Sarah Eckert, Program Director
seckert@uarts.edu
215.717.6092

C O N T E N T S

• Description
• Program Objectives
• Program Requirements

Description

Ensuring that all students receive an appropriate education in regular and inclusive classroom environments is the responsibility of all teachers.  However, not all teachers feel fully prepared to teach the increasingly diverse student population in today’s classrooms.

Students, classrooms, schools and districts are diverse in multiple ways: intellectually, socially, emotionally, developmentally.  There are a great many learning styles within a single classroom, and growing proportions of students each year are designated as having learning differences.  Every teacher can expect to find students with learning differences or disabilities within his or her classroom.

The Graduate Certificate in Inclusion will support teachers to deepen knowledge, hone skills, and build instructional practices to successfully design and implement in an inclusive classroom environment, while embracing classroom diversity.

This Certificate is designed for in-service teachers. Courses may also fulfill requirements within the MEd in Educational Program Design.

Program Objectives

Students in the Graduate Certificate in Inclusion will:

• Explore state and federal legal, regulatory and policy landscape around educational strategies to meet the needs of diverse learners
• Examine the historical foundations of special education, and related litigation and legislation
• Develop an understanding of the roles and responsibilities of teachers in the identification, evaluation, teaching and progress monitoring of all learners within inclusive environments
• Learn evidence-based instructional strategies for successfully including students with learning differences and disabilities within general education classrooms
• Effectuate classroom strategies to address a range of grade levels, skill levels, and content areas
• Optimize instruction for students with diverse learning and developmental backgrounds in the inclusive classroom.
• Identify, evaluate, and monitor the progress of all diverse student populations within today’s inclusive classroom
• Minimize mismatches between teaching and learning styles

Program Requirements (15 Credits)