This course explores the process of collaboration and problem solving between students with disabilities, teachers, their families, and outside agencies. It provides an overview of IDEA requirements for students with disabilities. This course will also prepare students to plan for the transition of adolescents and young adults with disabilities from school to future careers, continuing education, and independent living. Students will discover resources for transition assessments and planning, examine community-based agencies and appropriate support services, and explore the role of families in transition planning.

This course is designed to provide teachers with a foundational knowledge of classroom management and behavioral intervention for mild to moderate behavioral challenges. It will also provide strategies to support teachers with diverse classes, including students with disabilities. Prevention and intervention strategies will be examined as outlined in multi-level systems of support (MLSS). Students will utilize behavioral assessments and will acquire resources for successful intervention with problem behaviors.

This course asks students to re-examine their role as one who generates change in the education system by engaging in self-reflection and self-assessment of his/her current classroom best practices. In addition, students will be asked to develop a plan for future professional growth and development, including their pedagogical strengths and their opportunities for improvement. Students will develop of professional development plan as their path to continuous improvement as an educator. Finally, teachers will produce a teaching performance self-assessment that will include videotaped segments to showcase their teaching highlights. The Viterbo values of contemplation, hospitality, integrity, stewardship, and service are expected to be visibly in student work that is submitted for the course.

Effective educational leaders are skilled with interpretation and application of educational research in their local contexts. This course introduces educators to the foundations of educational research and enables them to think strategically when examining the literature about a problem of practice. Students will develop an awareness of the APAs conventions of writing and citation practices that are used across the social sciences. The course culminates with students writing a formal literature review that investigates a self-selected problem of practice.

This course serves a dual purpose: (1) it focuses on the fundamentals of instructional design and the use of multimedia technology as a teaching and learning strategy that addresses diverse student needs and encourages active participation in learning; (2) it emphasizes technology tools that facilitate communication and collaboration within local and global learning communities as a means of improving leadership functions and effectively engaging with others in online and remote learning environments.

This course provides a critical examination of the formation and re-formation of education in the US public school system. The concepts and theories of power and oppression serve as a framework for understanding the her/historical, cultural, and political context of education. With a focus on the educational narratives of language, race, class, gender, sexual orientation, and immigration status, culturally responsive education is explored as a tool for creating and sustaining educational equity. The lived experiences of all students are viewed as a funnel of knowledge that drives dialogue, collaboration, and collective action in the teaching and learning cycle.

Assessment serves as a cornerstone of special education, both in terms of eligibility determination and instructional planning. This course will focus on the wide array of assessment methods available for identifying students with disabilities and evaluating their responsiveness to instruction. Assessments included are norm-referenced, criterion referenced, curriculum based, observational, and dynamic. Students will design instruction, intervention, and support based on assessment results. Field experience hours required.

This course will review and further develop students skills in evaluation of research and increase their understandings of methodologies, techniques, data interpretation, and instructional applications of research.

This course will provide literacy leaders with the opportunity to increase their understanding of instructional approaches and materials related to K-12 literacy programs. The focus of this course will be on research-based, best practices in literacy curriculum and instruction. This course will emphasize strategies regarding how to be in a leadership role for teachers to support their knowledge and instruction in these best practices. A central focus of this course will be developing an understanding of how to support teachers through modeling, co-teaching, observing, collaborative planning, reviewing data, and providing resources for teachers of literacy.

Students in this course are charged with examining the role of an educator as a moral steward. Students will be asked to think about the individual role that they assume in achieving and maintaining a more democratic and ethical society through education. Investigations into controversial ethical issues and dilemmas prepare educators to critically think through potential situations that may arise with students, parents, administrators, and peers. Students will look at the overview of the systemic nature of education and schooling, with emphasis on the role of the teacher. Students will be introduced to the concept of learning in community, and the concept of nurturing and care for the system of education. The lens of the Viterbo values will be utilized and applied to teachers roles in the educational system. These values are contemplation, hospitality, integrity, stewardship, and service. Using these values as a lens, students will review and take a stand on critical issues facing education at the present time.