Graduate Certificate in Special Education

Leadership and collaboration are essential skills for working with teams to provide effective services for individuals with exceptionalities. These are practices that special educators must embrace and continually refine. Educators in this course will analyze the skills and dispositions that build healthy leadership styles and produce positive collaborative relationships.  They will also examine the benefits and challenges of leading and collaborating with others to maximize the learning potential of every student.

Special education teachers are constantly confronted with ever-changing rules and regulations. In order to effectively lead and collaborate with teachers, families, and other professionals, special education teachers must have a thorough knowledge of the history and current practices related to special education advocacy, policy, and law. When presented with real-life scenarios, candidates will create practical solutions grounded in law and policy.

Note: This course offered in an accelerating format.

Special educators in today's schools are responsible for working with a team to evaluate and assess to determine eligibility, create educational plans, and evaluate progress.  In order to do this, they must be aware of and be able to implement culturally responsive, valid, and reliable practices. In this course, candidates will synthesize formal and informal assessments to monitor progress and analyze achievement to drive instructional strategies and assistive technologies for students with exceptionalities.

Providing accommodations and differentiating instruction are essential practices for special educators. In this course, special education professionals will apply research-based strategies for designing, delivering, and adapting instruction for students with exceptionalities. Candidates will be presented with real-life scenarios and must debate appropriate research-based instructional strategies to optimize learning for all students.