About ECS

Educational and Community Supports is a research unit within the College of Education at the University of Oregon. Within the College of Education, we also share a strong affiliation with the Special Education Program, where some of our researchers also serve as tenure track faculty members. This special connection allows us the opportunity to take our most current findings directly into the courses we teach.  

At ECS, we are committed to expanding the use of evidence-based practices and systems that improve outcomes for children, youth, and adults, especially those with disabilities. Our mission takes us into classrooms working alongside educators, students, and teams, into living rooms supporting family connections and routines, and into conference rooms educating policymakers on the impact of evidence-based practices at the local, state, and national levels.

Our projects never stay within the confines of journal articles and university classrooms. We actively collaborate with educators, families, students, and school-age youth. We learn from our partners’ experiences. We watch them implement the frameworks we support and we help them improve their practices. When we include the people most affected by our projects in the work, it improves our research and makes us better researchers.