The Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology’s Division of Special Education, in a joint effort with the Department of Reading, has received funding to help address one of education’s chronic shortages: well qualified special education teachers with expertise in literacy.

The new program is designed to increase the completion rate for highly qualified candidates from under-represented groups as they change their fields of employment to special education. In particular, the program enables those who have completed liberal arts rather than education majors in their undergraduate studies to enter the special education teaching profession upon completion of the two-year program. Funding provides both peer support and financial support to retain qualified graduate students from nontraditional backgrounds in their pursuit of the M.S. degree in Special Education and Literacy.