Educational Outreach

SPARC: The Right Resources at the Right Time

School districts throughout Maine continue to cope with a severe shortage of special educators. The SPARC program is designed to help individuals and districts meet this challenge in effective and efficient ways: on-line courses and face-to-face coaching.

SPARC courses are open to all special education educators holding a baccalaureate degree. There is no need to apply for admission to UMF.

WHICH 24? Maine requires 24 credits of coursework for special education certification. Several leaders in the special education field have come together to design this SPARC program to address the specific skills and knowledge they believe a special educator needs to thrive and flourish. (Interested candidates should also check with the Maine Department of Education Certification Office for additional requirements for Special Education 282 certification beyond coursework. Or click on Part II of Ch. 115 found at the following link http://www.maine.gov/sos/cec/rules/05/chaps05.htm to access Requirements for Specific Certificates and Endorsements for additional requirements).

WHY A PROGRAM? WHY NOT JUST COURSES? Some individuals will choose merely to accumulate the 24 credits needed for certification. SPARC is designed for those who are looking for cohesion and deeper application. However, individuals who have acquired some of the 24 required credits in other ways will be welcomed into SPARC. The SPARC program’s foundation is rooted in two major principles:

· The credits need to be focused on specific sets of skills and bodies of knowledge;

· Inexperienced special educators need face-to-face coaching to handle both the “real time” issues and legal aspects of working with students with disabilities.

WHAT ARE THE COURSES? WHAT IS THE CONTENT?
SPARC offers ten (10) on-line courses (3 graduate credits each) on a rotating schedule. Most courses are appropriate for K-12 teachers; all but SED 503 and SED 510 are appropriate for Birth to School Age 5 teachers; modifications of assignments will be made based on the grade level each participant teaches. The courses, as planned now, will include:

• SED 503 Transition for Youth with Disabilities: From High School to Adult Life. This course prepares you as special education teachers at the middle and secondary level to meet the transition requirements of IDEA by exploring issues and strategies for preparing adolescents and young adults with disabilities for the transition from school to adult life. We will explore these issues and strategies within the context of ecological models of human development.
• SED 504 Collaborative Partnerships Among Individuals With Disabilities, Families And Professionals. This course focuses on collaboration and teaming strategies among individuals with disabilities, their families, general and special educators, school psychologists, paraprofessionals, and other related service providers in inclusive school and community settings. Assignments and in-class activities require application of teaming and collaboration skills. Participants will also conduct research on collaborative interactions in school and community-based services. Course projects involve co-teaching, staff development, and problem-solving situations.
• SED 505 Achieving High Standards with Universal Design and Assistive Technology. This course will explore concepts of universal design and a variety of assistive technology devices which can support students with disabilities and their access to the general education curriculum. Devices from the simple to more advanced will be explored.
• SED 506 Assessment in Special Education. Numerous tests in the areas of intelligence, achievement, perceptual motor skills, adaptive behavior, and behavior will be examined. Participants will work with children in their area of specialization or interest. The course emphasizes assessment, teaching, and development of education programs and strategies.
• SED 507 Curriculum and Instructional Programming for Students with Disabilities. Participants in this course will explore basic principles of curriculum development and instructional programming for students with disabilities. Participants will focus on how to develop clear instructional goals and objectives for Individual Education Plans and how to construct daily instructional programs to accomplish these goals and objectives.
• SED 508 Classroom and Behavior Management of Students with Disabilities. Participants will explore basic principles of classroom and behavior management from prevention of problems through the development of a variety of positive responses to chronic misbehavior in special education and regular classroom settings. Students will develop and conduct a number of classroom application projects designed to improve the behavior of individuals and groups of students. Students will also review current research on effective classroom and behavior management.
• SED 509 Understanding and Applying Maine’s Special Education Rules and Regulations. Participants in this course will understand the federal and state laws and regulations that have an impact on how educators design and implement programs for students with special needs, how to organize and conduct pupil evaluation team meetings, how students become eligible for special education services, the procedural safeguards involved in all aspects of special education from referral to termination of services, develop skills in writing individual educational plans and linking these plans to daily instruction, record keeping, and evaluation, as well other critical issues in special education.
• SED 510 Teaching Decoding and Spelling Skills to Students with Mild to Moderate Disabilities. The majority of students with reading disabilities have trouble learning to decode accurately and automatically. This course will focus on using scientific based reading instruction to teach these students decoding skills and spelling skills. It will include work on phonemic awareness, phonics, and decoding automaticity. Participants will have to teach lessons in these areas to students who have reading disabilities and have reading skills between kindergarten and fourth grade level.
• SED 511 Mathematics Instruction for Students with Disabilities. This course focuses on research-based methods and strategies for teaching mathematics to children and youth with disabilities, preschool through high school. Areas addressed in this course include: current issues of concern; major curriculum thrusts, such as the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Standards; Maine’s Learning Results; promising practices; methods to differentiate instruction; linking instruction with assessment; accommodations; modifications; and assistive technology.
• SED 512 Advanced Practicum in Special Education. This is a supervised practicum. Participants will identify, plan, carry out, and reflect upon a variety of instructional improvement projects focusing on overall classroom management, positive behavioral support/behavior management, academic instruction and related topics. They will also participate in regional discussion groups and non-evaluative, in-class coaching sessions in support of their course work and professional growth. Please call for prerequisites.
• SED 513 Early Childhood Speech and Language: Development, Disorders and Interventions. This course is designed to introduce early childhood special and general educators to the development of speech and language in young children. Content includes an overview of the ages and phases of typical speech and language development and the link between speech, language and literacy. We will explore disorders and delays in speech and language and learn about research-based techniques for assessment, identification and intervention.

