LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) -- The University of Kansas will use a $24.5 million grant to establish a national center aimed at improving how children with disabilities are taught.

Kansas officials said Wednesday the five-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education is the largest grant ever received at the university. The money was awarded to the university's Life Span Institute.

Wayne Sailor, a special education professor, will be lead investigator for the grant project. He says the project would be based on research conducted in the last 20 years, which shows that students with disabilities do better when placed in classrooms with other students.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports (http://bit.ly/QyDtXl ) the project will concentrate on ways to teach special-education students and other students together in grade-level classrooms.