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Educational Leadership and Instruction Specialist Degree: Special Education Concentration
The Educational Leadership and Instruction Specialist Degree with a concentration in Special Education (582G) is available online. The degree prepares already certified teachers in one of five specialized areas: Early Intervention, Educational Diagnostician, Gifted, or Mild/Moderate Elementary and Mild/Moderate Middle School & High School. Professional special educators are guided by the Council for Exceptional Children's (CEC) professional ethical principles and practice standards in ways that respect the diverse characteristics and needs of individuals with exceptionalities and their families.
The concentration provides advanced preparation in special education for teachers, administrators, and other professionals. As a research-based graduate program, it prepares practitioners at the highest levels of their profession. Because the special education faculty recognize and value the uniqueness of each candidate's background, a degree plan is created colloboratively to meet each candidate's needs.
The degree requires a minimum of 30 hours beyond the Master's degree and includes 24 hours of special education and related coursework, 6 hours of research, 3 hours of statistics, and 6 hours of Thesis or Field Study. All applicants must be certified teachers. Prerequisites include graduate level courses in Curriculum Development or Curriculum and Instruction (3 hours) and Instructional Improvement and Assessment or Educational Philosophy and Leadership (3 hours). Note: Pending the applicant's transcript evaluation, additional coursework may be required.
To begin the program, you must first apply for admission. Contact the Graduate School for more information.
Even without a GRE score, you can generally start classes in a provisional status provided that all application materials are completed during the provisional semester. GRE score, on file at the institution where you completed the Master's degree, may be forwarded to the NSU Graduate School. A maximum of nine hours of graduate credit from a regionally-accredited college or university may be applied to your Specialist Degree. Your assigned major professor will review your transcript to determine which, if any, of these courses will transfer.
Contact Dr. Barbara Duchardt, program coordinator, at duchardt@nsula.edu or call 318-357-5154.
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