Course Enhancement Modules (CEM) include usable resources for faculty and professional development providers to include in effective opportunities for teachers and leaders to learn about and use evidence-based practices. Each CEM is designed to be used in whole or in part to support teacher and leader learning at the pre-service and in-service levels.
Need guidance on how to use the Course Enhancement Modules? Visit our “How to” page.
Through this CEM, participants will learn about assessment tools and intervention practices that can be integrated within a comprehensive, evidence-based behavioral intervention program. These tools and practices involve multiple levels of interventions, including schoolwide, classwide, small-group, and individual behavioral supports. As participants gain knowledge about how to use these tools and practices effectively, they will become proficient in using behavioral data to guide intervention decisions, matching the behavioral intervention to the function of behavior and the intensity of a student’s needs.
In addition to content-area strategies, students must learn and use specific strategies to comprehend complex text in particular disciplines. Disciplinary Literacy refers to the specifics of reading, writing, and communicating in a discipline. It focuses on the ways of thinking, the skills, and the tools that are used by experts in the disciplines.
Through this CEM, participants will learn how to plan instruction to provide students with severe disabilities opportunities to learn academic content linked to state standards as well as the social, daily living, and job skills needed for life after high school.
Through this CEM participants will learn about school leadership that supports the learning of students with disabilities within effective schools so that they have opportunities to achieve positive life outcomes. The CEM addresses varied dimensions of school and collaborative leadership necessary to foster collective responsibility for students with disabilities, including partnerships with parents and families. In addition, the CEM addresses the role of district leaders in supporting effective instruction for students with disabilities.
This CEM on Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) in Mathematics is designed to assist faculty at institutions of higher education (IHEs) and professional development providers in the training and development of all educators. This CEM provides information and resources about how to prepare teacher and leader candidates or current practitioners to create effective instructional environments for all students, including students with disabilities and their nondisabled classmates.
This CEM was created to be a tool for pre-service and in-service educators who want to learn about how the Universal Design for Learning framework can be used to make curriculum design and classroom instruction accessible for all students. There are two major sections in this CEM. The first section introduces Universal Design in architecture and product design, and illustrates how these ideas influenced the educational movement that has become Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Learner variability, which is the scientific foundation of UDL, is also introduced in the first section. The first section also includes an interactive journey through the principles and guidelines that make up the UDL framework. The final section provides the participants with an opportunity to integrate the framework into their lessons and classroom practice.
This CEM provides pre-service candidates and in-service teachers with the framework necessary for designing programs and services to improve outcomes for students with dyslexia. Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction.
This CEM provides an overview of evidence-based practices for writing. These practices typically include those that emphasize learners’ needs; elements of the writing process; use of various texts; technology; feedback; goal-setting for composing, monitoring, evaluating, and automaticity; and supportive writing environments.
This CEM is designed to build the knowledge and capacity of educators working with pre–service and/or in–service teachers who are teaching diverse students to read. The module can be adapted and is flexible to accommodate faculty and professional development (PD) provider needs. The anchor module and speaker notes can be used in their entirety to cover multiple courses or PD sessions. Alternatively, specific content, activities, and media can be excerpted as needed to enhance existing course and/or PD content.
This website was produced under U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs, Award No. H325A220002. David Guardino serves as the project officer. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the positions or policies of the U.S. Department of Education. No official endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education of any product, commodity, service, or enterprise mentioned in this website is intended or should be inferred.
