Special Education, Post-Baccalaureate Certificate

North Carolina needs more special education teachers, and in order to fill vacancies, the state allows teachers to work in the school system with a bachelor’s degree as long as they obtain a NC teaching license within three years.

Our graduate certificate program supports residency teachers who have been hired to teach students with disabilities in North Carolina public schools. The program is also open to non-certified teaching assistants, teacher apprentices and other school staff with a bachelor’s degree who would like to become lead teachers in a special education setting. Coursework is designed to lead to NC Special Education (K-12) teacher certification.

This graduate certificate pathway is designed for working professionals. Courses are offered entirely online and field experiences may be completed in your own classroom. Dedicated faculty with extensive teaching experience teach all courses in this efficient and streamlined program.

Students can select from two concentrations: Special Education: General Curriculum or Special Education: Adapted Curriculum.

• General Curriculum — Prepares special educators to teach individuals with high incidence disabilities including specific learning disabilities, emotional disabilities and other health impairments in Kindergarten through grade 12.
• Adapted Curriculum — Prepares special educators to teach learners with significant intellectual and multiple disabilities from Kindergarten through 12th grade.

Our special education residency courses are offered at the graduate level. This is not a degree program, but all courses can be applied toward completion of the Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) in Special Education degree program.