YSU to participate in first multi-institution collaborative TVI preparation program

Youngstown State University is one of five Ohio universities to collaborate on the first multi-institution preparation program designed to increase the number of teachers of students with visual impairments or TVIs in the state. The Ohio Deans Compact on Exceptional Children approved the program which will include lead institution, Shawnee State University; Kent State University; Mount Vernon Nazarene University; University of Rio Grande; and YSU.

All five institutions are working together to provide a common online curriculum leading to TVI licensure. The program – called the TVI Consortium – is part of the work of the Low Incidence Sensory Disability Collaborative initiated through the Deans Compact with support and leadership from the Ohio Department of Education and the Ohio Department of Higher Education.

The four-semester program, designed as a post-baccalaureate licensure only program, is open to individuals who hold a standard teaching license and/or an intervention specialist license in an area other than visual impairmaent. Teachers are currently being recruited for a fall 2017 start; they will progress through the curriculum as a cohort.

Nationally, programs for students with visual impairment and other low incidence sensory disabilities (e.g., hearing impairment, deaf-blindness) are closing due to high costs. But students with low incidence sensory disabilities still need expert teachers. The new online, shared licensure program will allow teachers to remain in their local communities while becoming TVIs.

For more information about the TVI Consortium, contact Karen Koehler, faculty lead, Shawnee State University, at kkoehler@shawnee.edu. For more information about the Ohio Deans Compact, contact Deborah Telfer, director, University of Cincinnati Systems Development & Improvement Center, at deborah.telfer@uc.edu or visit the Compact website at www.ohiodeanscompact.org.