Patricia Hampshire (Photo by Grace Cockrell)
STARKVILLE, Miss.—To meet the evolving needs of teachers and increase employability, a revised version of Mississippi State’s Master of Science in Special Education program is now offered entirely online, making it accessible to those with full-time jobs. is increasing.
Additionally, the curriculum has been redesigned by faculty to reflect the latest terminology, research, and philosophy in the field.
The redesign was led by Patricia Hampshire, associate professor and graduate coordinator of the special education program in the MSU School of Teacher Education and Leadership. She said that since the inception of MSU’s program, the field of special education has undergone significant changes in its approach to scholarship, theory and practice.
“As we reviewed similar programs across the country, we found that they needed to better reflect current practice and the growing literature base in special education,” said Hampshire.
The updated program aims to improve student outcomes by incorporating the most effective instructional strategies, assessment methods, and intervention techniques for teaching students with disabilities. It emphasizes tiered support systems for instruction and behavioral interventions, universal design for learning, and evidence-based practices for providing instruction.
“The newly revised curriculum will help improve the knowledge and practice of special education teachers working in schools across Mississippi and surrounding states,” Hampshire said. “By removing barriers to access through an online format, we will be able to reach even more teachers.”
“More than 67,000 students with disabilities attended Mississippi public schools in 2021,” added Kenneth Anthony, associate professor and interim director of the School of Teacher Education and Leadership. The Department of Teacher Education and Leadership is committed to meeting the needs of students with disabilities in our schools. One way to do that is to provide state-of-the-art, relevant graduate programs to special education teachers across the state. ”
The program consists of 11 graduate-level online courses that prepare learners to take on and contribute to research in the field of special education. For more information, please visit https://www.online.msstate.edu/matx.
MSU’s School of Education includes five departments, an education division, one research unit, and numerous service units. For more information, please visit https://www.educ.msstate.edu/.
