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Department of Education
Special Education, Disability & Risk Studies
Emphasis in Special Education, Disabilities, and Risk Studies
Degrees
Ph.D. with an Emphasis in Special Education, Disabilities and Risk Studies
M.A. with an Emphasis in Special Education, Disabilities and Risk Studies
Credential: California Level 1 Education Specialist Credential
Optional Interdisciplinary Ph.D.: Cognitive Science
Application Deadlines
- December 15th for consideration of internal financial support
- May 1st - final application deadline
Ph.D.
1) Curriculum – Required Courses
2) Residency
3) Committee Membership
4) Other Degree Requirements (Milestones)
5) Research Apprenticeship
6) Independent Research Project
7) Qualifying Exam
8) Dissertation
9) Time to Degree
M.A.
1) Curriculum – Required Courses
2) Additional Units
3) Residency
4) Committee Membership
5) Master’s Thesis, Research Project, or Comprehensive Exam
6) Time to Degree
Faculty Associated with the Emphasis
Other Links
Dissertation Titles
CPCE Prior Year Requirements (PDF)
Education Program Forms (PDF)
The requirements as listed here are for students beginning in fall 2007. Students who enrolled in prior years should follow the requirements in effect when they began the program.
The Emphasis in Special Education, Disability and Risk Studies is a component of the Ph.D. Program in Education. The Special Education, Disability and Risk Studies Emphasis is concerned with educating researchers and practitioners who will be knowledgeable, and further expand our knowledge, regarding the educational needs of students with disabilities or who are at educational risk. The program philosophy is that researchers and practitioners need a contextualized view of students, within their school, home and community, to understand their individual needs as well as the needs of the systems that are serving them. In this Emphasis, students will obtain a multidisciplinary perspective on children with special needs and their schools, families, and communities, through the combined efforts and knowledge of professionals from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds. Graduate students will be grounded in theories of typical and atypical development.
This Emphasis is designed to integrate with other emphases such as the Emphasis in Child and Adolescent Development and the School Psychology specialization in the Department of Counseling, Clinical, & School Psychology. We believe that by integrating the developmental and psychological perspectives from these other emphases, our students will be better prepared to do research and contribute to the profession in a meaningful and significant way.
At time of admission to the program, doctoral students entering without a Master’s degree in education or a related field are expected to enroll in the M.A./Ph.D. program.
Required Courses
Research Methodology (5 courses required)
Students will take at least 5 courses in research methodology. These courses should be chosen in consultation with a faculty advisor.
History/Proseminar (1 course required)
ED 222D – Law, Ethics and History of Special Education
Disability Studies (3 courses required, 1 each in mild and moderate/severe areas and 1 other of the student’s choice)
ED 222A - Introduction to Exceptional Children
ED 222B - Academic and Cognitive Characteristics of Students with Mild Disabilities
ED 222C - Social and Affective Characteristics of Students with Mild Disabilities
ED 228A - Learners with Severe Disabilities: Functional Skills Instruction
CNCSP 212 - Cognitive Development in Autism and Other Severe Disabilities
Risk and Development (1 course in "typical" development; 1 course in "atypical" development recommended)
ED 211B - Development: Infancy and Early Childhood
ED 211C - Development: Middle Childhood to Adolescence
ED 211D - Development: Adolescence through Adulthood
CNCSP 223B - Developmental Psychopathology
CNCSP 292 - Resiliency, Strengths and Youth Development
Assessment and Intervention (4 courses required)
Assessment
CNCSP 257B - Psycho-Educational Assessment and Evaluation
CNCSP 250 - Cognitive Assessment in Professional Psychology
Intervention
ED 223H - Individual Differences and the Administrator
ED 228B - Learners with Severe Disabilities: Communication
ED 228C - Learners with Severe Disabilities: Functional Academics
ED 228D - Direct Instruction and Strategy Instruction
ED 228E - Families and Disabilities
ED 228F - Topics in Family and Disability Research
ED 228G - Interventions with Families and Children with Disabilities
ED 228H - Working with Stakeholders in Special Education
ED 229C - Practicum in Special Ed Programs for Severely Handicapped Pupils
ED 229E - Field Supervision in Teacher Education for Doctoral Students
ED 291 - Professional Issues in Severe Developmental Disabilities
CNCSP 256 - Behavioral Assessment and Intervention for Children and Adolescents
CNCSP 262A - Consultation in the Schools and Community
CNCSP 262B - School-Based Mental Health Services
CNCSP 262C - Counseling Children and Families
Specialization Area
Students will take courses in an area of their choice with guidance from their faculty advisor. We urge our students to take full advantage of the faculty resources available through the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education and the many other doctoral programs at UCSB. Toward this end, we recommend that doctoral students identify an area of specialization and take a set of three or more seminars in this area. There are numerous possibilities and advisors will work with students to help them construct a course of study that meets their interests and needs. The following list of possible areas of specialization is meant to provide a sample of alternatives within the GGSE and other graduate programs. The list is not exhaustive and students are encouraged to study the UCSB General Catalog to locate courses that are available through other graduate programs.
