Special Education
The School of Education at Manhattanville College aligns all of its programs to accommodate New York State Education Department requirements for certifying teachers. Likewise, the Special Education Department provides courses within this framework that prepares teacher candidates for teaching in inclusive settings.
The philosophy of the Special Education Program is structured on the belief that all children regardless of exceptionalities are entitled to a free appropriate education and should be taught in the least restrictive environment.
Our program is based on the rationale that all students can learn in an appropriate inclusive setting.
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Special Education faculty, Vance Austin, son Jimmy, Diane Gomez and Ellis Barowsky, chair of the department. |
To accomplish this, our teacher candidates must possess the knowledge and skills appropriate to establishing this kind of environment for both exceptional and general education students.
Our purpose is to prepare the highest quality teacher who is able to meet the challenges of today’s 21st century inclusive classrooms.
The goals of the Special Education Program are to promote teacher candidates with relevant courses that will provide them with the knowledge, skills and experiences to teach effectively in a wide variety of classroom settings.
The School of Education’s mission statement comprising a cyclical process of teaching and learning; helping teacher candidates to meet the needs of the individual diverse learner; promoting literacy skills; engaging in family, school, and community partnerships; and commitment to professionalism is directly related to the philosophy of the Special Education Department which prepares teacher candidates to:
- Possess a solid content area knowledge
- Possess knowledge of oral language and communication skills
- Be able to provide adaptations for exceptional children
- Possess knowledge of service providers & support transition policies
- Possess knowledge of assistive technology
- Possess knowledge of I.E.P. and I.E.S.P. development
- Possess knowledge of the current trends and issues in the field of special education
- Be familiar with the characteristics of students with disabilities
- Possess knowledge of augmentative communicative devices
- Be able to help adults and parents with the transition process
- Understand the typology of services and advocate for students to move to the least restrictive environment along the continuum
- Possess a knowledge of strategies that are effective in teaching exceptional students
- Be sensitive to multicultural issues in the classroom and school community
- Possess knowledge of task analysis in order to individualize instruction
- Be able to collaborate with general education teachers
- Possess knowledge of the latest research findings in the field of special education
- Be able to monitor intervention programs effectively
- Be able to prepare students for participation in the I.E.P. process
- Foster language and communication development
- Possess knowledge of assistive communication devices
- Possess knowledge of complex communication systems
- Be able to take on the primary lead role responsibility for the I.E.P. process
- Be able to select, administer, score, and interpret formal and informal assessment tools
- Be able to work with school based support teams
- Be familiar with under and over identification procedures
- Foster on-going assessments
- Foster assessments aligned with state guidelines
- Reflect on the progress of individual students
- Reflect on the teaching practices and questions their biases
- Provide leadership for the School Based Support Team
- Collaborate with the family and community and treat them as partners
Benchmarks in Special Education
Teacher candidates must pass the writing assessment and the Special Education portion of the New York State LAST Test during their first 6 graduate credits. In order to receive a New York State Teaching Certificate, candidates for certification must achieve qualifying scores on the Assessment of Teaching Skills-Written (ATS-W). For Permanent certification, all elementary and secondary academic subject teachers must also pass the Content Specialty Test (CST).
In every phase of the Special Education Teacher Preparation Program, teacher candidates assemble a portfolio based on INTASC standards. Performance based artifacts are collected from each course. Midway through the program (EDU 5083), this portfolio is reviewed by faculty and the teacher candidate is conferenced on its quality so far. During the Student Teaching Seminar, the teacher candidate makes an oral presentation about his/her reflections of key artifacts. This final portfolio is graded by the department chair.
Dispositions are measured by both the teacher candidate and the professor of each introductory special education course (EDU 5071,5088). This document is placed in the portfolio and permanent record folder. In student teaching, the cooperating teacher and the field supervisor evaluate the teacher candidate and place the document in the permanent record.
Field Experiences and Advanced Literacy Practicum in Special Education
Logs and Reflective Journals of Field Experience are submitted in most required Special Education course along with validated time sheets. All field placements are aligned with appropriate course content.
The Advanced Literacy Practicum: Teaching Literacy to Students with Learning and Behavior Problems is one of our CORE courses and focuses on the reading problems of special education students, particularly the learning disabled. Teacher candidates evaluate and tutor a child on a regularly scheduled bases. During class sessions, discussions are conducted regarding diagnostic remedial procedures suitable for all levels of reading skill strategy development.
Student Teaching
All students in masters or post masters certification programs are required to have a full semester Student Teaching Placement as the culmination of their program requirements. Since candidates bring a wide variety of experience to the program, the College has developed different options to assure supervised school experiences which are tailored to the individual.
While placements usually are made in Westchester public schools, the participating school also may be an independent or parochial school, if this is desired by the candidate and approved by the School of Education. Typically, students requiring specific student teaching credentials are placed in different grades and/or school districts during their teaching semester to provide greater exposure to a variety of educational experiences. After discussion with our Director of Field Experiences, students who are employed and teaching within their certification areas may be able to use their own classrooms as their field sites.
The School of Education places nearly 250 students each year in many school districts including Ardsley, Bedford, Blind Brook, Briarcliff, Brewster, Bronxville, Byram Hills, Carmel, Chappaqua, Croton, Eastchester, Edgemont, Greenburgh 7, Harrison, Hastings, Irvington, Katonah-Lewisboro, Lakeland, Mahopac, Mamaroneck, Mount Vernon, New Rochelle, New York City, North Salem, Ossining, Peekskill, Pelham, Pleasantville, Pocantico Hills, Port Chester, Rye, Rye Neck, Scarsdale, Somers, Stamford, CT, Tarrytown, Tuckahoe, Valhalla, Westport, CT, White Plains, and Yorktown as well as several independent schools.
The College provides a flexible and individualized program by offering elective courses, individual guidance and planning, and carefully selected placements for field experiences. Advisement is critical for a successful experience; therefore, the School of Education requires each student to meet with an advisor on a regular basis.
Students are required to make an appointment to meet with an education advisor each semester. Registration forms must be signed by an advisor before they are submitted to the Registrar for processing. It is strongly suggested that students indicate an alternative course on the registration form. This expedites enrollment if the first course choice is not available.
Certification Options
Faculty
Chairperson: Ellis Barowsky, Ph.D. barowskye@mville.edu - 323-5467
Vance Austin
Micheline Malow, Ph.D.