EDSP 750

EDSP 750: Internship in Early Childhood Special Education

Prerequisite: Admission to Teacher Education Program

Credit Hours: (9) Field Experience

Students in the five-year IDEC program will participate in a one semester, full-time placement in which they will work in an early childhood special education setting under the direction of a qualified teacher. Full teaching responsibility is assumed for at least seven weeks.

Detailed Description of Content of Course

Represents the early childhood special education culminating experience for graduates of the Interdisciplinary Studies Early Childhood Education/Early Childhood Special Education (IDEC) program seeking the MS in Education –Early Childhood Education and teacher licensure. It is a full-time placement in which the student works with children ages two through five with developmental delays and disabilities who are enrolled in public school services. The student will be under the direction of a cooperating teacher who is licensed in early childhood special education (ECSE) and has appropriate ECSE teaching experience. A member of the Radford University graduate faculty in early childhood special education will provide overall supervision of the internship experience. This experience combined with pre-professional early intervention experience will total a minimum of 300 clock hours, including a minimum of 150 supervised teaching hours with this population.

The internship will begin with observation in the classroom and culminate with full responsibility for the cooperating teacher's daily schedule for a minimum of seven weeks. Seminars are regularly scheduled and focus on the integration of research-based practices and classroom applications. Students conduct an action research project as part of this internship.

The following topics are covered in the course:

Use technology and multimedia effectively to assist instruction.
Incorporate knowledge and techniques from multiple disciplines and integrate goals from IEPs into daily learning activities and routines.
Assess children’s behavior using formal and informal assessment strategies and utilize data to enhance instructional planning for children.
Apply knowledge of diversity of socio-cultural and political contexts and work effectively with children from varied social, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds and diverse family systems.
Establish and maintaining positive, collaborative relationships with colleagues, other professionals and families, and work effectively as a member of a professional team.
Reflect upon practices, articulate a philosophy and rationale for decisions, demonstrate graduate-level writing and research skills, and continually engage in self assessment and professional improvement and development.

Detailed Description of Conduct of Course

Students are placed in a full‑time clinical internship in a public school with preschool children with disabilities. This experience begins with observations and limited participation, and culminates in assumption of full teaching responsibility for a minimum of seven weeks.

Teacher candidates participate in the full range of duties of public school teachers for the duration of the semester and abide by school site calendars and policies. Teacher candidates take part in all professional and community activities expected of Cooperating Professionals and demonstrate commitment to the professions’ codes of ethical conduct.

Internship Seminars are regularly scheduled to enhance professional development of teacher candidates. Seminar discussion topics will emphasize professionalism, ethics and legal issues and action research.

Goals and Objectives of the Course

Goals, objectives, and assignments in the class address NCATE Standards 1c: Professional and Pedagogical Knowledge and Skills for Teacher Candidates, 1d: Student learning for teacher candidates, and 1g: Professional dispositions for all candidates.

Objectives below also include the following standards:

Council for Exceptional Children (CEC/DEC)
Common Core Standards

§ Standard 1: Foundations (CC/EC1)

§ Standard 2: Development and Characteristics of Learners (CC/EC2)

§ Standard 3: Individual Learning Differences (CC/EC3)

§ Standard 4: Instructional Strategies (CC/EC4)

§ Standard 5: Learning Environments and Social Interactions (CC/EC5)

§ Standard 6: Language (CC/EC6)

§ Standard 7: Instructional Planning (CC/EC7)

§ Standard 8: Assessment (CC/EC8)

§ Standard 9: Professional and Ethical Practice (CC/EC9)

§ Standard 10: Collaboration (CC/EC10)

National Association for the Education of Young Children Standards

§ Standard 1: Promoting Child Development and Learning

§ Standard 2: Building Family and Community Relationships

§ Standard 3: Observing, Documenting, and Assessing to Support Young Children and Families

§ Standard 4: Teaching and Learning

§ Standard 5: Becoming a Professional

Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) Licensure standards

o Professional Studies

§ Competency 6: Supervised classroom experience

Special Education: Early Childhood (birth through age 5)

§ Competency 12: Supervised Experiences

Early/Primary Education PreK-3

§ Competency 1: Methods

IDEC competencies identified in the course objectives were developed to organize standards from six national and state specialty professional areas for which a crosswalk is provided.

The following objectives address IDEC competencies 5: Clinical Experiences and 6: Professionalism in addition to the specific competencies listed for each objective.

Upon successful completion of EDSP 750, students will:

Use technology and multimedia effectively to assist instruction. (IDEC 4.6 and 6.8)
Incorporate knowledge and techniques from multiple disciplines into the design of intervention strategies.(IDEC 4.6)
Integrate goals from IEPs and IFSPs into daily learning activities and routines. (IDEC 4.3 and 4.6)
Use formal and informal assessment strategies to evaluate and ensure the continuous intellectual, social and physical development of each child. (IDEC 3.2)
Assess children’s behavior and utilizing data to enhance instructional planning for children. (IDEC 4.4)
Apply knowledge of diversity of socio‑cultural and political contexts and working effectively with children from varied social, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds and diverse family systems. (IDEC 2.2)
Involve families in assessing and planning for their children. (IDEC 3.1)
Establish and maintaining positive, collaborative relationships with colleagues, other professionals and families, and working effectively as a member of a professional team. (IDEC 2.1 and 4.6)
Reflect upon practices, articulating a philosophy and rationale for decisions, and continually engaging in self‑assessment and professional improvement and development. (IDEC 6.6 and 6.7)
Demonstrate appropriate professional writing skills including organization, clarity, spelling, and grammar (e.g. punctuation, sentence and paragraph construction, etc.). (IDEC 6.9)

Assessment Measures

Receive feedback, observations and evaluations from cooperating teacher and university supervisors
Conduct a self analysis
Attend placement and weekly seminar
Complete written assignments applying best practices to instruction with children and families
Keep logs of student teaching placement activities
Complete assigned field experience activities as described in the IDEC Internships Handbook
Key NCATE Performance Assessment: “Students will conduct a Research-Based Intervention for a child with Disabilities, write a paper about the research and present in seminar.”
Key NCATE Performance Assessment: “The IDEC Student Teaching Evaluation will be completed by the RU supervisor at the end of the semester.”
Key NCATE Performance Assessment: “The Professional Characteristics and Dispositions will be completed by the RU supervisor at the end of the semester.”

Other Course Information

The IDEC Internship Handbook provides detailed information on policies, procedures, responsibilities, and expectations for performance. This is a graded A-F course.

Review and Approval

4/24/09 Revised Sharon L. Gilbert