The University of Kentucky has a new, free online training module for teachers of preschool children with disabilities. Collin Shepley is an associate professor at UK and the director of the project. He said the program was tested in five central Kentucky counties before being offered to teachers around the country.

“We found out that this module makes teachers better at engaging in progress monitoring and learning if they’re learning if what they’re doing is actually helping, it makes them more confident and it makes things more efficient, meaning they can get their data quicker.”

Shipley said the study was funded by a four-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

“A lot of that funding went to paying teachers for their time they put in helping us evaluate it. So I’m very thankful to be able to compensate those teachers, given how much they already do on a daily basis, and then having to ask them to do a little bit more.”

Shipley said the online program has been shown to reduce teacher stress and burnout – and free up time for instruction.

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