EVOLVE Plus

EVOLVE Plus worked with school personnel, self-advocates, families, and service providers to increase the probability that the lives of students with disabilities will be better because they were educated in Vermont schools.

EVOLVE Plus did this by:

1. Adhering to values embedded in the Individual with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (2004) (e.g., importance of educating all children, individualization, access to supports, least restrictive environment, access to the general education curriculum, access to qualified personnel);
2. Pursuing logical practices that help us operationalize those values; and
3. Researching to determine if our practices have been effective.

Project EVOLVE Plus offered school-based research, training, technical assistance, and collaborative consultation on a fee-for-service basis through the Center on Disability & Community Inclusion at the University of Vermont.

History

Project EVOLVE Plus extended the work of Project EVOLVE (2002-2007), a federally-funded model demonstration project that explored alternatives to overreliance on paraprofessionals to support students with disabilities in inclusive classrooms. EVOLVE Plus services address additional topical areas that have been field-tested and researched by project staff.

EVOLVE Plus Paraprofessional Citations

Below are lists of selected citations to paraprofessional journal articles and dissertation abstracts compiled between 1990 – 2024. They are no longer being updated.

1. Selected Paraprofessional Journal Article Citations
2. Dissertation Abstracts on Paraprofessional Topics

The Cartoons: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education

The University of Vermont Center for Digital Initiatives Collection holds a complete set of all of the cartoons created by Michael Giangreco with the assistance of the artist Kevin Ruelle. This includes a total of 335 cartoons from four previously published books and searchable CD that went “out of print” in 2019 and a few newer cartoons. Michael Giangreco created the original ideas, text, and sketches for each cartoon and Kevin Ruelle redrew the sketches.