Special Education Minor - For Ek Ed Majors

Today we learned more about the new minor in Special Education (SPLED) and how one can fit the coursework into an Ek Ed Teaching Option. In addition to Spled 400 which is part of the Ek Ed program there are two, two course blocks of Spled course required to complete the minor in SPLED. These blocks can be taken beginning in a student's 5th semester, the first semester one can apply for the minor.

In the past it has not been possible to fit the two SPLED blocks into the normal progression of Ek Ed blocks (LL ED 497A, DI Block, and Student Teaching) that can begin as early as the 5th semester. This has meant that to complete the minor a student has had to either take the 15 credit LL ED 497A block in summer following their junior year (thus being able to graduate in 4 years), or, delay LL ED 497A until the fall of the senior year (which has meant taking 4 1/2 years to graduate).

The current (tentative) plan is to offer one of the SPLED blocks in the summer. This would mean taking 6 credits in the summer of a student's junior year and still graduating in 4 years, assuming everything else progressed normally.

For up to date information of the progress of the format for the SPLED minor, check out their web site: http://espse.ed.psu.edu/sped/142