MLC Master’s Program Helps Coordinator Build a Program
When Kirsten Gullerud’s principal at St. Paul in Appleton, Wisconsin, asked her to help him create a Guided Studies program, she was a little hesitant. She was working as an aide in the first-grade classroom at the time, and she really didn’t know much about special education.
But she did have a broad teaching background. She’d served as principal and teacher in three schools affiliated with Church of the Lutheran Confession (CLC)—schools in Valentine, Nebraska; Phoenix; and Mountain View, California.
Principal Jason Kelley told her that experience made her a good candidate. “He pointed out that I had experience teaching all grades, all subjects, children from different countries and cultures, and students who didn’t fit easily into the regular education classrooms,” she said.
So she accepted the call and proceeded to research special education, reading 24 books in 24 months. “What did I know about disabilities, creating a whole department, and the laws of special education?”
Knowing she needed more, she also enrolled in MLC’s Master of Science in Special Education program. Why MLC? Though she did look at another college, she was familiar with the quality at MLC because of the two certification courses she’d taken, and she found MLC to be much more affordable than the other institution.
What is a Guided Studies Program? Like a Coordinated Learning program, Guided Studies assists students who struggle to succeed in school.
At St. Paul, Kirsten says, she “determines the level of intervention students need, provides remedial math and reading classes, teaches weekly social-emotional classes to all grades, works with the public school to facilitate evaluations, guides parents through formal and informal evaluations, and manages the Special Needs Scholarship Program,” which is a Parental Choice program offered by the state of Wisconsin.
The program is broad, and Kirsten built it from the ground up—with the MLC master’s program reinforcing every stage of development.
She decided her first step would be a remedial reading program for St. Paul students with learning disabilities. “God knew that’s what I needed first,” she said, “so he gave me MLC’s course, Diagnosis and Remediation of Reading Disabilities.”
She next wanted to learn about emotional and behavioral disorders and special education law, and those are the courses MLC offered next. In fact, Learning Disabilities and Emotional Behavioral Disorders was the most impactful course of all. “It was a great combination of all the background knowledge in disabilities and special education law that I needed.”
Each course helped her build St. Paul’s Guided Studies program, piece by piece.
Now, three years in, MLC’s program continues to meet her every expectation, and she finds that she can apply each week’s assignment directly into her role.
“For example,” she says, “this week’s assignment is to read about paraeducators in special education and write about necessary elements of a training program for paras.” And what just happens to be on her to-do list? “Fill out our yearly para evaluation and start to think about what we could add to train our other paras.”
Kirsten loves working with the students and has especially enjoyed assisting with reading disabilities like dyslexia, which is where she started the program three years ago. “We can catch early signs of reading disabilities and immediately put tiered interventions in place in the least restrictive environment. We want all our students to be independent, successful readers and feel empowered in their own education.”
Looking back to her early years of teaching, Kirsten wishes she had known then what she knows now. “I would have been able to advise parents better, provide stronger small group instruction, and understand the disabilities that came into my classrooms.”
For that reason, she would encourage any teacher to pursue the MS in Special Education degree at MLC—whether they want to integrate these strategies into their regular classroom or do what she did: build a program from the ground up.
More about Kirsten Gullerud:
Born into the CLC, Kirsten’s dad is a CLC pastor and her mom a CLC teacher. It was 2020 when Kirsten left her principalship at her CLC school, moved to Appleton, Wisconsin, became WELS, and began working as an aide at St. Paul. At the time she and a Fox Valley LHS teacher, Karl Schwerin, were in a long-distance relationship. Today, they are engaged.
“When I left California,” she says “I knew exactly one person in the city of Appleton. Now I have what feels like a brand-new career, and I’m getting married in June! We’re going to need to teach the students how to say ‘Mrs. Schwerin.’”
Written by Laurie F. Gauger
A Master’s Degree Impacts a Whole School
Kirsten’s new toolkit of ideas and strategies is impacting not only her students but also the staff at St. Paul. She is especially grateful for her full-time paraprofessional, Jennifer Jelinek. Jennifer graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh with a history major, and she works side-by-side with Kirsten.
“I love working with my para,” Kirsten says. “We get to collaborate several times a day. She assists with progress monitoring, supervised interventions, and provides general back-up for teachers needing push-in support or coverage for classes. I’d feel so overwhelmed without a peer in my department.”
As she and Jennifer discuss the students’ needs, Kirsten passes on what she’s learned at MLC to Jennifer. One master’s program is shaping the teaching strategies of two educators.
Like Kirsten, Jennifer loves to see the results of their work. “I assist with tier-2 math interventions and tutor seven students, from kindergarten through second grade,” she says. “I have several students who were unable to identify letters at the end of their kindergarten year, and now as second graders, they are reading, decoding, and thriving in their classrooms.
“Kirsten is a wonderful teacher,” Jennifer continues. “She has taught me so much both inside and outside the classroom. I have watched her grow since she began the MLC master’s program. She shares her knowledge so we can grow our program at St. Paul and help our students thrive and succeed.”
