BCSE Progress

[KayV]

Inspired by Passit1/ Dina's Journey to Success thread, I thought I would create a mini accountability thread of my own as I work on achieving board certification in teaching special education.

Background
I have been teaching for over 20 (!!!) years in multiple subject areas. Currently I teach special education/ resource room at our small private school and absolutely love it. When I was looking for professional development hours for the summer, I discovered the board certification in special education (BCSE) program through the National Association of Special Education Teachers. My principal kindly offered to use professional development funds for me to complete this program, so I happily enrolled.

BCSE vs. NBCT
Those of you in education have probably heard of the National Board Certification process, which costs about $2000 and takes a year or more to complete. It involves a content knowledge exam, examples of student work and your own reflections, and videos of your teaching. This is a very worthwhile process, especially if your school or state will help pay for the fees; some states and districts even offer pay increases. It requires a bachelor’s degree and 3 years of teaching experience.

The BCSE designation is narrower in scope, since it is targeted toward experienced teachers who already have advanced degrees in special education. It seems to have many of the features of a building designee level program. It is much cheaper (~$500) and more straightforward than NBCT. You take a series of five courses and have to pass (at 80%) a 50-question multiple-choice exam at the end of each class. The courses include General Principles of Special Ed; IEP Development; Assessment; Response to Intervention; and Special Ed Eligibility.

Neither the NBCT nor the BCSE is a degree in itself, but several MEd programs now incorporate the NBCT process as a specialization option. This does not guarantee passing the NBCT components though, and generally the costs of the NBCT are in addition to the original MEd tuition.

Frankly, I chose the BCSE over the NBCT because my school will pay for it, I should be able to finish over the summer, and I think I will learn more about special ed law and processes. There is absolutely no financial incentive for me to get the NBCT because my school/ district/ state do not offer extra stipends for it. If you are considering one of these programs, though, you should check to see if financial incentive options are available to you.

Enrollment Process
I filled out the enrollment form and faxed it in along with a copy of my advanced teaching certificate in K-12 special education. I also sent in copies of my BA/MA/EdS transcripts. My application was approved fairly quickly and the first course, General Principles, was unlocked.

(Errr…. How is She Typing This? Isn’t There Something Wrong with Her Hands?)
Before we go further, a shout out to Google Voice Type in Google Docs for making it so easy to write, copy, and transfer this to Degree Forum. It is a fabulous resource for those with physical challenges, “unique” spelling systems, etc.

[KayV]

You know how sometimes online classes-especially ones that are evaluated with multiple-choice exams- are considered laughably easy?

This is not that kind of class. Not at all.

Which is a good thing, in my opinion, because I was not looking for a piece o’ cake course.

Briefly, it consists of about 100 pages of downloadable text accompanied by eight or so hours of video. It is an overview of special education law, history, and processes. There is a LOT of material to internalize in this class- names of laws, dates of revisions to laws, and of course application of the law. I absolutely cannot imagine taking this class without already having a solid background in special education, but it didn’t feel like just a repeat of grad school. I especially thought the transition services section was valuable.

There are 100 review questions at the end of the course and the final exam questions are drawn from that set. I would strongly suggest doing the review and studying it before taking the final because you have to earn 80% to pass. You can retake it twice if you score under 80%. This is similar to the NBCT option of resubmitting portfolio components, except the BCSE is free to retake.

On the final there are a couple of true/ false questions, but most of them are vastly more complicated. Study. Really.

I passed the exam on the first try and immediately received a temporary copy of the certificate. I had to fax this back to them so that they could unlock the next course, which they promptly did. They will also be sending an official copy of the certificate to me.

It's Friday afternoon and I think I might take the weekend off because it's summer vacation after all.

[bjcheung77]

That's great stuff, it's a great reminder and also helps keep you accountable and motivated when it's on paper.

[KayV]

I decided to really concentrate on getting this completed and have just finished the second and third courses.

The second course was 134 pages of Principles of IEP Development. It was great (not ironic)- a very thorough explanation of all the intricacies of IEPs from preparation for the initial meeting to transition services.

The third course was Understanding Assessment in Special Education. This was 75 pages that comprised both an overview of assessment and a whole bunch of educational statistics. It also gave guidelines for writing professional evaluations of assessment data and presentation of those results to the IEP committee.

Once again, this would be extremely difficult to do if I didn't already have a solid background in special education.

Next up is Understanding Response to Intervention, which is a multi-leveled approach to providing services and interventions to students facing learning challenges. I am looking forward to this course.

[KayV]

Fourth course is complete.

This was 114 pages of Response to Intervention, and it was excellent. It comprised a very thorough review of the background/ laws surrounding RtI, ideas for school implementation and progress monitoring, standard treatment protocols, and more about the law.

I have one more course to finish, Special Education Eligibility. I hope to complete it either this weekend or early next week.

[KayV]

Would anyone like to learn about the fourteen different ways one can qualify for special education, and the documentation and testing required for each of those, and which accommodations and modifications might be suitable for each one?

PM me if you need the details lol.

In the meantime, I will be sending the final course certificate in tomorrow and making sure they have all the elements of my portfolio. I should find out in a week or two if I have earned board certification.

[bjcheung77]

Would anyone like to learn about the fourteen different ways one can qualify for special education, and the documentation and testing required for each of those, and which accommodations and modifications might be suitable for each one?

PM me if you need the details lol.

In the meantime, I will be sending the final course certificate in tomorrow and making sure they have all the elements of my portfolio. I should find out in a week or two if I have earned board certification.

Great work! Good luck with that certificate. Hope you get your portfolio complete and the board approving it!

[KayV]

Well WooHooHoo my certificate came in the mail today! Now I get to update my signature.

[jsd]

Congrats!