Rutgers University has been awarded a five-year, $3.75 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to launch a project aimed at forging the next generation of highly qualified special education administrators.
The project, titled Preparation of Administrators in Special Education (PASE), will be led by Rutgers in partnership with the University of South Carolina (USC) and Northern Arizona University (NAU). Training for the first cohort of scholars is anticipated to begin in January 2026.
PASE is designed to address a critical shortage of qualified special education leaders. Many districts currently allow individuals without a special education certificate to fill administrative positions, leading to gaps in their understanding of the laws, policies, and practices that protect students with disabilities.
The program will recruit and select doctoral students from certified special education teachers who have at least three years of full-time experience working with students with disabilities. It will ensure that future district-level directors and supervisors have both strong backgrounds in special education and extensive administrative training.
“Project PASE integrates the fields of special education and educational administration to develop solutions for supervising and managing complex administrative challenges… such as planning, supervising, mentoring and the evaluation of evidence-based practices,” Dake Zhang, PASE program coordinator and professor of special education at Rutgers Graduate School of Education (GSE), said. She added that the program emphasizes serving high-needs districts and high-poverty schools.
PASE scholars will earn a doctoral degree in education over approximately four and a half years. The curriculum blends hybrid coursework taught by Rutgers experts with research projects, a dissertation, virtual seminars, and required internships.
A key feature of the grant is its financial support for the students:
- The majority of the $3.75 million federal grant will be used to cover doctoral students’ full tuition and stipends, which include funds for books, travel and summer housing.
Christopher Span, dean and of the GSE, highlighted the broader mission. “This grant represents a critical investment in that mission – building a strong leadership pipeline in special education and preparing administrators who are equipped with the knowledge, compassion and innovation needed to ensure that all students have access to the high-quality education and support they deserve.”
The program includes unique cross-institutional and experiential learning components, utilizing the diverse locations of the partner universities:
- Rutgers: Students will travel to the Rutgers campus for a two-week summer residential course, which includes a local historical field trip experience to education sites in the New Jersey and greater New York area.
- Arizona: Scholars will attend a summer course in Arizona, featuring visits to schools on the Navajo, Hopi, Acoma, San Carlos Apache, or Hualapai reservations to study how settings affect the education of students with disabilities.
- South Carolina: A summer course at USC will focus on program evaluation and coordination, including a field trip to Charleston, S.C., to engage with high-need Gullah schools.
Graduates of the project will be prepared and required to serve as full-time special education administrators dedicated to improving outcomes for students with disabilities across the country.