Development
The GGSE includes an emphasis area devoted to the study of human development through the life span. A series of seminars are available through this emphasis area including seminars on infancy, early childhood, and adolescence. UCSB also has an Interdisciplinary Program on Human Development that brings together faculty from across several disciplines for regular colloquia. The interdisciplinary program offers courses from the departments of Psychology, Communications, and Sociology in topics that focus on human development.
Families and Disability
Several graduate seminars are offered in this area including courses that focus on school and family relations, family therapy, behavioral parent training, families of children with autism, school linked services, ethnicity and minority status families of persons with disabilities, and family research. Research practica are also available.
Systems, Law, and Policy
Students who are interested in applied or research work that focuses on questions of organization, leadership, management, and policy are encouraged to draw from a wide range of course offerings from the Department of Counseling, Clinical, & School Psychology or Education, Organization, and Leadership Emphases within the GGSE. Seminars are offered in topics that include politics and education, economics and education, organizational change, educational finance, human resource administration, and social policy and disability.
Culture and Language
UCSB offers a rich range of alternatives for students interested in studying minority status, culture, ethnicity, and linguistic differences. The GGSE faculty includes experts on sociolinguistics, bilingual education, education and minority populations, and UCSB has graduate programs in Asian American, Chicano, and African American studies. Students interested in this area are also encouraged to study a second or third language.
Applied Behavior Analysis
Seminars and practica in this area prepare students to use applied behavior analysis as a research framework and as a tool for applied interventions. Seminars and practica experiences available in this area include introduction to behavior analysis, principles of behavior therapy, single subject research design, behavioral family therapy, autism, students with severe emotional/behavioral disabilities and applications of behavior analysis in special education.
Sociology
Researchers working in the sociological tradition have made enormous contributions to the study of disability in this century. UCSB has a nationally renowned sociology faculty. Students interested in the sociological study of disability are encouraged to draw from their extensive offerings.
Complete 6 regular academic quarters of study as defined by the academic residence requirement of the University. This will include both research methodology courses and courses that constitute the prescribed core curriculum. Additionally students, in consultation with advisors, will develop a plan of study that will include other coursework within the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education, and in other disciplines whose theories and methods contribute to a conceptually integrated understanding and investigation of their area(s) of specialization. The minimum fulltime course load is 8 units per quarter, although it is strongly recommended that all students enroll for 12 units.
The Graduate Division states that a M.A. or Ph.D. committee must be comprised of at least three UC ladder faculty members (full, associate, or assistant professors). Two members of the committee must be ladder faculty members from the student’s UCSB major or department, one of whom is appointed as chair or co-chair. An exception memo is required if the student wants the third member who is not a ladder faculty for the committee.
