Overview

Program Overview

The Special Education major is designed to prepare candidates to teach in a variety of inclusive educational settings. Currently, teacher candidates who major in Special Education must also complete a major in Childhood Education. Completing the Special Education major leads to dual certification: Childhood and Special Education (grades 1–6).* These uniquely inclusive programs are designed to meet the standards set forth by the Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI) and the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), both specialized professional associations under the NCATE umbrella.

Teacher candidates who are preparing to teach adolescents (high school teachers) will gain their Special Education certification by completing the Inclusive Education major along with the Students with Disabilites 7-12 Generalist Concentration. See the section on Inclusive Education - Adolescence for details on this program.

The Childhood Education major in combination with the Special Education major qualifies a candidate for initial certification to teach in inclusive classrooms and special education settings in grades 1–6.

All courses in the Special Education program are arranged in a block schedule. All courses in a given block must be successfully completed before taking any courses in the next block. It is highly recommended that all Special Education courses be taken simultaneously with the other courses in the block. If blocks are split, it may be necessary to fulfill additional field experience hours to complete all course requirements. It is highly recommended that the Special Education courses be taken simultaneously with courses in the corresponding Childhood Blocks. Advisors assist candidates in mapping their progression through the requirements of both the Childhood and Special Education major.

*Curricular and program requirements for the Special Education major combined with Childhood Education are currently under revision to reflect the Department’s inclusive education philosophy and goals.

Program Requirements

Special Education Major, Grades 1–6 Requirements

Note: These requirements are in addition to those taken for the Childhood Education major. Candidates must earn a grade of “C” or higher in each of the following courses required for certification in order to move to the next block. Courses in which the candidate has earned a grade lower than a “C” must be repeated.

*EDUC 230 and ITED 422P are required courses for the Childhood major and are not additional hours to the Special Education major.

For students majoring in Special Education, all of the above credit bearing courses are used in the determination of the grade point average in the major.

Qualifications for New York State Teacher Certification in Special Education

Candidates for New York State certification in Special Education (grades 1–6) must complete the following:

• Bachelor’s degree
• Childhood Education major.
• 24 credits in Special Education courses.
• 150 hours of field experiences prior to student teaching. (The field experiences include 100 hours in Childhood or Adolescence and 50 hours in Special Education.)
• Student Teaching Experience (14 weeks).
• New York State Teacher Certification Examinations: Liberal Arts and Science Test (LAST), Assessment of Teaching Skills-Written (ATS-W), and a Content Specialty Test (CST) for each area of certification.
• Fingerprint clearance.
• Child Abuse and School Violence Intervention and Prevention Workshops.