JOHNSON CITY – East Tennessee State University’s Dr. Dawn Rowe, a professor and the Quillen Chair of Excellence at Clemmer College, is collaborating on a national project aimed at a range of improvements for those with disabilities.
Rowe and her team were awarded a grant worth more than $3 million earlier this year
to support the project.
“We are deeply honored to receive funding for this important project, and work has already started,” said Rowe, who is working with Dr. Valerie Mazzotti from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, a team from the Oregon Research Institute and ETSU’s Dr. Sara Beth Hitt. “This project is especially relevant given the recent mandates of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act related to providing pre-employment transition services to students with disabilities.”
The research team is working with high schools to evaluate the effectiveness of the
CIRCLES model. The goal of the CIRCLES model is to enhance outcomes for students with
disabilities by improving interagency collaboration among educators and community
partners. Dozens of high schools – 35 in Tennessee and 35 in Arkansas – are participating.
“We are so proud of Dr. Rowe and the team she is working with on this incredibly critical
project,” said Dr. Janna Scarborough, dean of Clemmer College. “The work of improving
post-school outcomes for high school students with disabilities deserves serious attention,
and Clemmer College is proud to support this endeavor.”
In the months ahead, Rowe and the research team will examine a range of measures,
including student engagement, graduation rates and post-school outcomes.
“The work that Dr. Rowe is doing is absolutely central to the mission of ETSU, which
is to improve the quality of life for our region and beyond,” said Dr. Kimberly D.
McCorkle, ETSU provost and senior vice president for Academics. “I commend Dr. Rowe
and her team for receiving this funding and external recognition of the importance
of this project and its potential impact.”