special education

The M.Ed. program in Special Education is an interdisciplinary program that includes core courses and electives. The core courses include two special education content related courses and three research courses. The elective courses are aligned with the emphasis area identified by each M.Ed. candidate. Faculty have been extremely supportive in working together to identify student learning outcomes that are aligned with the specialized standards established by experts in the field of Special Education (e.g. the Council for Exceptional Children). Collecting data and inputting data into the College of Education data system, Student Information System, has also been a relatively smooth process. Data analysis of courses and the program has been challenging for course instructors and program faculty prior to the Department’s adoption of a data analysis and reflection process. In Fall 2013 we developed a data analysis and reflection process that was used by the instructors of each core course. We also developed a process for analyzing and reflecting on program data. These processes have been extremely successful in facilitating discussions and analyzes that have resulted in program improvement based on data. This poster session will provide information regarding the Department’s data analysis and reflection processes we now use to facilitate decision-making regarding the Special Education M.Ed. program. We will include the guiding questions and forms we use to facilitate analysis and reflection on individual courses and on the program. Other graduate programs may find our process useful.

IA Process for Facilitating Program Improvement: Is There a Data Analysis Process That’s Faculty Friendly?

The M.Ed. program in Special Education is an interdisciplinary program that includes core courses and electives. The core …