In order for America's schools to achieve the vision of Goals 2000, a number of complex problems must be overcome including improved teaching strategies. While a strong knowledge base of effective instructional practices exists, one of the problems facing educators is the lack of an infrastructure to systematically and continuously infuse this knowledge into teacher education programs. Central to closing this gap between validated, research-based instructional strategies and school-based instructional practices is effective and constant dissemination of validated strategies by preservice and inservice teacher education programs.

The Academy is funded by the Office of Special Education Programs to improve instruction by infusing research-based interventions into the teacher education curriculum. The Academy model takes advantage of web-based technologies to maximize the delivery of all Academy instructional programs and associated products. The model builds from a history at the University of Kansas of translating research into practice, instructional databases, and research in the content areas of reading, positive behavioral support, and the use of technology by teachers to improve instruction. The skills of the people who have been a part of this history are brought together in the Academy initiative. A major goal is to ensure access via the WWW for all preservice teacher education programs to Academy instructional modules. An extranet model will be designed to allow participating teacher education programs nationally to mirror on their server all programs developed by the Academy. In addition, the model is designed to be sustainable beyond the life of the Academy.

Representatives from across the nation will participate in the process of selecting research to be translated into instructional modules. The focus will be on (a) identifying validated instructional practices that promise to improve learning for children with disabilities; (b) developing instructional resources around these selected practices in a modular format that allows teacher educators maximum flexibility for integrating them into their coursework ; (c) identifying existing or creating new electronic networking tools to facilitate communication between teacher educators and student interns implementing the selected practices; and (d) developing rapid deployment protocols (RDP) through both print and electronic media to ensure extensibility, sustainability, and wide distribution of the modules.

The rapid deployment protocol is at the heart of the Academy process. It involves: (a) a beta site model for reviewing and testing modular content; (b) internet delivery of all print materials and multimedia materials of reasonable size for existing bandwidth limitations; and (c) smart tools for harvesting new or associated information on a particular topic. RDP will be responsive to the real world of teachers, students in training programs, and teacher educators by making programs and products available when needed and in easily understood and implemented formats.

The instructional programs on research-based interventions will also be designed to assist faculty members in moving from their current teaching styles to methodologies that are more performance-based, tied to the practical realities of classrooms, and that make use of emerging technologies. In brief, a common thread through the instructional programs of the Academy will be the use of technology to enhance collaboration among faculty, teachers, students in training, and the research community. The modules and the dissemination model will be designed so that program graduates can continue to access instruction on research-based interventions as they enter the teaching profession.