Master of Science in Education Special Education

Exceptional individuals require highly skilled educators, specialists, and support staff that can plan and facilitate special education curricula in a safe and engaging environment. The Online MSE in Special Education program is designed to provide an avenue for students with bachelor’s degrees to expand upon their education with the option of three emphases to customize their learning experience.

This program offers a high quality, practitioner-oriented approach that is committed to developing highly-qualified and effective educators, specialists, and support staff that work with exceptional individuals.

The Online MSE in Special Education is a 36-credit program with an emphasis in either Applied Behavior Analysis, Cross-Categorical Licensure or Evidence Based Practice. This fully online program can be started any term and at a pace that works best for you. Full-time students can finish in as little as a year and a half.

The Applied Behavior Analysis emphasis Master’s degree is designed to prepare professionals with undergraduate degrees in education or related fields to use Applied Behavior Analysis to create, coordinate and/or implement ABA-based interventions with individuals who have challenging behavior and/or disabilities.

The Cross-Categorical Licensure emphasis is for individuals seeking either an initial teaching license or to add-on a Cross-Categorical special education teaching license to their existing teaching license(s). Students who already have a teaching license in another area may be able to include some elective options.

The Evidence Based Practice emphasis is available to individuals from a wide variety of careers who work with individuals with special needs including currently licensed teachers and individuals in related fields. The Evidence Based Practice emphasis is made up of 9 required credits and 27 elective credits, which can include one or more graduate certificates.

The Applied Behavior Analysis emphasis prepares students for the Behavior Analyst certification exam.  The Transition Specialist certificate prepares graduates to serve as a Transition Specialist in a school district.  The Dyslexia Certificate prepares reading interventionists with specialized skills.  The overall degree can prepare teachers for initial licensure as a cross-categorical preK-12 special education teacher with specific coursework.

To ensure a high quality graduate student group, all MSE in Special Education students must have a bachelor’s degree from a recognized institution and meet graduate admission criteria.

If you do not meet the graduate admission criteria, please email us to determine if you could be admitted on a conditional basis.

International students must meet additional criteria and will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.