Project Overview

Data Collection

School Selection

Schools Identified

Research Findings

Beacons and SSESS Home

Institute on Community Integration

You will need the free
Adobe® Reader® to view some of the contents on this site.

Beacons of Excellence

Project overview

To learn about factors associated with inclusive high schools whose students are achieving exemplary results, the Beacons of Excellence project at the Institute on Community Integration, University of Minnesota, (in collaboration with the Council for Exceptional Children) implemented a three-year project, funded by the Office of Special Education Programs.

The project was designed to study how curricula, instruction, leadership, and other factors contribute to exemplary results for all high school students. The conceptual model used to guide the research was built on the framework established by the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for education, which was established in 1998 to recognize performance excellence in schools (National Institute of Standards and Technology [NIST], 1998). Additional input for the model was gathered from a broad group of constituents interested in youth and educational concerns, and school completion and post-school outcomes established by the National Center on Educational Outcomes at the University of Minnesota.

The Process

• What is exemplary & which (Study #1) outcomes are important? (Study #2)
• Who is attaining it? (Site Identification)
• What do they do and (Studies #3, 4, 6-8) why can they do it?
  • Study #3 - Interviews/Focus Groups
  • Study #4 - EBASS (observational study)
  • Study #6 - NSSE Study (stakeholder satisfaction surveys
  • Study #7 - Teacher Practice Self-Report
  • Study #8 - IEP Analysis
• How should it be shared? (Study #5)
• When others try it, does it work? (Next Grant)

Beacons Outcome Framework

• Academic and Functional Literacy
• Career Development and Employment
• Post-Secondary Education and Lifelong Learning
• Independent Living
• School and Community Involvement

Funding Source

U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs Grant # H023D70102

Slide Presentation: Overview of Beacons of Excellence

View graphic version of presentation

Research Team

Research Team, National Advisory Panel Members, and Staff Members

<< Next >>: Data Collection

The Institute on Community Integration, in collaboration with the Council for Exceptional Children, was awarded one of four projects funded by the Office of Special Education Programs in the U.S. Department of Education under a research focus entitled Beacons of Excellence (grant #H023D70102). The Beacons of Excellence research projects are intended to increase our understanding of how schools can improve learning results for students with disabilities. Our project was funded to identify and study secondary schools achieving exemplary learning results for students with disabilities in the context of efforts to achieve exemplary results for all students.