Think College National Coordinating Center

Project Description

The Think College National Coordinating Center provides support, coordination, training, and evaluation services for Transition and Postsecondary Education Programs for Students with Intellectual Disabilities (TPSIDs). Our center offers these services to TPSID grantees, as well as other programs for students with intellectual disability nationwide.

Think College is honored to continue the work it began in 2010 when it was first funded as the National Coordinating Center, supporting the growth and enhancement of postsecondary options for students with intellectual disability across the United States. To learn more about the TPSID projects, visit our TPSID web page.

MAP: Location of TPSID grantees

 

Key Activities of the National Coordinating Center

Through these activities and national leadership and dissemination strategies, the National Coordinating Center will increase knowledge across all target audiences of the programmatic components and evidence-based practices needed to develop, implement, and evaluate high-quality inclusive higher education.

• Build a knowledge base around effective inclusive higher education components for students with intellectual disability.

• Provide technical assistance to TPSID programs, as well as other existing and new inclusive higher education programs, via a tiered technical assistance strategy.

• Update program standards and data collection protocols for TPSID programs, and use these to collect, analyze, synthesize, and report annual and longitudinal follow-up quantitative and qualitative data on TPSID program components and student outcomes.

• Develop recommendations on funding, memoranda of understanding, credentials, and accreditation for inclusive postsecondary education programs.

• Establish accessible communication channels, including a website, a topic-based web portal, and associated affinity groups, web meetings, and discussion boards.

• Provide training events nationwide to support the development and enhancement of postsecondary education options.

 

Timeline

 10/1/2010 - 9/30/2020

 

Funded by

Office of Postsecondary Education, US Department of Education, Award No. P407B150002

 

Partners

Association on Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD)
PACER Center
Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD)

 

Principal Investigators

Meg Grigal, Principal Investigator
Debra Hart, Co-Principal Investigator

 

Contact

Cate Weir, Project Director

 

Reports & Findings

• Year Three Annual Report of the TPSID Model Demonstration Projects (2017–2018)
• Year Two Program Data Summary (2016-2017) from the TPSID Model Demonstration Projects
• Year Two Student Data Summary (2016-2017) from the TPSID Model Demonstration Projects
• Year One Program Data Summary (2015-2016) from the TPSID Model Demonstration Projects 
• Year One Student Data Summary (2015-2016) from the TPSID Model Demonstration Projects
• Report on Accreditation Standards for Higher Education Programs for Students with Intellectual Disabilities

 

Selected Publications & Media

• Highlights from 2019 Infographic, including statistics on website activity and outreach & dissemination
• New video about Think College, Driving Inclusiveness in Higher Education, premiered at 2019 CEC Annual Meeting
• Think College in a nutshell: Think College Fact Sheet
• Our film about inclusive higher education: Rethinking College: A Film about College Students with Intellectual Disabilities
• Tools for credential planning and development: Credential Development in Inclusive Higher Education Programs Serving Students with Intellectual Disabilities and Credential Action Planning Tool
• Feature article in The Atlantic: The Path to Higher Education With an Intellectual Disability
• Feature article in The New York Times: Developmentally Disabled, and Going to College 

For a complete listing of Think College Publications, visit our Publications page