AN AFFILIATE OF THE LIFE SPAN INSTITUTE & THE DEPT. OF SPECIAL EDUCATION

Beach Center on Disability

Program Requirements

The following reviews the various requirements for successful completion of the SCD doctoral program:

A. School of Education Core (12 hours required, 3 hours from each area)

  1. Human learning and environment
  2. Curriculum design
  3. History and philosophy of education
  4. Research

B. Research Core (15 hours required)
Students who have 12 hours or more in research courses may count research as their minor area.

  1. Statistics (6 hours)
  2. Quantitative methods, qualitative methods, measurement/assessment, historical/ philosophical methods, or foreign language (9 hours)

C. Special Education Core (16 hours required)

  1. Civic Professionalism (3 hours)
  2. Issues and Trends in Special Education (4 hours)
  3. Law and Special Education (3 hours)
  4. Proposal Development (3 hours)
  5. Leadership and Systems Change (3 hours)

D. SCD Core (17 hours required)
Students must select at least 5 of these courses, as well as option 5 (College Teaching Experience) .

1. Assessment Quality:

(a) Response-to-Intervention Logic for Collaboration: General and Special Education Leadership (Sailor)

(b) Enhancing Quality in Alternate Assessments (Bashinski)

2. Instructional Quality

(a) Access to the General Curriculum and Universal Design for Learning for Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities (Wehmeyer)

(b) Self-Determination: Theory and Practice (Wehmeyer)

(c) Positive Behavior Support: School-Wide and District-Wide Applications (Sailor)

(d) Competitive and Employment Entrepreneurship for Adults with Significant Cognitive Disabilities (Parent)

3. Family Support:

(a) Family Outcomes in Special Education (A. Turnbull)

(b) School Reform and Family/School/Community Partnerships (Sailor)

4. Policy:

(a) Students take R. Turnbull's course on Special Education and the Law as part of their core requirements

(b) Disabled Citizens, Public Policy, and Policy Analysis (R. Turnbull)

5. College Teaching Experience:

(a) Each student will participate with one of the faculty in co-teaching a master's-level course for teachers of students with significant cognitive disabilities.

E. Leadership Practica

SCD students will typically participate in a leadership practicum each semester from the time they enter the program until the semester in which they are taking their comprehensive exams. The practica provide closely mentored experiences focusing on a minimuum of two of the following leadership roles -- research, personnel preparation, policy analysis, administration/supervision, and consumer advocacy. In each practicum, students will engage in 20 hours of collaborative and integrated experiential learning on a weekly basis. Faculty or adjunct faculty will serve as practicum mentors and conduct regular mentoring meetings in which students will have an opportunity to present their work, raise questions, and receive continual guidance.

F. Elective Courses
Students also choose elective courses to broaden their experiences in areas such as early childhood, transition to adulthood, social work, and health services administration.

G. Written and Oral Comprehensive Examinations
After course work is completed, students will complete the comprehensive examination process by preparing 4-5 articles, chapters, and/or products of publishable quality.

H. Dissertation (18 hours required)
The student’s dissertation project provides in-depth research experience on a topic of national significance. The dissertation is related to enhancing systems to improve opportunities and outcomes for students with significant cognitive disabilities and their families..