SPECIAL EDUCATION CREDENTIAL

In addition to earning a Master’s of Education in Advanced Instruction degree in a core content area, candidates have the opportunity to earn an Education Specialist Credential in Mild/Moderate Disabilities. The credential program is designed to prepare you to develop or improve the specialized knowledge and skills needed to recognize and respond to the individual differences among students with special education needs.

Candidates pursuing a Master’s of Education in Elementary STEM, Secondary STEM or Secondary Humanities must complete 12 units of additional coursework, including three 3-unit courses and a term of Guided Practice. Candidates must hold a valid teaching credential.

Candidates pursuing a Master’s of Education in Differing Abilities must complete 6 units of additional coursework, including one 3-unit course and a term of Guided Practice. Candidates must hold a valid teaching credential.

Distinguish yourself as an educator and meet the needs of a range of student abilities by learning how to:

• Address the varying needs, interests and abilities of students with special education needs;
• Acquire the specialized skills to plan and design differentiated curriculum;
• Establish and maintain an effective classroom environment for the inclusion of students with mild-to-moderate disabilities;
• Develop a repertoire of pedagogical practices that can be applied to all learners within the same classroom;
• Collaborate with parents and community agencies that serve students with special education needs.

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

• Introduction to Special Education

EDU 573

This course is designed to enhance teachers’ understanding of how to educate students with disabilities and the rationale for including students with disabilities into effective and appropriate educational settings. The course will address legal requirements, introduce diagnostic / prescriptive teaching, and examine the necessary components for establishing an inclusive classroom. Course participants will conduct observations of children with disabilities in their learning environments.

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• Collaboration, Families and Case Management

EDU 574

At the heart of service delivery for students who present complex learning and behavior challenges is collaboration among those who are charged with the delivery of those services. While the teacher is in the forefront of implementing educational plans, support services personnel, e.g. physical/occupational therapists, speech/language pathologists, school psychologists, social workers, behavior specialists and others, are often contributors to the students’ intervention plan. Specifically, the course focuses on collaboration between a teacher and the families (s)he serves and collaboration among the various professionals who are collectively responsible for the educational well-being of the student.

Providing educational services to children with disabilities is often challenging and it involves other interested parties. To successfully plan, implement and evaluate an educational plan a teacher must be an effective collaborator with support services providers, families, plus that same teacher must be a case manager. To this end, the course explores strategies that enable teachers to more sensitively communicate with families in ways that fosters collaboration and empowerment. Potential interventions for family support are also reviewed.

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• Assessment and Curriculum for Students with Disabilities

EDU 575

This course is intended to link two essential components for developing effective educational interventions for students with disabilities: assessment and curriculum management.

Specifically, the purpose of this course is twofold. First, the teacher education candidate will learn how to use currently employed assessment materials and strategies for assessing and evaluating educational progress. Second, they will become skilled at developing strategies for adapting curriculum to the multifaceted needs of special education learners.

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• Establishing and Maintaining an Effective Classroom Ecology

EDU 576

This course is designed to provide teachers an understanding of how environmental and personal factors intersect and can, at times, negatively affect the achievement of students with disabilities. The course will cover the relationship between certain disability characteristics, including Autism Spectrum disorders, and various environmental factors whose end product is behavior that constrains student learning. Included in the course is the expectation that students will conduct observations of students with disabilities in their learning environments.

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• Guided Practice Mild to Moderate Disabilities

For additional information about earning your ME and Special Education Credential, please contact an admissions counselor at 1.888.628.1872.