| Advanced Program Exit Requirements |
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All teacher candidates must complete the following Exit From The Program activities before approval for graduation is granted.
Each teacher-practitioner is ultimately responsibility to make sure that he/she has fulfilled all the requirements for graduation by the end of their degree expected term. The teacher-practitioner should receive a “ Final Program Degree Audit” letter from the Office of Records and Registration three to four weeks after applying for graduation. Please review this letter to make sure that it reflects the correct major and specialization. If any information is incorrect or missing, please contact the Office of Records and Registration.
The exit interview is an interview given to all graduating teacher-practitioners. The exit interview provides the Department of Special Education faculty with a good mechanism to take a hard look at how the Special Education academic programs are perceived. Graduating teacher practitioners who are graduating are more open and frank in their discussions about their graduate experience. Please bring a the Exit Portfolio to your Exit Interview. Failure to provide the Exit Portfolio will prevent approval of the “Graduation Approval Sheet.”
All graduating Teacher-practitioners must submit and receive approval for his or her final portfolio. The Exit Portfolio should present clear evidence that you have the requisite knowledge, skills, and perspectives that will enable you to be a “reflective facilitator of learning.” The Exit Portfolio evidences should reflect the School of Education Program Outcomes, Council for Exceptional Children’s (CEC) International Standards for Specialized Knowledge and Skills Essential for Beginning Special Educators and Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC) principles. Your Exit Portfolio must receive a minimum rating of “Met Standards” in order for approval for graduation is grant. Failure to receive the acceptable rating may result in your “Graduation Approval Sheet” being denied for processing for graduation.
All teacher candidates are required to complete a thesis. The purpose of preparing a master’s thesis is to give you experience in carrying out the kind of research you can expect to do throughout your professional career. Through this process, we expect you to demonstrate your ability to work independently on a problem and to document your familiarity with the literature in your field, your command of the techniques and principles of research, and your ability to form valid generalizations from the data you use. Coursework in thesis research is required.
