Dual Certification in
Childhood (Elementary)/
Special Education
As one of the premiere teacher
preparation institutions in the Northeast, The College of Saint
Rose has played a fundamental role in the recent redesigning of
the New York state teacher education curriculum. Members of the
Saint Rose School of Education faculty have worked closely with
the New York State Board of Regents in discovering the best ways
to prepare future teachers for the challenging classrooms of the
twenty-first century. They began by asking the question, what
do the schools of the future need?
The schools of the future need teachers who are skilled in regular
classroom education as well as special education. Rather than
simply combine the requirements of these two programs, the School
of Education created SEED—a fully integrated special education
and elementary education curriculum.
As a Saint Rose graduate, you will be prepared to teach children
with diverse needs, at various learning levels and in urban, suburban,
rural and high-needs districts. You will be dually certified in
both elementary education and special education.
In other words, you will be better prepared to help all children
learn and enjoy learning. And isn’t that what being a teacher
is all about?
THE SAINT ROSE DIFFERENCE
When you major in special education/elementary education at The
College of Saint Rose, you will realize through the small class
sizes, personal and professional dedication of the faculty and
commitment to student advisement, that this is a program in which
the education of children is paramount.
Through this program, you will:
- Receive instruction in math, science, social studies, language
arts, and the integration of art, music, drama and movement
in the curriculum;
- Learn how to use technology in the learning environment;
- Gain experience in urban, rural and suburban schools, including
participation in a high-needs school district;
- Be trained on the development of curriculum for the inclusive
classroom;
- Spend 150+ hours in regular elementary and inclusive classroom
settings working with children of all ability levels in grades
1-6 prior to student teaching;
- Build a lesson plan portfolio that demonstrates your skills
as a curriculum developer and instructional leader; and
- Gain research and analytical skills that come from a broad-based
liberal arts education.
OUR EXPERIENCED FACULTY
The Saint Rose special and elementary education faculty members
are practitioners and informed scholars who have valuable classroom
teaching experience. They’ve been there, at the front of
the class looking out at a sea of young faces, each child at a
different learning level. There is at least one SEED faculty member
with expertise in each of the disability areas, including mental
retardation, learning disabilities and emotional disabilities.
Saint Rose faculty members regularly publish and present at regional,
state, national, and international conferences, providing their
students with the opportunity to participate in a scholarly community
and exposing them to various resources for continued professional
development.
Clubs and Organizations
You will be nurtured through faculty coordinated organizations
such as the Student Education Association, which sponsors events
in the interest of children. Many faculty members actively collaborate
with others in their field through organizations such as the Council
for Exceptional Children (CEC) and the College’s student
chapter of CEC was recognized as the New York State Chapter of
the Year in 1998-1999.
Kappa Delta Pi
The School of Education holds a charter in Kappa Delta Pi, the
international honor society for educators—a prestigious organization
to which many Saint Rose education professors belong. Students
who are in the top 15-20 percent of their degree program and who
also are recommended by faculty are invited to membership in Kappa
Delta Pi.
FIELD EXPERIENCE
All SEED courses include a field experience component that ranges
from 10-70 hours per semester and Saint Rose faculty members directly
supervise at least 105 of your field experience hours. Highlights
of the field experience component of the SEED program include:
- completing over 150+ hours of observation assignments prior
to your semester-long student teaching experience;
- spending at least 50 hours each in a special education and
an elementary education classroom;
- gaining experience in a high needs school district as well
as a setting serving students who are recent English language
learners;
- completing a 7 1/2-week student teaching experience in an
elementary setting (grades 1-3 or 4-6); and
- completing a 7 1/2-week student teaching experience in an
inclusive setting (grades 1-3 or 4-6).
FACILITIES
Our current School of Education facilities include:
- Curriculum Library—includes educational materials for
children, examples of textbooks used in elementary schools,
teacher resources for planning and teaching, and curriculum
guides from the New York State Education Department and various
school districts;
- Test Library and Children’s Book Collection—students
can utilize these resources for their planning and instruction
in field experiences and while student teaching;
- Education Microcomputer Laboratory—20 microcomputer stations
and a library of educational software to help students acquire
technology skills that will enhance their teaching and employment
prospects;
- Neil Hellman Library—contains over 200,987 volumes, 945
periodical subscriptions and a collection of 265,734 microfilms.
Membership in the Capital District Library Council and OCLC network
provide access to materials from libraries nationwide through
interlibrary loan. The library’s public workstations provide
access to the online catalog, CD-ROM databases and the World Wide
Web; and
- Pauline K. Winkler Speech-Language-Hearing Center—offers
preschool programs for children with special needs. Here, SEED
majors complete observations and gain hands-on experience without
leaving the Saint Rose campus.
CAREERS
As a Saint Rose SEED graduate, you will be dually certified in
special education and elementary education, putting you at an
advantage when applying for positions as a classroom or school-based
teacher, or as a human services professional in support and residential
programs for individuals with disabilities. You will also have
the diversity of field experiences that school districts look
for when hiring an elementary or special education teacher.
GRADUATE STUDY
SEED graduates are required to earn a master’s degree in
order to retain their certification and graduate study provides
you with the opportunity to become certified in a third area such
as reading. Many Saint Rose education graduates choose to pursue
their master’s degrees at their alma mater with the faculty
members who have guided them from their first year as education
majors to their careers as teachers with their own classrooms.
MODERATE PRICE AND AGGRESSIVE FINANCIAL
AID
The College of Saint Rose has one of the lowest tuitions of all
New York state private colleges and we offer a variety of scholarships,
including multicultural and academic talent. More than 90% of our
students receive several forms of financial
aid.
|
|
 |
|
The schools of the future need teachers who are
skilled in regular early childhood education as well as special
education. Rather than simply combine the requirements of these
two programs, the School of Education created a fully integrated
special education and early childhood education curriculum.
The Thelma P. Lally School
of Education
|
