2006-2008 Catalog of Courses

Special Education

College of Education

www.uni.edu/coe/specialed

Staff:

J. Smith, Acting Head. S. Alper, W. Callahan, S. Etscheidt, D. Gallagher, S. Hong, C. Kliewer, F. Kohler, A. Petersen, D. Raschke, P. Sitlington, A. Staples.

The Department of Special Education offers the following graduate programs.  Specific requirements for these programs are listed within this Department of Special Education section in the following order:

Graduate Majors (M.A.E.)

Special Education

Teacher of Students With Visual Impairments

Graduate Majors (Ed.D.)

Doctor of Education: Special Education intensive study area

Master of Arts in Education Degree Programs

Major in Special Education

This major is designed to prepare special education professionals for leadership positions and for advanced professional studies. To be eligible for the Special Education Consultant endorsement the student must have four years of successful teaching experience, two of which must be congruent with the desired Special Education Consultant endorsement. Students desiring to be endorsed as Work Experience Coordinators must hold a Special Education Teaching 7-12 endorsement.

This major is available on the thesis and non-thesis options, and requires a minimum of 30 semester hours. A minimum of 18 hours of 200-level course work is required for both thesis and non-thesis options.

Students on the thesis option must complete 6 hours of 220:299 Research and present a defense of the thesis.

Students on the non-thesis option must submit an acceptable graduate research paper and successfully complete a final written comprehensive examination.

The Graduate Record Examination (General Test) is not required for admission to the program.

Field Specialization Emphasis

Special Education Consultant Emphasis

Career/Vocational Programming and Transition Emphasis

Teacher of Students With Visual Impairments

This major will lead to an M.A.E. degree for teaching students with visual impairments from birth to 21. Students must complete the requirements for Early Childhood, Elementary, or Secondary major at the B.A. level to be enrolled in this major.

This major is available on the thesis and non-thesis options. A minimum of 40 hours is required for the thesis option; a minimum of 37 hours is required for the non-thesis option. A minimum of fifteen (15) hours of 200-level course work is required on the thesis option. A minimum of twelve (12) hours of 200-level course work is required on the non-thesis option.

The Graduate Record Examination (General Test) is not required for admission to the program.

Successful completion of a final research paper or an oral comprehensive examination is required for the thesis option, which will be determined based upon the student's needs. Successful completion of a final written comprehensive examination is required for the non-thesis option.

Note that students should take an additional nine hours of student teaching to qualify for the Teacher of Students With Visual Impairments State Endorsement.

Doctor of Education Degree Program

This program is intended to provide practicing educators the opportunity to continue their study and earn the terminal professional degree in their field. The Ed.D. degree requires a minimum of 60 semester hours of credit beyond the master's degree. The Graduate Record Examination (General Test) is required for admission to the program.

There are three components to the program: 15 semester hours in a Professional Common Core of work in educational foundations, fundamentals, and research; 38 semester hours of Advanced Professional Study in one of six areas of intensive study and a related area; and a Dissertation of 7 semester hours.

By design, then, all students are required to study in basic areas that undergird and define educational practice and develop skills of problem definition, data collection and analysis, and interpretation. The six areas of intensive study provide for a specialized focus on practice. The six intensive study areas are: Community Health Education, Curriculum and Instruction,Educational Leadership, Leisure, Youth and Human Services, Rehabilitation Studies, and Special Education. (In some areas, it is possible to combine doctoral degree study with work toward an endorsement to perform a particular role in K-12 education.)

The Special Education area of intensive study is designed to provide students with a variety of leadership positions in public schools, higher education and human services agencies serving infants, children, youth and adults with disabilities. This program will center on preparing leaders who will be able to promote new meanings about diversity, develop inclusive school cultures and instructional programs, and forge productive relationships between schools and their communities. (For more information, contact the Head, Department of Special Education.)