Special Education Certificate – Graduate (Licensure)

The School of Education at Biola University offers an online institution-sponsored 12-credit certificate in Special Education (Licensure), formerly Special Education Certificate – Graduate. This certificate assists regular classroom teachers who serve special needs students, teachers who plan to later earn their Special Education Credential, and administrators and curriculum specialists who desire to strengthen their special education expertise. The 12-credit Special Education Certificate – Graduate (Licensure) can be taken as a stand-alone program or can be embedded in Biola's M.A.T. or M.A.Ed. licensure programs. The institution-sponsored certificate requires that all coursework be passed with a grade of B- or higher.

Program Learning Outcomes

1. Identify and articulate God's calling as Christian educators by reflecting on their spiritual journey and their educational preparation in a biblically integrated essay; and demonstrate Christian attitudes and actions conducive to professional excellence and witness by maintaining high professional disposition marks in coursework and fieldwork (ULO 1, 2, 3).

2. Examine and analyze their students' cognitive, social, and physical growth through the gathering of student profile data, monitoring their progress, and providing constructive feedback to maximize students' optimum development (ULO 1).

3. Demonstrate respect for diversity in cross-cultural and special population educational settings in order to promote equity and justice as exhibited in differentiated learning plans, response to profile data, and high marks in professional dispositions throughout coursework and fieldwork experiences (ULO 1, 2, 3).

4. Design and implement appropriate adaptations to ensure the attainment of a productive learning environment for each student enrolled in candidates' classes by focused evaluation and reflection of each student's strengths and needs. Candidates will also utilize developmental and learning theories, as a foundation for professional decision-making and reflection by identifying student learning needs and making appropriate adaptations to ensure student learning (ULO 1, 3).

5. Design, implement, and practice appropriate and effective universal design for learning that fosters a safe and equitable learning environment for students with individual academic and behavioral needs (ULO 1, 2, 3).

Each Program Learning Outcome (PLO) listed above references at least one of the University Learning Outcomes (ULO 1, 2, 3), which may be found in the General Information section of this catalog.

Admission Requirements

• Applicants must have completed all bachelor's requirements prior to the start of the program and must have a bachelor's degree conferred from a regionally accredited institution prior to the start of the second term.
• Must be a California resident in order to fulfill fieldwork requirements.
• Foreign transcript must be evaluated by a California Commission on Teacher Credentialing approved organization and verified equivalent to a U.S. bachelor's degree.
• Have a minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA on a 4.0 scale.
• Verify possession of a Certificate of Clearance from the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing.
• Documentation of tuberculosis (TB) test clearance administered within 3 months prior to start of program.
• Applicants for whom English is not a primary language must verify a score of 100 iBT on the TOEFL exam.
• Complete Biola University's Graduate Education Application.
• Interview with a member of the School of Education.

Official documents presented for admission or evaluation become part of the student's academic file and normally cannot be returned or copied for distribution.

Program Requirements