OTHER DEGREE REQUIREMENTS (MILESTONES)
Students pursuing this Emphasis must complete the following activities under the supervision of their faculty advisor and designated faculty committee:
One of the most important goals of the Emphasis is to prepare students to conduct original research in the field of education. This training is provided continually throughout the graduate program and commences with a research apprenticeship upon a student's admission to the program. During the first year, each student is required to participate in a research apprenticeship under the guidance of his or her faculty advisor or another qualified faculty member. The purpose of the apprenticeship is to acquaint you with the hands-on conduct of research by having you participate in the research activities of a faculty mentor. The apprenticeship experience provides you with the opportunity to learn how educational research questions may be formulated and investigated and how the pursuit of research is tied to the needs of the educational community. As part of the apprenticeship experience, you will also learn how faculty researchers evaluate the substance and quality of their research through means such as peer review of research proposals, publications, and other forms of dissemination, and through feedback from educational practitioners and policy makers.
Students are expected to negotiate placement in a research apprenticeship with a faculty member during their first year of their enrollment in the Emphasis. This requirement can be fulfilled through work as a research assistant, through a joint project with a faculty member, or through a variety of other arrangements. Upon completion of this apprenticeship, you should insure that the “Completion of the First Year Research Apprenticeship Form” is obtained from the Department of Education Program Office, signed by the supervising faculty member, and filed in the Student Affairs Office.
The Independent Research Project is sometimes referred to as the second-year paper because that is when it is generally conducted. Although it is carried out under the close supervision of the faculty advisor or other faculty member, it differs from the research apprenticeship typically completed during the first year. The Independent Research Project should involve a topic of interest to you and you should assume major responsibility for all aspects of the project from research review through data collection and analysis. Whenever possible, this project should be related to the area of expertise to be covered in the Qualifying Examination and/or serve as a pilot study for the dissertation.
Completion of the project should result in a paper that is appropriate for submission for publication. In the writing of the paper, unless otherwise agreed to by the faculty committee, you should adhere in all matters of style to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (latest edition). Upon completion of the project, you should insure that the “Completion of the Independent Research Project” form is obtained from the Department of Education Program Office, signed by two supervising faculty members, and filed in the Student Affairs Office.
Students can choose to do a Master’s Thesis or Project to receive their Master’s degree. This entails different paperwork depending upon whether the student wants to obtain the Master’s degree through Master’s Plan 1 (thesis option) or Master’s Plan 2 (project option) as described in the Graduate Division’s Graduate Handbook. Students should discuss with their advisor which Plan they wish to pursue and the procedures that will be followed.
Master’s Plan 1 requires students to prepare a thesis that is signed by the three M.A. committee members and is filed with the Graduate Division. Prior to defending the thesis, the student should notify the Student Affairs Office about the composition of the master’s committee for approval by Graduate Division’s Graduate Academic Services.
Master’s Plan 2 requires students to complete either an examination or to carry out a research project. The section on the Independent Research Project in the Ph.D. description describes the guidelines for doing a research project. The examination option should be discussed with the advisor. In either case, students must defend their examination or project and obtain signatures from the three members of the M.A. committee on the “Completion of the Independent Research Project” form. This form can be obtained from the Department of Education Program Office. It is filed in the Student Affairs Office.
The Qualifying Examination serves to advance a student to doctoral candidacy. This is an important milestone since, among other things, it signals the completion of coursework, declaration of field of scholarship, and a possible reduction in registration fees, depending upon how long you have been enrolled. A Master’s exam, project, or thesis cannot serve as the qualifying exam. Completion of this milestone is accomplished with the following steps:
1. In conjunction with your faculty advisor, write a brief (3-5 pages) description of the
areas of knowledge in which you will read and on which you invite examination. What are the major issues in these areas? Why are they important for education and/or schooling?
2. In conjunction with your faculty advisor, prepare a categorized reading list that speaks
to the above issues.
3. In conjunction with a faculty advisor, students will form a committee of at least two
additional members of the Academic Senate, one of whom must be from the Department of Education. You may have additional members from our department or other campus departments if you wish.
Once faculty have agreed to serve on your committee, inform the Student Affairs Office so appropriate paperwork can be processed.
4. Present your paper and preliminary reading list to the potential committee members. If
they agree to serve, they then may add to your reading list, if they wish.
