A Commitment to Ongoing Professional Research to Improve the Lives of People with Disabilities
As part of our commitment to deliver maximum value for our customers and to develop evidence-based products and services, AbleNet designed the AbleNet Research Consortium. This consortium is a group of people interested in collaborating to improve the lives of people with disabilities.
This website is part of the effort to encourage more collaboration, to share research evidence from anecdotal to scientifically-based and to discuss positions and learning that will help improve lives. You'll find case studies, white papers and peer-reviewed, scientifically based findings from researchers, graduate students, administrators and educators. They are partnering with AbleNet to create more objective data about how our company’s products and programs work for our customers.
Learning what works and why, as well as what could work better and how, is a priority for AbleNet's research and development team. In the end, our outcome - our ultimate criteria - is the betterment of the customers we serve by being an engaged research partner internationally.
Make sure to visit the Call for Proposals for detailed information on grant funding opportunities to support your research efforts. Also, don’t miss the case studies we are co-writing with people who are doing great things in their classrooms and organizations. The case studies are written to help our readers understand the specific challenges posed, the interventions used and the outcomes achieved. To add more value the stories also include research-based documents that support the strategies used and the additional research questions that would be helpful to answer in the future.
We invite questions, ideas and additional partnerships to help us move our work ahead.
Sincerely,
Cheryl Volkman
NCTI interviews Cheryl Volkman (transcript and audio) November 2009
Cheryl Volkman is co-founder and former CEO of AbleNet Inc. She stepped down as the company's CEO in 2006 to drive a new initiative that focuses on merging academic research with market research. Her efforts are dedicated to delivering assistive technologies and curricula that consistently meet the highest standards for academic rigor and that can also be brought to market in a timely manner to benefit persons with disabilities. Prior to launching AbleNet, Cheryl, a certified occupational therapist assistant, served as the director of United Cerebral Palsy Center’s Preschool Developmental Achievement Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She also founded, and serves as CEO of, White Pines Concepts LLC, a company that holds several U.S. patents for accessibility products used by people with and without disabilities. Cheryl has served as board president, board member, and/or advisor to the Alliance for Technology Access (ATA), the Assistive Technology Industry Association (ATIA), the National Center for Technology Innovation, the Illinois State University Special Education Assistive Technology Program, and the Governor’s Council for People with Disabilities.
What do you do when your customer base changes? AbleNet went out to meet them and listen to their concerns. Cheryl describes what they learned and how AbleNet worked with NCTI to help spread the knowledge about how administrators prioritize technology purchases.
Download the transcript and listen to audio
Survey Date: December 2009
As part of the National Technology Planning Process, policymakers in Washington, D.C. took comments and recommendations from the public to help direct the development of this plan for use in Education. AbleNet sent out a request to our email list to assure our customers had a voice in the planning process. We asked three questions. See the answers of over 100 people in this link below.View Survey Results (National Technology Plan)
About the AbleNet Research Consortium
The 'AbleNet Research Consortium' was developed for the purpose of increasing the scientifically based research available on AbleNet curriculum, professional development, and assistive technology. The Consortium also supports requirements set forth by No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation, which calls for the use of scientifically based research as the foundation for many educational programs and classroom instruction. The consortium is a group of internal and external advisors and reviewers who work together to assure the research supported by AbleNet provides rigorous, systematic, and objective data for use in its organization. The consortium also serves to integrate the learning that will occur from these research activities to create current program and product improvements as well as to create new program and product offerings.
Who is ARC designed for?
Research grants/stipends, curriculum, and assistive technology supports are currently being offered to Ph. D. and Masters level students as well as individual researchers. Public, charter, and private schools and/or groups employed at 501(c) (3) nonprofit organizations are also welcome when they are partnered with accredited researchers. Funding is available to any researcher or group associated with a United States or Canadian-based institution. Grant proposals will be evaluated, in addition to other criteria, on their potential to materially improve the lives of students with disabilities in the classroom environment.
Our Philosophy
The design, development, and implementation of innovative curricular supports and assistive technology has been the core focus of AbleNet since its beginning. We have always recognized that it is not enough to simply provide products to the marketplace. As a result, we are routinely engaged in market research to understand the most effective combinations of curriculum, training, and assistive technology integration for students with moderate to severe cognitive and physical disabilities. This market research has led us to the development of our innovative solutions over the last 22 years.
Now, we seek to enhance our dedication to students with disabilities by supporting independent researchers in order to obtain external, objective, and scientifically-based evidence about what works best with the solutions we offer. We are committed to continued improvement with all of our solutions, so that students can achieve the greatest results possible. This knowledge will support future product and curriculum development, as well as create the most effective implementation strategies for the classroom.
Why do we fund research?
Our approach to innovation has always included partnerships with school districts, therapists, researchers, and educators to study our products, curriculum, and professional development. While these studies have generated impressive results, we feel we have a duty to broaden our scope of study to assure district administrators and other customers have evidence-based research supporting the purchases they make from AbleNet. Together, with the assistance of the academic community, we plan to study teaching techniques, curriculum, and technology integration in much more detail. This research program seeks and funds academic research in order to help us achieve our corporate mission: To enhance the lives of people with disabilities.
How does the AbleNet Research Consortium support No Child Left Behind?
The AbleNet Research Consortium also exists to support the requirements of the NCLB (No Child Left Behind) legislation which defines the need for using solutions in education that are supported by evidence-based research.
No Child Left Behind (NCLB) federal guidelines set standards for defining 'scientifically-based' research in education. The AbleNet Research Consortium fully expects its funded research to comply with such definitions as defined in Title IX of the No Child Left Behind Act. Click here for more information.
What types of research are desired?
We are actively soliciting proposals for all types of research that fit within our stated mission. However, our immediate attention is focused on current AbleNet curriculum and the integration of Assistive Technology tools within the curriculum and in the classroom. Additional research topics will be evaluated by our consortium on a case by case basis.
Click on the Call for Proposals tab for more information.
What are the benefits to AbleNet Stakeholders?
Benefits to Administrators
Administrators need to make purchase decisions based on evidence-based research in order to have confidence that the purchases they support result in student achievement.. The AbleNet Consortium will provide data and information that will assist a district in understanding what they are buying and how it needs to be supported to achieve the greatest results possible for students, teachers, and the school community.
Benefits to Educators
The AbleNet Research Consortium seeks to help teachers be consumers, as well as producers of research. For teachers interested in conducting research in their own classrooms, we propose to support your efforts to design a research study that will yield efficacy data. For teachers interested in accessing the research knowledge base, the AbleNet Research Consortium will provide educators specific evidence of effectiveness, suggestions for best practices, and the peace of mind that comes from getting support from the academic community.
Benefits to Parents
Parents of students with disabilities deserve to know that the education their child is receiving has been shown — through scientifically-obtained evidence — to prepare him or her for the most meaningful life inside and outside the classroom possible. The AbleNet Research Consortium provides financial and other support to researchers studying exactly that group of students, helping to build a base of knowledge for this group of people who pose very special educational challenges.
Benefits to Students
Improving the lives of students is the core purpose of the AbleNet Research Consortium. By specifically supporting special education research, we can help deliver on the promise of education to prepare students to become functional, engaged, and successful members of their communities.