Master of Education in Special Education - Initial Teacher Licensure Initial Program – Leads to Initial Teacher Licensure
Overview
Make an Impact with Children of Diverse Learning Abilities
With Grand Canyon University's (GCU) Master of Education in Special Education, you can master the knowledge to support development in students with exceptional needs. Approved by the Arizona State Board of Education, our special education degree provides the knowledge and coursework to prepare for initial teaching licensure. This program is offered by the College of Education in dynamic online and evening learning environments.
Directly aligned with national professional teaching standards, the master's degree in special education provides strategies to adapt teaching in the mainstream classroom to students with assorted needs. While core courses review pedagogy and classroom management, content in the special education focus aims to strengthen your ability to plan, assess and adapt learning for students with disabilities in the least restrictive environment. Opportunities to apply your learning in real classrooms are available throughout your program and provide a well-rounded foundation to flourish into an outstanding educator.
Programs leading to teacher certification may require practicum hours, state exams, student teaching and an institutional recommendation from GCU.
Degree Outcomes
Coursework to Engage Students with Exceptional Learning Needs
In this master's in special education degree program, you examine cross-categorical teaching concepts and review theories and research from 21st century classroom practice to help you develop into an outstanding special education teacher. Explore innovation in the 21st century classroom and examine principles of collaborative teaching as well as learn to identify, evaluate and assess learning disabilities, instructional strategies and student achievement.
What You Will Learn
Master's in Special Education Coursework
In this masters in special education program, teacher candidates examine:
- Lesson planning, development and assessment and methods to engage diverse learners
- Professional ethical principles, practice standards, laws and regulations that guide special educators
- First through eighth grade classroom management
- Serving students with mild to moderate disabilities
- Child and early adolescent growth and development
- Typical and atypical language development and associated disabilities and disorders
Career Outcomes
Choose a Career Special Education
Common careers after gaining initial teacher licensure are elementary, junior high or high school special education teacher, school resource instructor, child advocate and disability services consultant. Potential workplaces include private, charter and public schools, colleges and social service organizations.
Course List
Program Core Courses
Course Description
Teacher candidates will survey the philosophical, historical, and sociological influences upon which educational theories and practices are constructed and explore a variety of the common issues, trends, and opportunities that professional educators face in the field. Teacher candidates will prepare for the graduate learning experience at Grand Canyon University by developing and strengthening the skills necessary to succeed as graduate students in the College of Education. Practicum/field experience hours: 6. Fingerprint clearance not required.
Course Description
Teacher candidates are introduced to the educational needs of students with mild to moderate disabilities and their families, including the definitions, characteristics, prevalence, causes and educational approaches to these disabilities and disorders. Teacher candidates will identify cognitive, linguistic, social and emotional patterns of learning and development for students with mild to moderate disabilities. Teacher candidates also survey the special education process involving the application of various laws and regulations. Practicum/field experience hours: 6. Fingerprint clearance not required.
Course Description
Teacher candidates survey professional ethical principles, professional practice standards, law and regulations that guide special educators. Teacher candidates build upon the foundational knowledge to understand the multiple roles and complex situations of professional practice that require attention to a variety of legal, professional, and ethical issues. Practicum/field experience hours: 6. Fingerprint clearance not required. Prerequisite: SPD-500.
Course Description
Teacher candidates survey theories and models for effective collaboration and communication with students with exceptionalities, colleagues, other school professionals, families and community members. In addition, teacher candidates apply collaboration and communication theories and models, incorporating technology, across a wide range of contexts to ensure active involvement in the education process for students with exceptionalities. Practicum/field experience hours: 6. Fingerprint clearance not required. Prerequisite: SPD-510.
Course Description
Teacher candidates will investigate diagnostic and assessment tools. Teacher candidates will build foundational knowledge regarding the use of multiple methods of assessment and data-sources for diagnostic and educational decisions for individuals with mild to moderate disabilities. Practicum/field experience hours: 6. Fingerprint clearance not required. Prerequisite: SPD-500.
Course Description
Candidates examine the United States Constitution, and the constitution of the State of Arizona. From this foundational review, candidates will explore application of the United States Constitution and the constitution of the State of Arizona in educational contexts. Practicum/field experience hours: 3. Fingerprint clearance not required.
