Special Education

The U.S. is experiencing a critical shortage of highly qualified special education teachers. You’ll be highly employable with a degree in special education from Northern State University!
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About The Program
School of Education

Special Education

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The special education degree gives you the skills necessary to support students with diverse learning needs in a variety of settings, and often is paired as a double major with NSU’s elementary education degree.

 

Each candidate admitted to our teacher education program receives an iPad. Our special education majors often hear from special education experts and work with area schools. To further enhance your classroom experience, NSU’s special education professors have forged partnerships with community programs that serve people with disabilities.

 

NSU has an active Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) chapter, providing additional opportunities to work with students with disabilities in our community.

 

NSU students have a high first-trial pass rate on the required Praxis exams. 

 

 

 

Careers 

NSU’s K-12 special education degree prepares you to work with students with disabilities in a variety of settings such as schools, residential facilities, and hospitals, or to work as an adult service provider.

 

For more information on careers in your major or help choosing a major, contact the NSU Career Center.

Internships 

NSU special education students gain valuable hands-on experience in field placements during their sophomore, junior and senior years, including a formal student teaching experience.

Scholarships 

School of Education scholarships are available to incoming freshmen and upperclassmen. For details, please call the School of Education at 605-626-2415.

 

Education Scholarships

 

NSU Scholarships

Courses 

Special Education (BSEd) Course Requirements

 

Special Education Minor Course Requirements

Plans of Study 

Special Education (BSEd) Plan of Study

 

Elementary Education and Special Education (BSEd, double major) Plan of Study

Program Success/Outcomes 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

“I chose Northern because it was close to home. What got me to stay at Northern was the Blind and Visually Impaired program, and the support from my professors. I’m majoring in Special Education with endorsements in Teaching Students with Blindness and Visual Impairments, K-12 Braille Education, and Early Childhood Special Education. Northern and the South Dakota School for the Blind have a very unique partnership. I have been able to take classes for my TVI endorsement in classrooms at SDSBVI led by teachers from the school! I have worked there for three years now as a teacher’s assistant working in a variety of classrooms with preschoolers all the way up to high schoolers. In 2018, my Braille class took a trip to Louisville to visit the American Printing House for the Blind and the Kentucky School for the Blind. We went to Sioux Falls to tour the South Dakota Rehabilitation Center for the Blind where I also later completed a summer internship working with adults who are blind. Northern is one of the few schools that offers TVI as an endorsement, but it’s the only university that has a school for the blind directly across the street from campus where we can build relationships with the students and learn firsthand from the teachers that work there rather than through professors.”—Taylor Achterberg, Watertown, S.D. #beNORTHERN #unleashYOURpotential #NorthernStateU #WhyNSU #WolvesMaskUp

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Contact Information 

For more information about this degree, contact Justin Bartel or call 605-626-2429.

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