5. Decide with the committee whether to pursue Plan A or Plan B for the written portion of
the Candidacy Examination.
Plan A |
Plan B |
A paper which includes a critical review of the literature. You submit this paper to the committee when you believe it is complete. If the advisor is to assist in the thinking and editing process here, the committee should agree to this procedure in advance. The paper must be of sufficiently high quality to be submitted for publication. In the writing of the paper, unless otherwise agreed to by the faculty committee, you will adhere in all matters of style to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (latest edition). |
An examination of questions formed by the committee. A time limit is planned in advance by the committee for the completion of the exam - it can be 1 day, 10 days, or longer, but it must be pre-specified. |
6. A week or so after you have submitted the review paper (Plan A) or the answers to the
examination questions (Plan B) to your committee, an oral defense of your project is
scheduled. This oral examination is required across the UC system. Typically, two
hours are scheduled.
A student who passes both the written and oral portions for the Qualifying Examination then advances to candidacy. If a student fails either portion, the committee will determine additional requirements. Again, appropriate forms (Doctoral Degree Form I & Doctoral Degree Form II) for establishing the Qualifying Examination committee and for registering that the student has passed the examination, may be obtained in the Student Affairs Office.
A doctoral dissertation is a document reporting a piece of original research conducted independently by the student. In the writing of the dissertation, unless otherwise agreed to by the faculty committee, the student will adhere in all matters of style to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (latest edition). The student should read Filing a Doctoral Dissertation on the Graduate Division’s website www.graddiv.ucsb.edu/academic/ before beginning work. Completion of the dissertation is accomplished with the following steps:
1. In conjunction with your advisor, conceptualize the dissertation study and develop a detailed proposal for the work, including a description of the problem or issue to be addressed, a review of the pertinent literature, and a description of the procedures by which the study will be conducted. It is in your interest to be as explicit as possible.
2. The committee is normally nominated prior to advancing to candidacy although changes may be made. Students should submit any changes to that committee to the Student Affairs Officer for paperwork processing.
3. After giving them at least a week to read the proposal, meet with the committee to review it. You will be expected to give an oral presentation outlining the rationale, purpose, and method of the project. As a result of this meeting the committee will decide if the proposal may be approved in its current form or if changes must be made. When the proposal is accepted, the committee must sign the “Approval of Dissertation Proposal” form that can be obtained in the Department of Education Program Office and must be filed in the Student Affairs Office.
4. Conduct the additional work necessary to complete the dissertation in the accepted
proposal. Continued interaction with your faculty advisor is advisable, both as you do data collection and analysis and as you compose drafts of components of the dissertation. It may also be appropriate to consult with other members of your committee on specific areas related to their expertise. Although the form of the dissertation, including chapters and/or sections where appropriate, is normally governed by the content and worked out with the advice of the dissertation committee, specific elements as described in the Graduate Division’s Guide must be included. When submitting the dissertation to the committee, all elements of the document should be included (e.g., figures, references, footnotes, appendices, etc.).
5. After giving them at least a week to review your final dissertation draft, meet with the
committee to defend your dissertation. A dissertation defense involves a formal oral presentation of the project by the student and a series of questions by the faculty. The specific nature of the dissertation defense and its duration varies considerably according to members of the committee. Thus, prior to the defense, you may find it helpful to talk informally to members of the committee about their expectations. You should take responsibility for coordinating the establishment of the date, time, and location of the oral defense. At the end of this defense, the committee will determine whether your dissertation is "passed" or needs more work. Adopting an optimistic stance, you should take to the defense meeting 1) at least five copies of the "signature page" from your dissertation to be signed by the committee members, and 2) a Doctoral Degree Form III, obtained from the Student Affairs Office, signifying passage of the dissertation.
6. File your dissertation with the appropriate offices on campus, following instructions in
Filing a Doctoral Dissertation. Deadlines to submit doctoral dissertations to the Graduate Division for graduation dates are listed in the University's schedule. If you are trying to meet specific deadlines, you should plan to conduct your dissertation defense on a date that offers sufficient time before the deadlines to allow revisions that the committee might require.
