The Master of Arts program in Disability Studies in Education (DSE) requires a minimum of 32 points. It is for students with any undergraduate major who want to earn an M.A. in Disability Studies in Education. However, students who already hold a special education teaching certificate and who, therefore, have already met the standards for Teachers of Students with dis/Abilities set by the Council for Exceptional Children, will earn a New York State professional certification in Special Education when the degree requirements have been met.
Our goal is to prepare students in the emerging interdisciplinary field of scholarship described by the DSE special interest group of the American Association for Educational Research as critically examining issues related to the dynamic interplays between disability and various aspects of culture and society with specific attention to education. The program - uniting critical inquiry and political advocacy with a sociocultural, rather than medicalized, view of disability - focuses on scholarly approaches that center disability. These approaches are integrated and post-positivist and adopt methods from the social sciences, humanities, arts, and education. In this program, the faculty will promote the infusion of analyses and interpretations of disability throughout all forms of educational research and teacher education.