, research, government and professional leadership roles. Led by Tahnee Wilder, Howard’s Project ALIGNS contribution connects speech-language pathology, language, executive functioning and artificial intelligence.

“Howard’s Communication Sciences and Disorders program brings a vital perspective on communication and language to our shared work in special education and technology. We’re preparing future leaders to ask questions together, learn from one another’s expertise, and carry that collaborative approach into research, education and policy,” Wilder said. “What’s most exciting about Project ALIGNS is how much our scholars can learn from one another across disciplines.”

The University of Kentucky’s Visual Impairment Program specializes in personnel preparation, equipping teachers of the visually impaired and orientation and mobility specialists. Amanda Lannan and Donna Brostek Lee lead the Kentucky team. 

Together, the three institutions create a unique doctoral leadership model that combines expertise in educational leadership, artificial intelligence, technology, tiered intervention systems, disability research, educator preparation and systems change.

"As a blind scholar and former classroom teacher, I know that access changes what is possible, in school and far beyond it," Lannan said. "Project ALIGNS gives us the chance to prepare leaders who make access the expectation, not the exception, in research, policy and practice across the country."

Through shared coursework, collaborative research, executive mentoring, leadership internships and participation in a national Leadership Consortium, Project ALIGNS scholars will engage directly with university faculty, state and local education leaders, policymakers and national organizations shaping the future of special education and related services. Scholars will have opportunities to learn across institutions while building professional networks that span higher education, schools, government agencies and community organizations.

The project emphasizes leadership development, interdisciplinary collaboration, research productivity, mentorship and authentic leadership experiences that connect scholarship to real-world challenges. Scholars will complete leadership internships with superintendents, state education leaders and other executive-level educational leaders across the country to gain firsthand experience addressing complex school, district and state-level challenges. Graduates will be prepared to assume leadership roles in higher education, state and local education agencies, school districts, research centers, community organizations and policy settings where they can influence outcomes for individuals with disabilities and their families.

Applications are currently being accepted for the inaugural cohort beginning in fall 2027. Selected scholars may receive up to four years of support, including tuition, stipends, mentoring, leadership development experiences, national networking opportunities and intensive leadership internships through Project ALIGNS.

“Growing up in a reservation city with the second-highest illiteracy rate in the nation, I didn’t have access to special education professionals trained to support twice-exceptional students like me,” said Mosher, KU co-principal investigator on the project. “Project ALIGNS is about building a pipeline of faculty, researchers, educators and policy leaders who can close gaps, so the next generation of students has what I did not, a collaborative cohort of trained leaders at every level.”