Students' life situations make the times necessary to complete their degrees vary greatly. However, the Graduate Division has established guidelines for key milestones in the Ph.D. program. All students are expected to take their Qualifying Examination and Advance to Candidacy by the end of their fourth year in the program. Students who do not make this deadline may be placed on academic probation. In addition, it is expected that most students in the Ph.D. Program in Education will complete their degrees within six years. This is called the normative time to graduation. Students should consult with their advisors about these deadlines; adjustments may be possible depending upon individual circumstances.
Milestone |
When Typically Completed |
Normative Time |
1. Research Apprenticeship |
3rd Quarter |
|
2. Independent Research Project |
6th Quarter-9th Quarter |
MA: 12th Quarter |
3. Residency |
6th Quarter |
|
4. Qualifying Examination |
9th Quarter-12th Quarter |
12th Quarter |
5. Dissertation Proposal |
10th Quarter-15th Quarter |
|
6. Dissertation Defense |
15th Quarter-18th Quarter |
18th Quarter |
The Master's degree program is tied directly to and constitutes a subset of the current Ph.D. Emphasis courses in Special Education, Disabilities and Risk Studies. The Department of Education faculty associated with the Ph.D. Emphasis in Special Education, Disabilities and Risk Studies are also associated with this M.A. program. All requirements for this M.A. program may also be met by required courses for the Ph.D. Completion of this Emphasis' Comprehensive Examination, Research Project or Thesis will fulfill the Ph.D.'s "Independent Research Project" requirement.
The M.A. in Special Education, Disabilities and Risk Studies tends to attract students with interests in receiving multidisciplinary training on children with special needs and their schools, families, and communities. These individuals usually seek research careers in the field of human exceptionalities or as practitioners in educational settings.
The program is intended to meet the needs of students with both scholarly and applied interests. Graduates of SPEDR will be prepared to enter a Ph.D. program either here or at another university and will subsequently fill research and academic positions.
Required Courses
Students must complete 36 upper division and graduate units, of which 24 must be at the graduate level, selected in consultation with the student's faculty advisor. These must include (other courses may be substituted with the permission of the student’s committee):
1. Three courses in research methodology selected from the following list:
ED 200 - Research Methods in Education
ED 201D - Single Case Experimental Design
ED 214A - Introductory Statistics
ED 214B - Inferential Statistics
ED 214C - Linear Models for Data Analysis
ED 215A - Introduction to Testing and Measurement
ED 221A - Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods
ED 221B - Qualitative Interviewing
ED 221C - Observation and Small Group Analysis
ED 221D - Classroom Ethnography
ED 221E - Analyzing Ethnographic and Sociolinguistic Data
ED 221F - Community Ethnography
ED 221G - Textual Analysis
2. One course in foundations of special education to be completed with a grade of B or better:
ED 222D - Law, Ethics and History of Special Education
3. One additional course in Special Education selected from the following list:
ED 222A - Introduction to Exceptional Children
ED 222B - Academic and Cognitive Characteristics of Students with Mild Disabilities
ED 222C - Social and Affective Characteristics of Students with Mild Disabilities
