U.S. Department of Education Funded Professional Preparation Programs - Masters/Bachelors Programs

Overview of Adapted Physical Education and Therapeutic Recreation Personnel Development Grants

Each year the United States Department of Education-Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Programs (OSERS) (http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/osers/osep/programs.html) awards personnel development grants to colleges and universities to prepare persons in the following categories across many special education areas:  leadership (doctoral level); early intervention and early childhood; low-incidence; high-incidence; related services (including therapeutic recreation), speech/language, and adapted physical education.

This federal grant competition is entitled Special Education--Personnel Development to Improve Services and Results for Children with Disabilities.  The purpose of the program is to: (1) help address state-identified needs for highly qualified personnel in special education, related services, early intervention, and regular education to work with children with disabilities, and (2) ensure that those personnel have the skills and knowledge, derived from practices that have been determined through research and experience to be successful, needed to serve these children. For further information about this program, see page 258 of the “Guide to U.S. Department of Education Programs at http://www.ed.gov/programs/gtep/gtep.pdf.

Colleges and universities awarded these grants can provide financial assistance to qualified persons wishing to pursue advanced academic study.  According to each university’s programs, academic study may be at the bachelors, masters, or doctoral level.  Many universities have been federally funded specifically in adapted physical education or therapeutic recreation at several degree levels.  These federal grants are awarded to select universities annually for 3-4 years through a competitive process, and financial assistance is then awarded to students through the individual institution.

The schools listed below currently have federal grants and may have funding available for eligible persons wishing to pursue advanced academic preparation in adapted physical education or therapeutic recreation.  Contact these individual programs for specific requirements.

Adapted Physical Education Personnel Development Grants:

California:  California State University, Chico (APE Credential and masters level program) http://www.csuchico.edu/kine/ape/index.html

Hawaii: University of Hawaii at Manoa (masters level program) http://www.coe.hawaii.edu/krs/masters/pe

New York: State University of New York-College at Brockport 2006-2010 (masters level program) http://www.brockport.edu/pes/grad/gradape/index.html

North Carolina: North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University 2006-2010 (masters level program) Program Information PDF

Oregon: Oregon State University 2009-2012 (masters and doctoral level programs) http://www.hhs.oregonstate.edu/nes/movement-studies-disabilities

Pennsylvania: Slippery Rock University 2008-2012 (masters level program) Department of Exercise and Rehabilitative Sciences http://academics.sru.edu/graduate/Academic%20Programs/AdaptedPhysicalActivityBridge.htm

Texas: Texas Woman’s University 2009-2013 (masters level program) http://www.twu.edu//kinesiology/

Utah: University of Utah 2007-2011 (masters level program) http://www.health.utah.edu/ess/graduate/physEd/

Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin-La Crosse 2007-2011 (masters and bachelor levels programs) http://www.uwlax.edu/sah/ess/sape/index.htm

Therapeutic Recreation Personnel Development Grants:

North Carolina: University of North Carolina at Greensboro 2007-2011 (undergraduate and masters level program) http://www.uncg.edu/rth/TRAIN.html