Course Description
Teacher candidates examine how to create safe, inclusive, culturally responsive learning environments through collaboration with colleagues so that individuals with exceptionalities become active and effective learners and develop emotional well-being, positive social interactions, and self-determination. Teacher candidates focus on behavior management, functional behavior assessments, adaptive behaviors, positive behavior interventions and supports, and behavior improvement plans. Practicum/field experience hours: 9. Fingerprint clearance required. Prerequisite: SPD-500.
Course Description
Teacher candidates will examine how instructional planning advances the learning of students with mild to moderate disabilities by drawing upon knowledge of central concepts, structures of the discipline, and tools of inquiry of the academic subject-matter content areas and a variety of specialized curricula. Teacher candidates build foundational knowledge about individualized education plans and transition plans for a wide range of settings and different learning experiences. Teacher candidates engage in organizing knowledge, integrating cross-disciplinary skills, and developing meaningful individualized learning progressions through drafting an IEP. Practicum/field experience hours: 9. Fingerprint clearance required. Prerequisite: SPD-510.
Course Description
Teacher candidates examine typical and atypical language development, and associated disabilities and disorders. Teacher candidates investigate the use of augmentative and alternative assistive technology, modifications and accommodations to enhance the communication skills of students with mild to moderate disabilities. Practicum/field experience hours: 9. Fingerprint clearance required. Prerequisite: SPD-510.
Course Description
This course presents the historical, legal, theoretical, and sociological foundations of programs of instruction for English language learners. It includes an examination of the role of culture in learning and instructional program models, with a focus on Structured English Immersion. Teacher candidates are instructed in immersion strategies and the use of assessment data. Practicum/field experience hours: 10. Fingerprint clearance required.
Course Description
In this course, teacher candidates continue to examine the fundamentals of the legal, historical, and educational foundations of Structured English Immersion and other instructional programs for English language learners. Theoretical principles of language acquisition and the role of culture in learning are examined. Methods of assessment are identified and analyzed. Teacher candidates identify strategies to promote English language development and improve student achievement. They plan, deliver, and evaluate instruction for English language learners. Practicum/field experience hours: 15. Fingerprint clearance required.
Course Description
Teacher candidates build foundational knowledge on a variety of research-based instructional strategies to encourage individuals with mild to moderate disabilities to develop understandings and connections within content areas, and to build skills to apply knowledge in meaningful ways. From this foundational knowledge, teacher candidates select, adapt and use research-based instructional strategies and interventions in academic and specialized curricula to advance the learning of students with mild to moderate disabilities with focused attention upon mathematics. Practicum/field experience hours: 12. Fingerprint clearance required. Prerequisite: SPD-550.
Course Description
Teacher candidates select, adapt and use research-based instructional strategies and interventions in academic and specialized curricula to individualize meaningful and challenging learning for students with mild to moderate disabilities, with an emphasis on literacy. Practicum/field experience hours: 12. Fingerprint clearance required. Prerequisite: SPD-550.
Course Description
Teacher candidates are engaged in the student teaching experience that includes practical classroom experiences, research, analysis, and teaching to support the creation of a Teacher Work Sample (TWS). Fingerprint clearance required. Prerequisites: Successful completion of all courses in POS and content area; a 3.0 GPA; successful completion of NES or your state’s mandated content area exams; and approval and placement by College of Education Office of Clinical Practice. All paperwork for student teaching must be submitted by the due date the semester prior to student teaching.
Faculty Bios
Program Locations
Online
Evening
* The Department of Education defines how an institution must calculate a program's On-Time Completion rate for federal disclosure purposes. The On-Time Completion rate is based on a program’s published required number of months to complete all degree requirements as provided in the institution’s catalog. Completion statistics are updated every January and are based on the cohort of students who graduated between 7/1 – 6/30 of the preceding year. The On-Time Completion rate is determined by the number of students in the cohort who completed the program within the published program length divided by the number of students in the cohort who graduated.
Online and Evening program disclosures* Please refer to the Academic Catalog for more information. Program subject to change.