Stonehill's Postbaccalaureate Licensure in Special Education, PreK-8 prepares current educators who already hold a master's degree to create and lead inclusive learning environments. It leads to Massachusetts initial licensure in special education, PreK-8.
The Postbaccalaureate Licensure in Special Education, PreK-8 program prepares teachers to be leaders and critical thinkers. Schools today are complex and diverse communities — reflecting a landscape rich with individual differences. Teachers in our program are prepared using a unique combination of theoretical and practical experiences. This approach ensures their ability to create and lead equitable spaces where difference is valued while at the same time preparing them for the realities and challenges of the classroom and the profession.
In this program, students will:
This program includes a mix of in-person and online courses.
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Stonehill's graduate teacher education programs include unique and effective courses, programs and opportunities that foster innovation, transformation and leadership. Our curriculum keeps inclusivity central to how we prepare educators for schools, classrooms and community settings.
The 21-to-27 credit Postbaccalaureate Licensure in Special Education, PreK-8 features a selection of courses designed to prepare educators for Massachusetts initial licensure in special education, PreK-8.
This course covers current policy and practice related to English Learners (ELs) in schools with a special focus on Sheltered English Immersion (SEI) Settings. Topics will include diversity issues, content/academic vocabulary development and literacy skills (including listening, speaking, reading and writing) to provide teachers with the knowledge and strategies to support ELs in classrooms.
*May be waived with documented, state-approved sheltered English immersion (SEI) endorsement.
This course examines and unpacks contemporary issues in the field of education and provides prospective teachers with a beginning foundation for understanding the teaching profession and the U.S. education system, including policy and governance. The historical, legal, ethical, and pedagogical foundations for social justice education and democratic education will be explored, as well as the education reform context and emerging policies. The course will include an examination of professional ethics and standards.
Required field experience.
This graduate course focuses on the Individual Education Program (IEP) and the role of the special educator in the process, from pre-referral to eligibility determination and placement, as well as implementation. Federal and state laws related to special education will be explored.
Collaboration, communication, building trust, and relationships with families and school/community colleagues will be an emphasis of the course.
This course explores supportive, preventative, and proactive approaches to addressing the social and academic behaviors of students with disabilities and other diverse populations. Strategies for developing a positive classroom climate to support social and emotional development, including trauma and anxiety, will be central to the learning of the course. A variety of approaches, including the connection between communication & behavior, identifying contributing factors to challenging behavior, FBA, and behavior support plans will be explored.
This course explores literacy for young learners and provides participants with information on how to effectively teach literacy to all students. Course participants will learn how to design literacy lessons, utilizing universal design for learning and assessment practices, to create thriving readers and writers. Through this course, participants will learn about how to design and implement lessons focused on phonemic awareness, comprehension, oral reading fluency, and vocabulary. Additionally, course participants will learn pedagogical strategies for supporting young writers. Strategies to assess students’ literacy growth will also be addressed.
This course examines methods of teaching mathematics to diverse learners and contemporary methods of math assessment to ensure all students succeed mathematically. Course participants will develop instructional routines and apply standards in the design of curricula to improve how math can be humanized in classrooms. The course explores issues related to technology, math pedagogy, and math equity.
This three-credit course addresses issues in the assessment of children and youth with disabilities, and reviews norm-referenced and criterion-referenced assessments, developmental scales, and formal and informal observation techniques. Students will acquire an understanding of the issues related to selecting and administering a variety of assessment tools, and to interpreting, communicating and utilizing data from assessments to support the education of students with disabilities.
This course explores how curriculum built on the goal of student understanding, integrated with instructional approaches that emphasize reaching every learner, can provide teachers with more specific teaching targets and more flexible ways to reach them. Students will examine the teaching, instruction, and curricula required to meet the needs of diverse learners, who by virtue of their experiential, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds, challenge traditional curriculum and instructional programs.
Course participants will determine how to deconstruct curricular barriers and create and apply curricular solutions, including assistive technology and AAC, to maximize access and academic success.
Field experience requirement.
This course is taken concurrently with a graduate practicum or internship. This capstone seminar will focus on social justice education, professional culture, family & community engagement, collaboration, and curriculum and planning for educational contexts. Students will reflect on experiences in the practica/internship site and current issues and best practice in education, including trauma and social emotional learning.
Stonehill College's graduate teacher education programs prepare educators to lead inclusive learning environments. The College offers master's degree, teacher licensure, community education, and graduate certificate program options, and our focus on educational equity and diversity helps prepare educators for the modern classroom. Our program tenets include anti-oppressive education, social justice education and democratic education, and we work to reflect these principles in all aspects of our work.
Schools today must strive to be inclusive environments, and educators in our program are prepared to be leaders in creating equitable spaces where difference is valued.
Stonehill College's graduate teacher education programs aim to prepare knowledgeable, reflective, caring and flexible educators who embrace learning, scholarship, community and advocacy in their work. Social justice and democratic education are at the center of our work and underpins all programs, courses and experiences. We believe education can disrupt systems and processes that perpetuate injustice and inequity and embrace diversity and individuality as strengths.
We advance our mission by modeling the creation of democratic spaces in the graduate classroom that reflect equitable, accessible and inclusive learning environments where students' voices and perspectives help to shape the construction and the provision of their learning.
Three tenets guide our program philosophy:
Our graduates
Stonehill’s graduate teacher education programs recognize the challenges graduate students face in prioritizing work, family, personal and graduate school commitments. Our Graduate Student Support, Access and Success (SSAS) Framework is designed to support students’ success from program start to finish.
Specifically, this approach provides:
From the admission process to graduation, students have a clear understanding of both expectations and the support available to help them achieve their goals.
Graduate & Professional Studies Admission assists students as they explore graduate and professional opportunities offered at Stonehill College.
