Special Education Certificate of Graduate Study

The College of Graduate & Continuing Education offers the Special Education Certificate of Graduate Study (C.O.G.S.) in partnership with the Rowan University College of Education. The Certificate of Graduate Study in Special Education is designed for general education teachers who wish to increase their knowledge of special education, as well as special education teachers who wish to pursue further coursework at the graduate level. The goal of this certificate is to provide teachers with an overview of the salient issues in special education, as well as opportunities to focus on the essential aspects of evidence-based practices. The six course sequence and corresponding field experiences are aligned with the professional standards set forth by the Council for Exceptional Children, as well as the New Jersey Department of Education; collectively they ensure program graduates acquire the essential knowledge, skills, and dispositions needed to best serve students with disabilities.

Teachers in the state of New Jersey may apply to the Special Education Certificate of Graduate Study program through the New Jersey Teacher Outreach Program (NJTOP®). For more information about NJTOP, click here.

This program requires the completion of 15 graduate semester hours or 5 courses. The Special Education COGS is designed with coursework and field experiences to foster an understanding of students with special needs and provide the pedagogical skills to accommodate them. Classes are accelerated and offered in an online format in order to provide the fastest and most convenient route to your certificate completion. Courses completed as part of this program can be used to satisfy the Content Area requirement of the Master of Education in Teacher Leadership (M.Ed.) program. The Special Education COGS does not lead to endorsement. Teachers who successfully complete the COGS coursework can opt to continue pursuit of the endorsement by either one of the following:

• If they want to submit themselves to the state for the endorsement, they would speak with their Academic Advisor to obtain an Override Form in order to be registered for the following two additional courses/5 credits (SPED 08520 & SELN 10592).
• If they want to have Rowan submit them to the state for the endorsement (which is recommended), they would submit to Rowan Global the Concurrent Graduate and Post-baccalaureate Application Form in order to be considered for official admission and matriculation into the Teacher of Students with Disabilities Graduate Endorsement program. If approved, the student would then be manually registered for the two additional courses mentioned above.

The following courses make up the Special Education Certificate of Graduate Study program. Each course is scheduled in 8 week modules with each week of work starting every Tuesday at 8:00 a.m. and ending every Monday at midnight (Eastern Standard Time).

• 5 Courses / 15 Semester Hours
• Foundation Courses: No
• Graduation / Exit / Thesis Requirements: No

Note: The courses listed above are not official and are subject to change. For an official list of available courses please visit the Rowan Global section tally.