Learn how to teach students with moderate disabilities in both special education and inclusive settings.
UMass Boston’s Special Education master’s program prepares individuals to teach students with moderate disabilities in both special education and inclusive settings. The MEd in special education is focused on social justice in urban schools, emphasizing students with disabilities and the knowledge, dispositions, and practices necessary to combat disproportional representation. Several MEd courses can be taken online for a hybrid learning experience, and two of our related special education certificate programs are entirely online.
The Special Education MEd is available in four different tracks:
Moderate Disabilities, Pre-K-8
Moderate Disabilities, Grades 5-12
Transition Leadership
Non-Licensure
The program is a hybrid model with about 50% of the classes online:
Includes a mix of fully online classes; hybrid classes that are roughly half online and half face-to-face; and a few classes that meet mostly face-to-face.
Great balance that provides flexibility, and connections with both faculty and classmates.
Face-to-face classes all meet one time per week at the UMass Boston campus at either 4PM or 7PM, so you can attend classes and work full time.
We focus on social justice issues and the urban classroom environment. All of our instructors have extensive teaching experience that they bring into the classroom. Most courses are taught by full time faculty.
Ready to talk? Email kristin.murphy@umb.edu to schedule a call with the program director.
Why Apply for UMass Boston’s Special Education MEd Program?
This program offers opportunities for students to learn to about special education and inclusive pedagogy and content across the curriculum areas. Through working with dedicated faculty to develop teaching skills, action research skills, and knowledge of child and youth development, our graduates are prepared to work in urban, diverse, and inclusive settings and serve students and their families as soon as they graduate.
This 39-credit program includes courses in both content and pedagogy. Students are required to complete field experience hours throughout their program, culminating in a 300-hour practicum in a classroom in their final semesters.
Outcomes
Upon satisfactory completion of the master's degree program, you’ll be awarded a Master of Education in Special Education. The Special Education MEd - Moderate Disabilities tracks focus on developing skills to work with culturally and linguistically diverse children and/or adolescents who are at risk and/or have special educational needs. Through courses, field-based experiences, and practica, the program affords general educators, special educators, and other specialists the opportunity to hone critical assessment, instructional, and consultation abilities. Coursework and experiences focus on the design and implementation of, and advocacy for, a range of learning settings for children with disabilities, designed in collaboration with their teachers and families, especially for those who are from diverse backgrounds. The urban, multicultural school provides the central context within which graduate students are guided to reflect on their teaching practices and to view themselves as active contributors to school improvement.
Careers
The Special Education Master’s Program, housed within a public urban university, is dedicated to the training of educators who are prepared to teach individuals from various diverse backgrounds in urban, inclusive schools.
Christopher B. Denning, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Associate Professor, College of Education and Human Development
Lusa Lo, Professor of Special Education, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, College of Education and Human Development
Kristin Murphy, Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director of Special Education, College of Education and Human Development