Schedule of Courses

Spring Semester 2010 Click here for course registration

SED 503 Transition for Youth with Disabilities: From High School to Adult Life. Course will be offered from January 19 to May 13.

SED 505 Achieving High Standards with Universal Design and Assistive Technology. Course will be offered from March 15 to June 30.

SED 507 Section 0001 Curriculum and Instruction Programming for Students with Disabilities. Course will be offered from January 19 to May 13.

SED 507 Section 0002 Curriculum and Instruction Programming for Students with Disabilities. Course will be offered from January 18 to May 7.

SED 512 Advanced Practicum in Special Education. Course will be offered from January 19 to May 13.

Summer Semester 2010

SED 509 Understanding and Applying Maine’s Special Education Rules and Regulations.

SED  511 Mathematics Instruction for Students with Disabilities.

SED 513 Early Childhood Speech and Language: Development, Disorders and Interventions.

Fall Semester 2010

SED 504 Collaborative Partnerships Among Individuals With Disabilities, Families And Professionals.

SED 506 Assessment in Special Education.

SED 508 Classroom and Behavior Management of Students with Disabilities.

SED 510 Teaching Decoding and Spelling Skills to Students with Mild to Moderate Disabilities.

2009-2010 Course Costs

For courses offered Fall 2009 through Summer 2010, costs per course are:

• In-State Tuition: $1,041 per course
• Outreach Fee:  $50 per course
• Unified Fee: $78 flat fee for 1 or 2 courses, $155 flat fee for 3 courses

Spring 2010 Course Registration

Please contact the office at 778-7502 or educationaloutreach@maine.edu to be added to a mailing list to receive course registration materials. For Additional Information Contact: Pam Wilson at 778-7186 or pwilson@maine.edu.

The Western/Central Maine Regional Teacher Development Center (RTDC)
The UMF Office of Educational Outreach
The UMF Special Education Faculty
The Western Maine Partnership

The University reserves the right, up to the date of final registration for the academic term, to make adjustments as may be deemed necessary by the Board of Trustees. Students will be billed additional charges if tuition and/or fees change after they have enrolled.