New Accelerated MS Education (Special Ed) Degree
For Undergraduate Students
Do you have a heart for special education? We do too. And the need is great! WELS schools need special education teachers who can understand, identify, and plan appropriate strategies to help more students succeed—while also providing the Christian education parents desire.
To help meet that need, MLC is now offering undergraduates an accelerated master’s program in special education with learning disability (LD) licensure. Qualified students can take dual-level courses that completely or partially fulfill both undergrad and graduate requirements. When they graduate as seniors, then, they’re almost halfway through their master’s program already.
This accelerated program will save qualified students two years and $4,000 on their master’s degree.
Stephanie Dalueg (St. Paul-New Ulm MN) is in the accelerated program. She’ll graduate in May 2023 with her bachelor’s degree, and just one year later, in May 2024, she’ll graduate with her master’s degree in special education with LD (Learning Disability) licensure.
How does it work? Three courses (nine credits) she’s currently taking will apply to both her undergrad (BS) and graduate (MS) requirements. Additionally, another three undergraduate courses will partially complete her graduate degree requirements. She’ll retake those three at the graduate level, needing to complete only the additional graduate-level assignments and paying only half the tuition cost. And then she’ll finish six more graduate courses, including an internship.
Stephanie is just the kind of MLC teacher-in-training who will benefit from this program. It was while working at a summer camp that she first realized she had the heart and the gifts for these kids.
“Camp Knutson,” she explains, “is a camp designed specifically for children with identified needs such as autism, Down syndrome, cancer, heart conditions, and skin conditions. I worked with so many different children, and it made me realize that this is what I want to do in the future. I want to support these children the best way I can, and I think that’s through special education.”
Once she decided this is the kind of gospel ministry she wants to do, she knew she wanted to get her master’s degree right away. “I thought this would be a great opportunity to dive deeply into a topic that I am truly interested in.”
Of course she doesn’t know what the future holds. When she finishes, will she be called as a general classroom teacher who then supports the special ed students in her school? Or will she be called as a full-time special ed teacher for one WELS school? Or will she be a full-time special education teacher who serves several schools?
“I know my future is in God’s hands,” Stephanie says, “but I also know that wherever I go, I will use my skills to support the special education students in my school. Wherever God takes me, my goal will be to serve him to the best of my ability and to give him glory always.”
