Special Education Programs

PhD in Education with a Concentration in Special Education

The Doctor of Philosophy is the degree most often desired for those who wish to become faculty in colleges and universities and those who aspire to senior administrative roles in institutions and agencies.  The PhD in Education with a concentration in Special Education is intended to prepare individuals for administrative and faculty positions and to provide them with the skills to carry out scholarly research, lead organizations, and create new research.

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Master's Degree (MSEd) with Special Education Endorsement

Special Education: General Curriculum, K-12 (Mild Disabilities): The mild disabilities program is designed to prepare professionals who are able to develop and implement appropriate educational programs for students who manifest mild disabilities and are served in the general curriculum setting.

Early Childhood Special Education (birth - 5) and Special Education: Adapted Curriculum K-12 (Severe Disabilities) Endorsement Areas: The early childhood special education program is designed to prepare professionals  to teach children from birth to age six who manifest disabilities or who are at risk of later school failure. The program in special education: adapted curriculum K-12 (severe disabilities) is designed to prepare professionals to to design and implement programs for students with varying significant disabiling conditions.

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Master's Degree (MSEd) with Research Emphasis

Master's Degree (MS Ed) with Research Emphasis:  A master's degree in special education with research emphasis is designed to provide fully licensed special educators with an advanced professional degree and qualifications beyond endorsement. The masters with research emphasis will include a focus on scholarly research, statistical analysis, and writing for professional journals. All candidates completing the research master's degree will complete a professional action research project that measures their impact on their students' learning. As an outcome measure, this is also an important indicator of the synthesis and application of all previous course work and practica experiences. As such, this action research project operationalizes research techniques through an evaluation of the candidates' interventions applied in a classroom setting. This assessment is completed by all teacher candidates in the research master's degree program. This program is well grounded in current federal education law, which mandates familiarity with and use of evidence-based practices for educators.

The research emphasis will also serve as the pre-requisite course work to the PhD concentration in special education, thereby facilitating entry into the PhD program for master educators seeking terminal degrees.

Post-Baccalaureate Endorsement Programs

Special Education Licensure: Many students who already possess an undergraduate degree enter Old Dominion University for the sole purpose of meeting Virginia's teaching licensure standards. When these students apply for admission into an approved teacher education program, they are considered to be post-baccalaureate endorsement program candidates and must meet the college's policy for admitting students into an approved teacher education program. Admission to Old Dominion University does not guarantee admission into degree and/or teacher preparation programs in the Darden College of Education.

Special education teachers who are holding Virginia Special Education Provisional licenses with an endorsement in special education: general curriculum K-12 may be eligible for the Commonwealth Special Education Endorsement Program, which provides tuition assistance. Individuals who work for school divisions in any non-licensed capacity, including long term substitutes, and wish to become special educators, may be eligible for the Paraprofessional Preparation for Extraordinary Teaching grant. Old Dominion University is proud to be a member of the Virginia Consortium for Teacher Preparation in Vision Impairment with George Mason University, James Madison University, Norfolk State University, and Radford University.

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Autism Certificate Program

Old Dominion University is pleased to offer a 12-credit-hour certificate program designed to prepare teachers and related service providers to effectively work with and provide support for students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).  This coursework can be completed separately from, or integrated into, the masters degree in special education. Virginia teachers enrolled in the ODU Autism Certificate Program may be reimbursed for courses by the Virginia Department of Education.

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Undergraduate Option in Interdisciplinary Studies - Teacher Preparation from the College of Arts and Letters

In order to meet the Commonwealth of Virginia's need for well-trained and well-qualified special education teachers, our special education emphasis area has been revised effective fall 2009.  Teacher candidates electing this emphasis area will now be eligible for endorsement in special education: general curriculum K-12 at the time they receive their baccalaureate degrees.  Teacher candidates in the special education emphasis program will also be highly qualified in either elementary education or secondary English. For more information about the undergraduate option in special education please visit http://al.odu.edu/ids/tprep/. Course checklists and curriculum sheets are available on the Interdisciplinary Studies website at http://al.odu.edu/ids/tprep/cs.shtml/.

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