Special Education (K - Age 21)

The Master of Arts in Teaching program with a specialization in Special Education incorporates standards of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) and the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (InTASC).  The Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) is the largest international professional organization dedicated to improving the educational success of individuals with disabilities, gifts and talents.

Field experiences are an integral part of the teacher preparation program at Walden. These experiences provide candidates with opportunities to apply course concepts in real environments that allow for increasing levels of responsibility. The field experiences relate to candidates’ professional goals, provide them with the opportunity to connect theory and practice, and prepare them for daily classroom responsibilities. Candidates are informed, monitored, and evaluated throughout all field experiences. The Office of Field Experiences secures all field experience placements for teacher candidates.

To help ease anxiety in the field experience process, Walden offers a 0-credit Field Experience Preparation course and 0-credit Demonstration Teaching Preparation course. These courses are structured experiences that guide students through the application processes and currently available readiness resources. The courses are designed to complement other pre-requisite courses needed in preparation for field experiences. There may be reasons why a field experience course needs to be postponed, or the readiness course may not be needed if a field experience opportunity has already been secured. In this instances, students may opt-out of the course.

Field experience requirements are outlined in the Field Experience and Demonstration Teaching Handbook for the program.

The Field Experience Forms are located in the candidate's ePortfolio. For more information about each of the below forms, please review the Teacher Candidate Guidebook and/or Field Experience and Demonstration Teaching Handbook.

1. Preferred Placement Form:  The Preferred Placement Form must be completed prior to starting field experiences. The form allows candidates to note the districts and schools within their geographic region, and is due two weeks after the first course begins.

2. Professional Liability Insurance Verification Form:  The Professional Liability Insurance Verification Form must be completed prior to starting field experiences. The form is due two weeks after the first course begins. The candidate may need to renew the professional liability insurance during the program to ensure coverage throughout all field experiences.

3. Field Experience Timesheets:  The Field Experience Timesheets serve as documentation of completed field experience hours. A signed timesheet is due at the end of each 5-week course.

4. Host Teacher Evaluations:  The Host Teacher Evaluations are completed by the candidate's host teacher after each field experience placement. A signed evaluation is due at the end of each placement.

5. Application for Demonstration Teaching:  The Application for Demonstration Teaching is due several months in advance of the demonstration teaching semester.  The application is due January 31 for candidates who plan to complete demonstration teaching during the next fall semester, and due May 31 for candidates who plan to complete demonstration teaching during the next spring semester.

Information on the Demonstration Teaching Forms is included in the Field Experience and Demonstration Teaching Handbook.

Candidates are required to read the Teacher Candidate Guidebook and Field Experience and Demonstration Teaching Handbook for the program. The documents are located in the ePortfolio and below. 

There are two reasons to seek a license in Minnesota: (1) if the candidate resides in Minnesota, or (2) if the candidate first needs a Minnesota license to transfer to his or her home state (license in hand). The Minnesota licensure exams for the Special Education program include:

1. MTLE Pedagogy: Elementary (Subtests 1 and 2) or Secondary (Subtests 1 and 2)
2. MTLE Content Area Test: Special Education Core Skills (Subtests 1 and 2)

For more information on the Minnesota Teacher Licensure Exams, please visit: https://www.mtle.nesinc.com/

Candidates who are not seeking a license in Minnesota must consult the department of education website in their home state, as it remains the individual’s responsibility to understand and comply with the out-of-state licensure requirements for the state in which he or she seeks to be licensed.