Special Education
The Master of Arts in Teaching – Special Education program is designed for individuals interested in becoming candidates for a Tennessee Special Education/Comprehensive K-12 or Special Education Interventionist K-8 or 6-12 Teaching License. Candidates interested in a Special Education/Preschool Early Childhood Education PreK–3 license should contact the Special Education Program Director for more information.
Individuals with a valid and current Tennessee teacher's license may complete a subset of the courses below for add-on endorsements in the following:
Special Education/Comprehensive K-12 (endorsement code 461)
Special Education Early Childhood PreK-3 (endorsement code 459)
Interventionist K-8 (endorsement code 144)
Interventionis 6-12 (endorsement code 145)
Please contact an education faculty member or the Licensure Officer for more information.
The program mixes online and on-campus course formats and includes a semester of student teaching. For initial license candidates, the program is 36 semester hours including the student teaching semester and seminar or the job ebedded clinical experience.
Candidates will complete the specific course requirements below.
Degree Requirements
POS
| MAT 5014 | Education for the Developing Learner | 3 |
| MAT 5070 | Advanced Classroom Management | 3 |
| MAT 5080 | Diverse Populations | 3 |
| MAT 5180 | Education: The Profession & The Professional | 3 |
| MAT 5222 | Methods of Classroom Teaching | 3 |
| MAT 5250 | Building Literacy in the K-12 Classroom | 3 |
| SPE 5010 | Applications, Ethics, and Professional Aspects of Special Education | 3 |
| SPE 5020 | Characteristics & Needs of Exceptional Students | 3 |
| SPE 5040 | Advanced Educational Assessment of Exceptional Students | 3 |
| MAT 5396 | Evaluation and Remediation of Mathematics | 3 |
| | or | |
| MAT 5221 | Evaluation & Remediation of Reading Problems | 3 |
| | or | |
| MAT 5540 | Reading and Writing in the Content Areas | 3 |
| MAT 5285 | Practicum | 3-9 |
| | or | |
| MAT 5286 | Student Teaching | 3 |
| MAT 5287 | Teaching Seminar | 3 |
Traditional student teaching is completed in one semester with MAT 5286 and MAT 5287 as co-requisites.
Job embedded clinical experience is completed in two semesters with MAT 5285 (first semester of employment) and MAT 5287 (second semester of employment).
36 minimum hours required for graduation.
Licensure: Candidates for a Tennessee teaching license must pass state-required assessments to be qualified for a license. Assessment requirements periodically change. Candidates must consult the Tennessee Department of Education and Educational Testing Service websites for a list of current licensure exams. Teacher licensure candidates are responsible for taking and passing the correct licensure assessments at specific times in their program of study as is detailed in the online Teacher Education Handbook.