Consider a Career in Special Education
Do you want to help extraordinary students accomplish extraordinary achievements?
Across the United States, school systems face a critical shortage of highly qualified
teachers in special education. At Radford University, both our five-year undergraduate
program and our traditional graduate program in special education: general curriculum
lead to a master’s degree and eligibility for a license to teach special education
in kindergarten through grade 12.
Skills and qualifications
- Be highly qualified for a job in special education, and your services will be in demand.
- Be ready to make a difference in the lives of children and youth with disabilities.
- Know how to collaborate in the classroom with elementary, middle and secondary school
teachers to help meet the needs of every child.
Degree requirements
- Complete 30 credit hours of graduate-level coursework.
- A comprehensive exam is required during the last semester of study.
Program requirements
Required courses
- EDEF 605: Educational Research
- EDSP 622: Collaboration to Teach and Support Diverse Learners
- EDSP 651: Students with Diverse Learning Needs and the Special Education Process
- EDSP 670: Proactive Classroom Management and Advanced Positive Behavior Support
Required concentration courses
- EDSP 645 Instructional and Adaptive Methods in Mathematics
- EDSP 646 Instruction and Intervention Strategies in Reading and Writing for Students
with Disabilities
- EDSP 672: Characteristics of Learners with Disabilities who Access the General Education
Curriculum, K-12
- EDSP 675: Teaching Students with Exceptional Learning Needs in the Elementary General
Curriculum
- EDSP 676: Teaching and Transitioning Exceptional Learners in the Secondary General
Curriculum
- EDSP 669: Diagnostic and Assessment Procedures for Individuals with Disabilities
Teaching internship
- EDSP 791: Teaching Internship in Special Education: General and Adapted Curriculum
(Elementary Level)
- EDSP 792: Teaching Internship in Special Education: General and Adapted Curriculum
(Secondary Level)
- To obtain a VDOE collegiate professional license in Special Education, General Curriculum
K-12, an additional 12 semester hours of internship experiences are required. However,
students who complete one year of successful, co-supervised full-time teaching experience
in this endorsement area in a public school or accredited nonpublic school during
their graduate program may be given the opportunity to have this experience accepted
in lieu of the supervised teaching internship.
Additional courses for licensure
- EDEF 320: Introduction to Professional Education Or EDEF 607 - Foundations of Education
- HUMD 300: Human Growth and Development: Birth Through Adolescence Or EDEF 600 - Child
& Adolescent Development
- EDRD 314: Development and Instruction for Emergent and Beginning Readers Or EDRD 688
- Foundations of Literacy Instruction
Program benefits
- Students with disabilities need teachers with extraordinary skills and dedication
to help them discover their talents and become independent, successful adults.
- Through the classes and field experiences offered in Radford University's program,
you will learn the collaboration and teaching skills you need to help students with
disabilities be engaged in learning and successful in school.
- You will learn how to teach and how to base your teaching decisions on good practices
supported by research.
- You will help your students with disabilities discover their talents and become independent,
successful adults.
- You will learn to collaborate and instruct using evidence-based practices to help
students with disabilities be engaged in learning and achieve positive school outcomes.
- You will learn to implement inclusive practices and specially designed instruction
by making data-based instructional decisions.
- You will become a well-prepared special educator.
