Special Education

 

Special Education Office
304 Recitation Hall
West Chester, PA 19383
Call: 610-436-2579
FAX: 610-436-3102
smcknett@wcupa.edu


Message from the Chair

Welcome to the Department of Special Education at West Chester University!!

Special education as a discipline has continued to experience exciting growth within the education field, and West Chester University has continually exited highly desired special education teachers. Our graduates have been extremely successful in securing employment across a variety of school and agency settings where individuals with disabilities may be served. Our special education faculty all bring significant experience in direct service to infants, children, young adults, and adults with disabilities to the university classroom, providing a rich context within which to prepare future teachers.

On this site, you will find special education programs at the undergraduate level and at the graduate level (encompassing post-baccalaureate certification and master’s programs of study). Please take a moment to find the information relevant to your desired course of study. Note that as of the Fall 2009 semester, new undergraduate students will follow a different set of coursework from those who entered since 2005 and will be completing their programs no later than December 2012. Changes in curricula have occurred in the entire Teacher Education program at West Chester University, and as a result have aligned programs with new “highly qualified teacher” language in the law. This has allowed us in the special education discipline to partner with even more departments across campus in the development of dual undergraduate major courses of study that will result in certifications in both special education and the respective general education counterpart programs...again continuing to place our exiting students in highly marketable employment status. Students not wishing to be certified in special education may still complete a course of study in another education major while completing a minor in special education; this combination would result in certification in the education major area only, but would offer critical information in teaching students with disabilities who are served to large extents in general education classrooms. For further information about the undergraduate programs, please contact Dr. Donna Wandry at (610) 436–2579 or dwandry@wcupa.edu.

At the graduate level, students may receive an initial certification in special education if they are not previously certified teachers, an additional certification of they do hold current certifications, or a Master’s Degree in special education. As with the undergraduate program, graduate program completers continue to be productive, energized, highly qualified practitioners held in high regard in their respective settings. For more information on the graduate program, contact Dr, Vicki McGinley, Graduate Coordinator, at (610) 436–1060 or vmcginley@wcupa.edu.

Please also take a minute to visit the information about our graduate level interdisciplinary, empirically–based certificate in autism studies. This 18–credit post-baccalaureate certificate program is geared towards community members who currently work with, or will work with, individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Please contact the Autism Certificate Coordinator, Dr. Corinne Murphy at cmurphy@wcupa.edu for more information.

Thank you for visiting our site! If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us!

Dr. Donna Wandry, Chair
Department of Special Education