You’ve chosen this path to change lives and have a lasting, meaningful impact on students with developmental or intellectual disabilities. Your love of education and your students is why you’re pursuing your Master of Arts degree in Special Education Leadership - to go beyond your classroom and help more students live their best lives by shaping their educational experience.
Earning your master’s degree at WLC will help you meet the leadership challenge of guiding, mentoring, and shaping special education programs. You’ll be poised to make a positive difference in student achievement at the elementary, middle, or secondary levels.
As a student in our educational master’s program, you’ll enhance your cognitive, analytical and reflective thinking skills through research in education theory, practice, and psychology. Technological applications and leadership opportunities are integrated throughout the curriculum.
This specialization focuses on:
- High performance research
- Practical models
- Data-driven decision-making
You will participate in practical experiences, teacher performance assessments, and results-oriented expectations as a part of your degree program. Expect to become fully immersed in the legal and ethical standards that govern special education programs.
Within this 30 credit graduate degree program, students have the option of completing and presenting an action research project or engaging in a practitioner track which involves participation in practicum experiences, creation and presentation of a licensure portfolio and successfully completing a competency exam at the conclusion of the program.
The special education leadership concentration in the Master of Arts program provides the opportunity to receive an administration license (Director of Special Education license #5080) through the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI). Candidates who already possess a license in cross-categorical special education (WI #811-LD) may pursue this program as an additional license; those without a special education license must complete the dual-licensure requirements. Candidates interested in receiving school administrator licensure from DPI must possess a master's degree, an active teaching license, have completed six semesters of classroom teaching, and fulfilled specific licensure stipulations.
You’ll graduate with your degree, the skills to become a special education administrator, and the knowledge that you have what it takes to help students have the best education possible.