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Overview

Each day in Virginia's schools, more than 20,000 students with disabilities, including mental retardation, learning disabilities, and emotional disturbance, are taught by over 2,500 educators who have minimal preparation for the challenges they face.  At issue is the need for highly qualified and fully licensed special education teachers, which is expanding at a faster rate than the capacity of traditional teacher preparation programs to respond. Concomitantly, Virginia schools and teachers, like all schools and teachers across the United States, are subject to the increasing pressure of the heightened teacher preparation standards presented by No Child Left Behind and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act.

Old Dominion University's (ODU) response to the growing educational needs of Virginia's children with disabilities, the shortage of special educators, and teacher preparation mandates was to design and to implement the Commonwealth Special Education Endorsement Programs.  The primary mission of these programs is to ensure a high quality education for Virginia's children with disabilities through the provision of readily accessible paths to full licensure for provisionally/conditionally licensed special education teachers and qualifying non-licensed school division personnel.

Through a grant funded by the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE), the Darden College of Education of Old Dominion University provides a distance learning endorsement program for special educators and non-licensed school division personnel in the Commonwealth of Virginia. A network has been developed among Virginia public schools, state-operated programs, the Virginia Department of Education, and Old Dominion University in order to accomplish the following program goals:

  • Utilize satellite, television, interactive technology, the Internet, and other electronic communication to provide high quality special education courses to identified individuals throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia;
  • Establish a collaborative relationship among the Commonwealth's public school systems and state operated programs, the Virginia Department of Education, and Old Dominion University to facilitate full licensure for special education teachers with provisional licensure and qualifying non-licensed school personnel who wish to become special educators;
  • Integrate content knowledge, technology standards, instructional strategies, and the Virginia Standards of Learning throughout the course work, using evidence-based practices;
  • Evaluate all components of the project including curriculum design, course content, teacher application of knowledge and skills, and overall success in providing full endorsement for special education teachers in Virginia;
  • Assess teacher retention of grant participants; and
  • Assess P-12 student academic and non-academic change over time in grant participants' classrooms.

The Commonwealth Special Education Endorsement Programs (CSEEP) are designed to overcome the significant geographic, opportunity, and cost barriers that prevent these teachers, school personnel and other qualified Virginia residents from having access to the special education courses necessary to complete the requirements for full licensure.  Many participants in the Commonwealth Special Education Endorsement Programs are place-bound in locations that are distant from established licensure programs.  Other participants often are unable to assume the costs of additional course work.  To address these barriers, key components of CSEEP include: classes scheduled at times convenient for working professionals, a network of distance learning sites throughout the Commonwealth, tuition assistance for grant participants, and support within the school environment.  

CSEEP courses are broadcast from studio classrooms on Old Dominion University's main campus in Norfolk, VA. Full-time faculty members, who are experienced in their disciplines and in distance learning technology teach the courses.  Classes are tailored to the needs of working professionals and most are delivered in synchronous mode with asynchronous components, allowing for interaction between students and faculty.  Other classes are offered asynchronously.  Three to five licensure courses are offered each semester at times convenient to working professionals.  Additional classes (5-8) are offered during the summer and on weekends.

The Commonwealth Special Education Endorsement Programs are a clear success: to date, they have enabled over 1000 teachers to achieve full licensure and to acquire the skills necessary to educate their students with disabilities. In 2005, the American Association of State Colleges and Universities awarded the Christa McAuliffe Award for Teaching Excellence to the CSEEP program. The purpose of the award is twofold: To recognize excellence in teacher education programs and to advance the field of teacher education by identifying promising practices and critical issues related to measuring the impact of programs on teacher candidate knowledge and the impact of these teachers on pupil learning.

The CSEEP program also won the American Council on Rural Special Education's Exemplary Program Award in February 2006.  The American Council on Rural Special Education strives to provide leadership and support that will enhance services for individuals with exceptional needs, their families, and the professionals who work with them, and for the rural communities in which they live. In February of 2007, the CSEEP program was a finalist in the Association of Teacher Educators' Distinguished Program in Teacher Education. The Commonwealth Special Education Endorsement Programs have been accredited by the Virginia Department of Education, reviewed by the National Council for Accreditation in Teacher Education (NCATE), and accorded national recognition by the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC).

The Commonwealth Special Education Endorsement Programs are funded annually by the Virginia Department of Education. Additional years of grant funded tuition support will be contingent upon Virginia Department of Education grant awards.