ENGAGE WITH CHILDREN IN YOUR FIRST YEAR HERE
Get started with field experience in a real grade K–6 classroom.
Special Education & Childhood Education Combined Program
Be qualified for teacher certification in four areas:
- Childhood Education, Grades 1–6
- Special Education, Grades 1–6
- Childhood Education, Birth–2nd Grade
- Special Education, Birth–2nd Grade
What Will I Learn?
You’ll learn how to work with students, parents and administrators in a rapidly changing educational landscape. The program is designed so you can maximize your college experience by studying both a liberal arts concentration and the principles of teaching and learning.
Field experience is an important component of the program. Throughout each semester of the program, you will have field experiences in schools, day-care centers, after-school programs and other educational agencies. In the your ninth semester, there will be a six-week practicum experience in a birth-2nd grade special education setting. The tenth semester consists of two eight-week teaching experiences.
What is Unique About Our Program?
- You’ll earn both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in only five years
- Our teacher candidates have over 500 hours of field experience prior to student teaching
- Our updated course content builds on undergraduate childhood study by teams of faculty; including instructors from childhood, special, and literacy education, working collaboratively to develop course syllabi and to team teach
- Benefit from close relationships with faculty and peers, and excellent teaching — in the college classroom and in elementary schools
What Are My Career Opportunities?
Graduates of our combined program can teach:
- Grades K through 6 in public schools in the state of New York for both special education and childhood education
- Special education birth–2nd grades
- Early intervention/preschool programs
- In private schools in the United States
- Grades K through 6 in a state that has reciprocity with New York certification
Teaching In Other States
New York has interstate contracts (Reciprocal Certification Agreements) with more than 40 other states and jurisdictions. This greatly increases the value of your SUNY Plattsburgh degree and New York State certification. This means that our graduates can take advantage of teaching opportunities across the U.S.
For example, some of our graduates have obtained a teaching license in another state to start a full-time teaching position. Others have chosen to go directly into a graduate program. Many choose one of SUNY Plattsburgh’s graduate programs to fulfill degree requirements for a professional teaching certificate from the state of New York.