Abstract:

In the United States, not unlike other countries, classrooms have become places where children from different geographical regions come together to learn through languages often new to them. Political conflicts, natural disasters, and migration have created significant cultural, religious, and linguistic shifts in communities around the globe and those shifts are visible in our public schools. Educational policies that protect the rights of children such as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (2004), made it possible for students with different learning abilities to be educated in mainstream classrooms. For example, 10% of public schools’ students in the United States are emergent bilinguals, of those 16% have also been identified as having a disability; while 14% of students have been identified as having a disability (National Center for Education Statistics, 2023).

The National Center for Education Statistics (May 2023) states that 77% of teachers are female and 80% are White non-Hispanic. It has been estimated that roughly 4.6 percent of teachers in Pre-K through Postsecondary education settings have a disability (Walker, 2018). Additionally, 67% of all teachers report educating at least one student who is learning as a new language, and 89% of teachers report educating at least one student with a disability (National Center for Education Statistics, 2021). Aggravating the challenges of providing appropriate educational services to emerging bilingual and students with disabilities is the consistent and growing teachers’ shortages in areas such as bilingual education, English as a second language, and Special Education (U.S. Department of Education, 2017).

This presentation will share the efforts of our institution, the University of Northern Colorado, to create a graduate degree in Teaching Diverse Learners, that allows K-12 teachers to obtain our state’s endorsement in teaching Linguistically Diverse Learners (CLD) and Special Education. We would share the steps followed to conceptualize, organize, and get state approval for the master’s degree and will explain the coursework requirements and initial program success. The M.A. program, initiated in 2015 as a pilot program, is now an online only program which has graduated over 50 teachers. Program graduate can either stay in the mainstream classroom, become ESL teachers, or Special Education teachers.

The M.A. in Teaching Diverse Learners meets a great need in our state and it can be replicated by other institutions who have the resources to create a similar efforts for pre-service or in-service teachers.

Keywords:

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