Special Education Foundation Courses
All students enrolled in a Master's Degree program in Special Education are expected to have completed coursework in relevant Special Education foundations, including topics on:
- Characteristics of Exceptional Persons (Introduction to Special Education)
- Assessment Techniques for Diverse Learners (Special Education Assessment)
- Behavior Management
- Instructional Methods for Students with Diverse Needs (Special Education Instructional Methods)
The courses may be completed as part of the student's prior undergraduate degree program or as deficiencies at the start of the graduate program. Deficiency courses may be transferred from other institutions. Deficiencies can be completed prior to admission to the degree program, but must be completed prior to enrolling in graduate-level coursework for the Master's Degree. Students cannot use a graduate-level course to meet a deficiency requirement and also count the same course toward the 36-hour degree requirement (30-hour degree requirement for students admitted after Jan. 1, 2022). Students must earn at least a B- or better for any deficiency courses.
Research Requirement
All students enrolled in the Special Education Master's Degree program are expected to complete SPED 805, Systematic Review, regardless if a previous research course has been completed.
Fieldwork/Practicum
Students in a Master's Degree program in Special Education may be required to complete fieldwork as part of courses and/or supervised practicum or student-teaching experiences as guided by accreditation standards outlined by the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) Core Standards (2012). Special areas of study may require additional fieldwork with specific populations, settings, and activities as outlined by additional standards. Field experiences are arranged and/or approved by the university, unless students are otherwise directed. Students will apply for practicum/student-teaching placements using forms and procedures outlined by the college and the academic advisor. Graduate credits associated with practicum or student-teaching experiences can be used for completion of degree requirements and included on the student's MOC, if the student is earning a masters degree and endorsement simultaneously.
Acceptable Academic Performance
Students must maintain a minimum grade-point average (GPA) of 3.0 while pursuing the Master's Degree in Special Education. Furthermore, the minimum course grade permitted for graduate credits listed on the MOC varies with the level of the course and whether a course is in or outside the major, specifically:
For 400-/800-level courses in SPED: a minimum grade of B is allowed.
For 800-only or 900-level courses in SPED: a minimum grade of B- is allowed. More than two courses below a B- may be cause for academic dismissal from the degree program.
For 800-only or 900-level courses outside SPED: a minimum grade of C is allowed; however, courses listed on the MOC must have a grade of B- or above. A grade of B- or lower in a course designated for an Option II minor requires student to complete a comprehensive minor exam.
Pass/No Pass option: permitted only in 800-only, 900-level, independent study, or self-study courses in SPED.
For SPED 894 (Independent Study) and SPED 898 (Research Other Than Thesis), the student and advisor are required to complete a Scholarly Activity Agreement. Depending on the course, either pass/no pass or letter grade will be assigned for completed progress. Progress and grading will be determined by the advisor and guided by the Scholarly Activity Agreement Form. For students completing a thesis, a grade of either pass/no-pass or IP/XP will be determined by the thesis advisor.
Exit Examination/Oral Defense
All students pursuing the Master's Degree program in Special Education, must complete an exit exam, as well as complete all courses on the MOC with acceptable academic performance to meet requirements of the degree program.
Students pursuing Option A will have the oral defense of the thesis serve as their exit examination. The purpose of the exit examination for an Option B Master's Degree student is to assess the student's ability to integrate information from completed coursework and his or her ability to synthesize/analyze published literature to support their professional decisions as special educators.
Option A: Thesis
This option requires completion of 30 credit hours, which includes 6 credit hours of Thesis research (SPED 899).
Students interested in completing a thesis should identify a thesis adviser as early in their program as possible but no later than the end of the first semester. Once a topic has been identified and its general suitability discussed with the adviser, the student is in a position to select a Thesis Committee and begin preparation of the thesis proposal. The committee must include the thesis adviser and two other graduate faculty members, one of whom can be from another department (though this is not required). The list of selected Committee members should be noted on the Final Examination Report form (Parts 1, 4 & 5, without a title) and submitted with the student's MOC no later than Monday of the 15th Week of the student's second semester.
The thesis proposal is a crucial step in the thesis process. This written document prepared by the student normally contains the following sections: Review of Relevant Literature, Statement of the Problem and Research Questions, Proposed Methods and Procedures, and Proposed Analysis. Students are advised to work with their thesis adviser regarding the format desired.
Once the proposal is complete and a student has received preliminary approval by the thesis adviser, the process of carrying the study through to completion is generally turned over to the student. The student is encouraged to consult with the thesis adviser and committee members as necessary.
Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval must be obtained before initiating a study that involves human subjects. Theses involving animals require approval from the UNL Animal Care Committee. A student should consult with his/her thesis adviser about the necessary steps and procedures to obtain approval.
At the completion of the study, a student writes a draft version of the entire thesis document and presents it to the thesis adviser for review and suggested edits. Once the revised version is ready, the student then selects a thesis defense date and time mutually agreeable to all committee members. To prepare the thesis document, students should follow the guidelines recommended by the Office of Graduate Studies and the most current edition of the American Psychological Association (APA) Style Manual.
The student must notify the Graduate Coordinator of the exam date at least four weeks prior to the date of an oral exam during the fall/spring semesters and three weeks prior to the exam during the summer session.
A minimum of two weeks prior to the thesis defense date during the academic year and at least one week prior to the thesis defense during the summer, a student submits a copy of the final version of the thesis to each member of the Thesis Committee for review before the oral exam.
Following a successful oral defense exam, all the Committee members must sign the Final Examination Report form. Once the thesis is approved by the Committee, the student or thesis adviser promptly submits the Final Examination Report form to the Graduate Coordinator. The Graduate Coordinator will complete the Final Examination Report form with correct date and time of exam and forward to the Office of Graduate Studies before the exam is held.
Option B: Exit Exam
The design of the exit examination will be completed with input from the student's academic advisor. To be eligible to take the exit exam, a student must have a Memorandum of Courses (MOC) on file with UNL's Office of Graduate Studies, have completed at least 30 credits of the 36-plus credit degree program*, and have the agreement of their academic advisor. If a student has declared an area of specialization, the exit exam is meant to assess the student's ability to synthesize information related to his or her area of specialization. *Students admitted after Jan. 1, 2022, will need to have completed at least 24 of the 30-credit degree program.
All students pursuing Option B are to complete the SPED Exit Exam Application as well as Part 1 and Part 2 of the UNL Office of Graduate Studies Final Examination Report form. These forms should be submitted to the student’s academic advisor by the dates shown for each in the Timeline for Written Exit Exams chart that is relevant to the semester in which they plan to take the department Exit Exam.
Exit Exam Format: The exit exam is a take-home written examination process in which the student prepares a paper on a topic area related to their declared area of specialization. If the student has no declared specialization, their academic advisor will select the topic area for examination. Exit exams cannot be papers previously completed for a course. The student will identify the topic and/or question that will be addressed, in collaboration with their advisor.
Preparation for Exit Examination: The student's academic advisor will assist the student in narrowing a topic/question for the exit examination paper.
Submission of Completed Exit Exam Paper: All students will have three weeks to complete their exam paper. Students will receive the exam question/instructions by email from the Graduate Coordinator. Students must complete their exam paper independently, without further assistance from faculty members or staff. The exit exam must be uploaded to the SPED Exit Exam Canvas site by the date listed in the timeline chart for the student's desired graduation term. Late submissions will be considered No Submission; students will need to reapply for a new exam in a subsequent semester.
Grading of Exit Exam: Students should review the Special Education Master’s Exit Exam Instructions for a full description of the Exit Exam format and requirements. The submitted exam will be distributed to two designated "readers" from a pool of Graduate Faculty members in Special Education for review and grading. Faculty readers will be assigned by the Special Education Graduate Governance Committee and will not include the student's academic advisor. Efforts will be made to have readers remain anonymous to the student; all papers will be graded without knowledge of the student's name. See the Student Exit Exam Grading Rubric.
Students will have two attempts to pass the exit exam. Attempts will be scored as Pass, Revise, or No Pass. If a student receives a revise on their first attempt, they will have 2 weeks to edit and resubmit. Revisions will be graded as Pass or No Pass. If a student receives a No Pass on their first attempt or the first attempt's revision they will be required to complete their second attempt in the next semester (not including summer). The second attempt will be graded following the same criteria as the first. (See Figure 1 for a visual representation of this process). If a student receives a No Pass on both attempts, their program will be recommended for termination.
NOTE: All dates are approximate, and may change based on the UNL academic calendar.
Application for Graduation
Students must apply for graduation during the first weeks of the semester in which they intend to graduate. Look here for specific deadlines.
Students may be completing the Exit Examination for the Master's Degree during the same semester they plan to graduate, but the Application for Graduation must be on file even before the exam is completed. Failure to pass the department Exit Examination may require a delay in graduation and may require a new application and application fee during a subsequent semester in which the student hopes to retake the exam and graduate.