Special Education

Specialist Program

Admissions

All applicants to the Department are required to make application to the Graduate School and to the Department of Special education. The general requirements for admission to the Graduate School for persons seeking a Education Specialist degree are:

a graduate grade point average of 3.3 (on a 4 point system)
a minimum GRE score of 900 (with a minimum of 450 on both the verbal and quantitative sections)
official academic transcripts
three letters of recommendation

The EDS applicant will be interviewed by telephone or personal contact by three members of the graduate faculty including a representative from the applicant's perspective areas of study (BD, LD, MR, etc.), it is the responsibility of the applicant to arrange these interviews. (Foreign applicants will also need to submit a TOEFL score of 550 minimum.) Because this program provides advanced preparation, students entering the EDS program are expected to already have one categorical area of preparation in special education. Those who do not will be required to take additional semester hours of prerequisite coursework. Admission decisions are made as an applicant's documents are forwarded to the Department. This is an ongoing process. Typically, admission decisions are made no later than 30 days prior to the beginning of a new semester.

As a requirement of final acceptance into the program, each student will be required to purchase a LiveText account within the first week of classes of the first semester of
attendance. LiveText is an electronic course and portfolio management system used by the college. It allows students to post portfolios, and provides a means of uploading
assignments to be graded by instructors.