The special education undergraduate major with initial teacher certification in mild-moderate/cross-categorical disabilities for grades K through 12 prepares students to become caring educational leaders engaged in innovative teaching, collaboration and reflective practice.
Program Overview
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The School of Education seeks to transform lives in a learning community centered on excellence and service in education, providing a distinctive context for the professional preparation of teachers.
Through significant intellectual study and a variety of field and service-learning experiences, special education majors acquire the knowledge, skills and dispositions necessary to instruct diverse learners in a 21st-century classroom.
As Missouri is an add-on certification state, further preparation in special education content and pedagogy would better prepare students to pass the Mild/Moderate Cross-Categorical K-12 content exam to acquire this additional area of certification. Certified special education teachers are a high-needs area in our state, making this additional certificate a very desirable qualification.
The School of Education at Rockhurst University fosters inquiry, intellectual creativity and evidence-based decision-making to equip students to face the challenges of our global society. Learn more about our state and national accreditation. The School of Education is housed in the College of Arts and Sciences.
Rockhurst also offers Bachelor of Arts degrees in Secondary Education, Elementary Education, and a Minor in Educational Studies.
Learning Outcomes
The Missouri Teaching Standards convey the expectations of performance for professional teachers in Missouri. The standards are based on teaching theory indicating that graduates become effective teachers who:
- Exercise discipline-specific content knowledge
- Plan and utilize innovative, evidence-based teaching strategies
- Assess and adjust teaching methods according to the needs of individual learners
- Gain awareness and feel empowered to work within diverse settings
Program Outcomes
A degree in special education from Rockhurst prepares you not only for teaching, but can also ready you for a multitude of careers outside of leading a classroom.
Special Education Teacher
Instructional/Curriculum Designer
Online Instructor
Instructional Coach
Innovation Specialist
Learning Specialist
Education Coordinator
Advocacy Manager
Course Map
Degree and class descriptions and requirements can be found by clicking on the course catalog listing below:
Popular Courses
The focus of this course is to investigate evaluation and assessment techniques used in special education for identification, placement, IEP/ITP/IFSP development and prescriptive planning for children and youth with mild/moderate cross-categorical (MM/CC) disabilities.
This course will apply research-validated practices from eclectic theoretical perspectives to classroom and individual behavior management. Candidates will learn and practice strategies for social and affective intervention from the fields of psycho-educational, behavioral, cognitive behavioral, humanistic, and attribution restructuring therapies. Candidates will design positive behavior support plans, write a behavior intervention program (BIP), and examine the role of tiered intervention in the pre-referral process for students with mild/moderate cross-categorical (MM/CC) disabilities.
This course is designed to develop personal dispositions and skills necessary to effectively collaborate and conference with parents, caregivers, professionals, and families of children and youth with mild/moderate cross-categorical (MM/CC) disabilities. Emphasis will be placed on applying these skills across multicultural settings.
This course is designed to introduce candidates to the characteristics of students with receptive and expressive language deficits. Candidates will explore general language acquisition, pragmatic and social uses of language development. Candidates will develop appropriate activities, sequence-based learning, and assistive/augmentative communication technology.
Degree Info
- STEAM Studio
- Kappa Delta Pi, the international honor society in education
- Study Abroad in Carpi, Italy
- Service-Learning Opportunities
- Diverse field experience placements in the KC metro area, including public, private, charter and parochial schools
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