Abstract:

In 2015, University of Northern Colorado began offering a graduate degree in Teaching Diverse Learners. The new degree enables current teachers to earn a Master of Arts through online courses and apply for the state credentials to teach Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CLD) and Special Education. In addition to the MA degree, providing access to meaningful pay increases, the teacher graduates have the choice to apply for additional endorsements from the state for either CLD or Special Education, or both. If graduates choose to apply for both new credentials, they maintain the ability to choose if they want a position as a CLD Teacher, a Special Education Teacher, or a Mainstream Teacher where they are likely to serve more students with diverse needs for support in both areas.

Now in 2023, the US is struggling with a teacher shortage (National Center for Education Statistics, 2023), low enrollment in Teacher Ed programs (Will, 2022), and significant need to increase educational equity through reduction of disproportionate representation of CLD students in Special Education (US Department of Education & Office for Civil Rights, 2016). The MA-TDL program that prepares teachers to best support students with diverse learning needs now has 50+ graduates and the School of Teacher Education needs a better understanding of the teaching pathways graduates pursue after finishing the TDL degree, and their perspectives on their own implementation of expanded teaching competencies they developed through the degree.

This presentation will share the follow-up inquiry conducted with students in the program between 2015-2023, and the results found based on data reported by graduates regarding their current teaching positions and how the degree supported their professional achievements. The MA-TDL meets a great need in the US, enabling teachers to better support all students with diverse learning needs, as a mainstream teacher in an inclusive classroom, or as a focused specialist in CLD or Special Education. Understanding the contexts that MA-TDL graduates actually serve students in classrooms, and their perspectives on how they found and implement competencies developed through the program will further enable UNC’s assessment of impact the degree has on equity in education for the diverse learners the program intends to support, as well as enabling institutional expansion of recruiting efforts during a time of decreasing enrollment in Higher Education.

Keywords:

Teacher education, diverse learners, special education, emergent bilinguals.