This course examines the leadership role of the reading specialist/coach. Students develop skills to evaluate reading programs and utilize data at the school and district levels. Examining coaching approaches helps students consider how to work in partnership with colleagues for successful implementation of evidence-based practices.

This course focuses on instructional coaching to enhance teaching practices of both novice and experienced teachers across a range of contexts. Students will examine key components of instructional coaching, models of instructional coaching, and considerations for navigating the educational landscape of various contexts for coaching.

Educators must apply knowledge to enhance teaching practices and student learning. This culminating course explores the foundations of the M.Ed. C & I program pillars--curriculum, instruction, assessment, and diversity. We will examine the intersections of the pillars and learnings from the program coursework. The M.Ed. comprehensive (comp) exam is embedded within this course, and students must be in their final semester of coursework to enroll.

This capstone course requires students to integrate and apply knowledge acquired from previous coursework to address an authentic problem of practice in special education. Students will propose, design, and implement a solution to tackle the identified issue. This course will culminate in a comprehensive examination or equivalent project submission, demonstrating their readiness to contribute as leaders in special education.

Instructional design offers substantial potential to improve learning in every domain. Students learn systematic methods for ID, explore the role of design, theory, & technology in addressing instructional problems, & build significant analytical & project management skills. For any discipline where creative approaches to knowledge construction and information transfer are critical.

Using technology in instructional settings requires an understanding of the content, skill, or practice to be taught, relevant pedagogical knowledge, and an understanding of the technology and how the technology supports and/or augments learning in a specific context. In this course, students will develop and apply this technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge (TPACK) through their coursework.

Teacher leaders are expert in the complexities of teaching and leveraging this expertise to other school reform domains' mentoring, coaching, advocacy, community outreach, etc. By collectively establishing a positive school culture, teacher leaders build on strong pedagogical and cultural knowledge using a variety of interpersonal, instructional, and political skills to improve student learning in schools.

In this class, we will learn about performance improvement, an extension of instructional design in which practitioners assess needs and gaps in human performance in organizations using tools like root cause analysis, then design interventions to address the gaps and plan on-going evaluation for continuous improvement. These skills are commonly used in for-profit, government/military, and non-profit industries and is growing in education

Overview of the field of gifted education including conceptions of giftedness, identification tools and processes, characteristics of gifted learners, programming options, curriculum and instruction, and evaluation for gifted learners- including historically under-represented students. Students will gain a foundation in the field of gifted education and appropriate educational responses to gifted learners to be built upon in subsequent courses.

Designed to introduce students to modifying and creating appropriate and effective curriculum for gifted learners. Course participants will understand how to choose appropriate content, process and product outcomes and develop meaningful learning experiences that are rigorous, concept-based, open-ended, and tied to gifted learners experiences. Participants will explore and understand the process of curriculum design through multiple lenses.