Institute for Academic Access (IAA)

In the broadest sense, the purpose of the Institute for Academic Access is to determine ways to substantially improve the educational outcomes for adolescents with disabilities who can be educated within the general education curriculum by conducting a high-impact program of research that takes into account the unique characteristics presented by these students and the complex dynamics that define the setting and circumstances unique to secondary curricula and schools. Together, special and general educators must seek to redefine what they do in order to achieve results for students with disabilities that are consistent with the demands of standards-based reforms (National Research Council, 1997).