Catalog Navigator : Five-Year Program in Special Education and Elementary Education (Certifications: Teacher of Students with Disabilities [K-12] and Teacher of Elementary Education [K-6])

Coordinator: Dake Zhang (848-932-0821; email: dake.zhang@gse.rutgers.edu)

Please visit the website.

Program Description: The five-year teacher education program in special education and elementary education (K-6) leads to a bachelor's degree, a master's degree, and initial teacher certification. Rutgers undergraduates do preliminary coursework and field placements as assigned during the sophomore and junior years, are admitted to the program during the spring semester of the junior year, and enter the professional education sequence in the summer between junior and senior years. Students then qualify to have their bachelor's degree awarded by the undergraduate liberal arts college.

Students continue with the professional sequence the summer after graduation. They return in the fall to complete a student-teaching internship with related coursework and continue with full-time graduate study, including a field-based research project, in the spring. The Ed.M. degree is conferred upon the completion of all five-year program requirements.

After the master's degree is awarded, the GSE will make a recommendation to the New Jersey State Department of Education on behalf of the student to receive a CEAS as a teacher.

Education Requirements:

Pre-Admission Core Courses (9.5 credits)

05:300:200 Introduction to Education (3)

05:300:201 Introduction to Education Field-Based Lab - Clinical Experience (.5)

05:300:306 Introduction to Educational Psychology: Principles of Classroom Learning (3)

05:300:383 Introduction to Special Education (3)

Elementary/Middle School Education (37 credits)

05:300:304 Arts across the Curriculum (3)

05:300:480 Literacy for Students with Disabilities (3)

05:300:481 Materials and Methods in Special Education (3)

05:300:494 Literacy Development in the Early Years (3)

05:300:580 Inquiry-Based Teaching, Learning, and Assessment (3)

15:251:561 Teaching Mathematics in the Lower Elementary Grades (2)

15:251:562 Teaching Mathematics in the Upper Elementary Grades (2)

15:256:554 Science in the Elementary School: Learning and Assessment (3)

15:257:564 Teaching Social Studies in the Elementary School (3)

15:293:533 Assessment for Special Education (3)

15:293:509 Emotional and Behavioral Disorders (3)

15:293:522 Learning Disabilities (3)

15:293:530 Instruction for Autism and Intellectual Disabilities (3)

Common Professional Education Core (12 credits)

05:300:450 Urban Education I (1.5)

05:300:451 Urban Education II (1.5)

05:300:452 Teaching Emerging Bilinguals in the K-12 Classroom I (1.5)

05:300:453 Teaching Emerging Bilinguals in the K-12 Classroom II (1.5)

15:255:534 Classroom Organization for the Inclusive and Special Classroom (3)

Choose one from the following:

05:300:406 Community-Based Language Learning (3)

15:255:539 Communities, Schools, and Social Justice (3)

15:253:540 Teaching English Language Learners (3)

Clinical Experience (19.5 credits)

05:300:498 Clinical Experience Phase 1 (.5)

05:300:499 Clinical Practice Phase 2 (4)

15:255:535 Clinical Practice Phase 3 (9)

15:255:536 Clinical Practice Seminar (6)

Major Requirements

Almost any major offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences is acceptable for this program. A major in one of the subject areas taught in the middle school grades, however, will make the program requirements much easier to accomplish (English, mathematics, sciences, social studies). Please check with the program faculty about your choice of major as early as possible in your undergraduate career.