Graduate Certificate in Teaching Students with Severe Disabilities
This program is on moratorium until further notice.
The Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development offers a Graduate Certificate program for qualified post-baccalaureate students who are interested in receiving an Initial Licensure as a Teacher of Students with Severe Disabilities, all grades. Students who are successful in completing this program will develop the knowledge and skills necessary as a beginning teacher of students with severe disabilities. Specifically, the learning outcomes are as follows:
Students will:
- Plan, implement, and evaluate individualized and data-based instruction for students with disabilities using the principles of explicit instruction, school-wide positive behavior supports, and other evidence-based practices.
- Demonstrate knowledge of typical child development and learning, characteristics of common disabilities, and tenets of special education policy and practice; and describe how they impact students’ experiences in schools.
- Demonstrate a disposition and articulate a teaching philosophy that promotes equity, includes collaboration with families, and reflects the principles of inclusive education for students with disabilities.
- Engage in a professional manner with colleagues, students, and families.
For those students who are successful in completing all the courses and practica in this certificate program, the Wheelock College of Education & Human Development provides a recommendation for licensure to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) Office of Educator Licensure. Students must also apply directly to the DESE and are required to take additional tests (Massachusetts Test for Educator Licensure [MTELs]) to secure licenses.
Requirements for licensure as Teacher of Students with Severe Disabilities, all grades are listed below. Please note, prior coursework may be submitted for review to determine equivalency. If determined to be equivalent, required courses listed may be waived as a part of the certificate program.
To be eligible for the student-teaching practicum in the Special Education Program, graduate students must have:
- earned a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 in all BU coursework;
- obtained a grade of B or higher in the required pre-practicum Special Education course;
- passed the Gateway Assessments.
Additionally, students must have:
- maintained a record of having consistently demonstrated professional behavior in person and in written communication;
- provided documentation of having met school district CORI/SORI and fingerprinting requirements; and
- gained approval for student-teaching by their academic advisor, placement coordinator, and the program director.
Total Units: 56
- WED LR 551 Introduction to Reading Development, Assessment, and Instruction (4 units)
- WED LS 560 Introduction to Language and Language Acquisition (4 units)
- WED ME 503 Mathematical Reasoning in the Elementary Grades: Number and Operations (4 units)
- WED ME 504 Mathematical Reasoning in the Elementary Grades: Algebra, Geometry, and Statistics (4 units)
- WED SE 504 Early Childhood Special Education: Policy and Practice (2 units)
- WED SE 505 Self-Determined Transition Planning for Youth with Disabilities (2 units)
- WED SE 507 Inclusive Pedagogy for Modified Curriculum I (4 units)
- WED SE 508 Inclusive Pedagogy for Modified Curriculum II (4 units)
- WED SE 580 Instructional Methods for Teaching Foundational Literacy Skills (4 units)
- WED SE 595 Practicum/Practicum Equivalent: Severe Disabilities Tracks (8 units)
- WED SE 615 Special Education Fieldwork Seminar: Applying Inclusive Pedagogy (2 units)
- WED SE 706 Disability, Education, and Society (4 units)
- WED SE 751 Assessment in Special Education: Procedures (4 units)
- WED SE 760 Cognition, Learning & Behavior (2 units)
- WED TL 520 Teaching English Language Learners (4 units)
