SPED 500 - Educating All Learners in Diverse Classrooms

Units: 4
Within general and special education, instruction of diverse students eligible for special education services or considered at-risk for school failure with evidence-based practices and service delivery that meet federal and state requirements.

Prerequisites: Admission to M.S. Special Education program.
Possible Instructional Methods: On-ground, or Hybrid, or Online-Asynchronous.
Grading: A-F grading only.
Student Learning Outcomes - Upon successful completion of this course students will be able to:

Demonstrate understanding of the history and social policy underlying federal and state legislation and related actions that led to special education services for students with disabilities.
Demonstrate knowledge of current federal and state laws, practices, procedural safeguards, and regulations pertaining to California public education.
Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of related legal mandates for equity in special education, including IDEA, ADA, Section 504, and the litigation and consent decrees which inform IDEA.
Demonstrate knowledge of the pre-referral general education processes and analyze these according to the requirements, procedures and processes for determining eligibility of students for special education services, including Response to Intervention (RtI)/MTSS processes.
Demonstrate understanding of critical issues in educational planning for students labeled exceptional.
Demonstrate knowledge of the essential components of IEPs, including ITPs, the team development and ongoing IEP review process, including the role of general educators.
Demonstrate knowledge of criteria for writing Common Core ELA and Math State and related (e.g. Next Gen Science) standards-referenced annual goals and short-term instructional objectives/benchmarks.
Differentiate among service delivery approaches, i.e. inclusive education, co-teaching, mainstreaming/integration, specialized settings and collaborative roles of special educators across service delivery models.
Demonstrate basic skills in the use of evidence-based Universal Design for Learning curricular and instruction practices; as well as differentiated instructional strategies and development/implementation of appropriate adaptations/modifications.
Demonstrate understanding of the various roles of family members, school personnel, and students in developing and implementing educational plans and instructional support and the collaborative skills required.
Demonstrate appropriate and effective communication skills for providing information in a collaborative, positive manner to families and other school personnel/team members; recognize the perspective of families in providing educational services to students who are receiving special education services.
Utilize the UDL framework for CCSS-based collaborative lesson design with demonstrations of components across the UDL strategic networks and differentiation in areas of process, content and product.