Special Education Major

Teaching special education may be one of the most challenging, and most rewarding, careers you can pursue. Being a special education teacher requires commitment, compassion, focus, and exceptional organizational skills. Special education teachers can make a real difference in the lives of their students if they are fully prepared and fully committed to help students who need their talents and training the most.

About the Major

Ohio Wesleyan's new major in special education allows students to earn a Multi-Age (grades K-12) Intervention Specialist teaching license. The program also allows early childhood majors to earn an Early Childhood Concentration in Special Education that leads to an additional license. OWU's education program features rigorous classroom work and extensive field experience, with a variety of travel, research, and learning experiences that are part of The OWU Connection.

Think Big

At OWU, we emphasize intellectual curiosity, creativity, initiative, and synthesis. We give you opportunities, including traveling to remote locations, for you to explore an existing problem or process—or perhaps to develop a totally new avenue of exploration. You can work in tandem with a faculty mentor, and you can seek funding through a grant, research scholarship, or fellowship.

Research & Independent Study

Exploring Hyperlexia

Alanna Spalsbury ’16 expanded her personal experience as a one-on-one aide for a kindergartener with hyperlexia into a larger research project exploring hyperlexia. Working with Dr. Katherine Glenn-Applegatehe, she explored the multiple facets of social communication deficiencies in children with hyperlexia and strategies for encouraging their social development while nurturing their gift for reading.

Go Global

With The OWU Connection, our unique approach to higher education, you will connect classroom learning with real-world experience.

Your experience at OWU will include a 15-week field experience and student teaching in a minimum of two settings. You may also pursue a Theory-to-Practice Grant or Research Project to explore special education in settings around the world.

Theory-to-Practice Grants

Highlights

Education Fellows Program

Ohio Wesleyan's unique Education Fellows Program is open to exceptional first–year students with a stated interest in teaching at the pre-kindergarten to high school level.

More Information

Teaching Opportunities

During your first education course, you participate in a field experience in a diverse setting. You complete your field experience during your second foundational course, where you tutor diverse learners in one of two Columbus schools, giving you more than 50 hours of experience working in diverse settings. Other teaching opportunities include Buckeye Valley Reads, Language Exchange Alliance of Delaware, and the Columbus Initiative.

Field Experiences

Accreditation

Ohio Wesleyan’s teacher education program is approved by the State of Ohio Department of Education, and it has achieved national accreditation through the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). The University is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission and is a member of the North Central Association.

Curriculum Resource Center

The Curriculum Resource Center houses current education journals, a collection of K-12 textbooks, a children's literature collection, and numerous instructional materials.

Kelly Maier '14

Named Ohio Student Teacher of the Year in 2014, Kelly studied Early Childhood Education with a specialization in Special Education at OWU. She received a master's degree from Vanderbilt and is now a board certified behavior analyst at the Autism Education and Therapy Center in Nashville, TN.

Job Opportunities

There is currently a national shortage of special education teachers, and the need for special education student services is also increasing. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, employment of special education teachers is projected to grow 6 percent from 2014 to 2024. The median annual wage for special education teachers was $56,800 in May 2015.

Career Options

Special education majors can work in a wide range of settings and careers, including: public school teaching in inclusion classrooms, resource room teaching, special education public school administration, special education residential programs, hospital programs for children requiring long-term care, public policy and advocacy positions, and professional associations (administrators and journal editors).

Teaching Excellence

In 2014, 23 OWU students took the Praxis II examination(s) in their teaching area. In areas where 10 or more OWU students took the same examination, the passing rates were: Principles of Teaching and Learning Early Childhood II, 100%; Education of Young Children, 100%.