Special Education Endorsement

The special educator endorsement advances teachers’ abilities to assess special needs children and develop and design appropriate instruction support for these children. Coursework leads to a special education endorsement. Candidates must complete ED 330 before beginning special educator endorsement courses.

Endorsements in Special Education

Candidates will:

• Understand the field as an evolving and changing discipline based on philosophies, evidence-based principles and theories, relevant laws and policies, diverse and historical points of view, and human issues that have historically influenced and continue to influence the field of special education and the education and treatment of individuals with exceptional needs both in school and society;
• Know and demonstrate respect for their students first as unique human beings;
• Understand the effects that an exceptional condition can have on an individual’s learning in school and throughout life;
• Possess a repertoire of evidence-based instructional strategies to individualize instruction for individuals with exceptional learning needs;
• Actively create learning environments for individuals with exceptional learning needs that foster cultural understanding, safety and emotional well being, positive social interactions, and active engagement of individuals with exceptional learning needs;
• Understand typical and atypical language development and the ways in which exceptional conditions can interact with an individual’s experience with and use of language;
• Understand that individualized decision-making and instruction is at the center of special education practice;
• Understand that assessment is integral to the decision-making and teaching of special educators and candidates use multiple types of assessment information for a variety of educational decisions;
• Be guided by the profession’s ethical and professional practice standards; and
• Routinely and effectively collaborate with families, other educators, related service providers, and personnel from community agencies in culturally responsive ways. This collaboration assures that the needs of individuals with exceptional learning needs are addressed throughout schooling.

Special Educator Endorsement Learning Outcomes

Student Learning Outcomes

1. Candidate is a lifelong learner.
   1. Candidates analyze his/her ideas about change and the change process
2. Candidate is empathetic and respectful.
   1. Candidates will value the importance of adopting relational strategies that are appropriate for the individual circumstances, cultures, and abilities of students.
   2. Candidates will exhibit thoughtful, responsible, and participatory attitudes and behaviors characteristic of a professional educator and a reflective practitioner.
3. Candidate communicates and works effectively with others.
   1. Candidates will understand techniques for collaborative work.
   2. Candidates will know the role of meditation in the coaching/supervision process.
   3. Candidates will collaborate with colleagues on extending understanding and implementing new teaching strategies.
   4. Candidates will acquire strategies for helping students to expand their response repertoire for problem solving and positive, fair choice making.
4. Candidate has a broad knowledge about the individuals and world around him/her.
   1. Candidates analyze data from her/his school to justify a possible change goal.
   2. Candidates will understand how diversity among individuals and communities impacts their school.
   3. Candidates will understand how diversity impacts reform efforts at the school, district, and national level.
5. Candidate has a deep knowledge about the subjects he/she teaches.
   1. Candidates know and use theory base of teacher leadership.
   2. Candidates understand the nature of knowledge and how a teacher’s paradigm of knowledge and assumptions shape their instructional decision-making.
6. Candidate has a deep knowledge about how people learn.
   1. Candidates will use course concepts and recommended strategies to formulate a framework for making changes in management and instructional practices.
   2. Candidates will understand the neurological basis of student learning and of the impact of specific instructional strategies.
7. Candidate has a deep knowledge and skills necessary to use instruction and the organization of classrooms to assist all learners to succeed.
   1. Candidates will gain insight into the role the teacher plays in cultivating the relationship the learner has with the object of study.
   2. Candidates will become skilled in reflectively analyzing and monitoring the development of personal classroom practices, beliefs, and style of leadership.
8. Candidate fuses theory and practice.
   1. Candidates analyze school data and develop a personal theory of action.
   2. Candidates will understand the relationship between the theory base of teacher leadership and school culture.
   3. Candidates conduct peer coaching cycles, incorporating insights and techniques from cognitive coaching and clinical supervision.
   4. Candidates give skilled assistance to a colleague in analyzing and developing a lesson or learning activity.
   5. Candidates will use course concepts and recommended strategies to formulate a framework for making changes in management and instructional practices.
   6. Candidates will modify existing instructional practices and adopt new ones capable of engaging all students in the learning process.