ED 228A - Learners with Severe Disabilities: Functional Skills Instruction
CNCSP 212 - Cognitive Development in Autism and Other Severe Disabilities
4. Two courses covering issues in risk and development selected from the following list:
ED 211B - Development: Infancy and Early Childhood
ED 211C - Development: Middle Childhood to Adolescence
ED 211D - Development: Adolescence through Adulthood
CNCSP 223B - Developmental Psychopathology
CNCSP 292 - Resiliency, Strengths and Youth Development
5. Two courses covering issues in assessment and intervention:
Assessment
CNCSP 257B - Psycho-Educational Assessment and Evaluation
CNCSP 250 - Cognitive Assessment in Professional Psychology
Intervention
ED 223H - Individual Differences and the Administrator
ED 228B - Learners with Severe Disabilities: Communication
ED 228C - Learners with Severe Disabilities: Functional Academics
ED 228D - Direct Instruction and Strategy Instruction
ED 228E - Families and Disabilities
ED 228F - Topics in Family and Disability Research
ED 228G - Interventions with Families and Children with Disabilities
ED 228H - Working with Stakeholders in Special Education
ED 229C - Practicum in Special Ed Programs for Severely Handicapped Pupils
ED 291 - Professional Issues in Severe Developmental Disabilities
ED 229E - Field Supervision in Teacher Education for Doctoral Students
CNCSP 256 - Behavioral Assessment and Intervention for Children and Adolescents
CNCSP 262A - Consultation in the Schools and Community
CNCSP 262B - School-Based Mental Health Services
CNCSP 262C - Counseling Children and Families
6. Optional courses in a defined topic area approved by the advisor.
Students may take additional units including those 500-level courses appropriate for preparation for the thesis or comprehensive examination.
Complete 3 regular academic quarters of study as defined by the academic residence requirement of the University. This will include both research methodology courses and courses that constitute the prescribed core curriculum. Additionally, students, in consultation with advisors, will develop a plan of study that will include other coursework within the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education, and in other disciplines whose theories and methods contribute to a conceptually integrated understanding and investigation of their area(s) of specialization. The minimum fulltime course load is 8 units per quarter, although it is strongly recommended that all students enroll for 12 units.
Students will work under the guidance of a committee that must be comprised of at least three UC ladder faculty members (full, associate, or assistant professors). Two members of the committee must be ladder faculty members from the student’s UCSB major or department, one of whom is appointed as chair or co-chair. An exception memo is required if the student wants the third member who is not a ladder faculty for the committee.
MASTER’S THESIS, RESEARCH PROJECT OR COMPREHENSIVE EXAM
Students can choose to do a Master’s Thesis or Project to receive their Master’s degree. This entails different paperwork depending upon whether the student wants to obtain the Master’s degree through Master’s Plan 1 (thesis option) or Master’s Plan 2 (project option) as described in the Graduate Division’s Graduate Handbook. Students should discuss with their advisor which Plan they wish to pursue and the procedures that will be followed.
Master’s Plan 1 requires students to prepare a thesis that is signed by the three M.A. committee members and is filed with the Graduate Division. Prior to defending the thesis, the student should notify the Student Affairs Office about the composition of the master’s committee for approval by Graduate Division’s Graduate Academic Services. Master's theses follow the guidelines established by the Graduate Division. An oral defense of the thesis is required. The “M.A. Form I” must be filed with the Student Affairs Office.
Master’s Plan 2 requires students to complete either an examination or to carry out a research project. The section on the Independent Research Project in the Ph.D. description describes the guidelines for doing a research project. The examination option should be discussed with the advisor. In either case, students must defend their examination or project and obtain signatures from the three members of the M.A. committee on the “Completion of the Independent Research Project” form available from the Department of Education Program Office or the “Comprehensive Exam” form available from the Student Affairs Office, as appropriate. They are filed in the Student Affairs Office.
The Master’s degree is normally completed in 4 to 6 quarters by a full-time student who is not working outside of the University. Students who take fewer than 12 units per quarter or who work full-time off campus may require more time. The Graduate Council has established that students should complete the Master’s degree within 4 years. Students who combine the Research M.A. (Strand I) with a subsequent Ph.D. in the Department should complete their graduate studies in 6 years.
Please Note: Information subject to change without notification. Program offerings subject to
availability of funds.
Faculty Associated with the Emphasis
Michael Gerber
Cynthia Hudley
Lynn Koegel
Robert Koegel (Director of the Autism Center) [Emphasis Leader]
George Singer (Director of the Moderate/Severe Disabilities Specialization Credential Program)
Joanne Singer (Coordinator of the Moderate/Severe Disabilities Specialization Credential
Program)
Rosy Fredeen (Head Clinical Supervisor, UCSB Autism Center)
Daniel Openden (Director of Community Programs, UCSB Autism Center)