Did you know? In the 2014 U.S. News and World Report rankings, Curry's Special Education program was ranked #5 in the nation.

Special education provides services for individuals with disabilities and the gifted, based on their unique educational needs, so that they can make progress in educational environments where they would otherwise be likely to have limited success. To succeed, individuals with disabilities and the gifted need educational environments that incorporate one or more of several features, including these: The environments must adjust and adapt flexibly to accommodate the learning characteristics of students who differ from typical or usual leaners in ways relevant to mastery and acceleration.

Curry's special education program is aimed at advancing special education by preparing teachers, consultants, and other clinicians as well as teacher educators and researchers who can promote the application of evidence-based practices to the service of children and youths with special education needs. We offer degree programs for students who are just beginning their careers as special educators as well as advanced graduate programs for those who have extensive experience and are seeking to help others by discovering and disseminating new evidence about effective practices.

Special Education at U.Va.’s Curry School of Education includes the following areas of specialization: Learning Disabilities (LD); Emotional and Behavioral Disorders (EBD); Intellectual Disabilities (ID); and Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE). At the masters level, the purpose of these programs is to prepare professionals to provide exemplary, evidence-based services for individuals with disabilities. At the doctoral level, the purpose is to prepare professionals who can contribute to the advancement of scholarly knowledge about disabilities and special education, prepare future professionals, and contribute to the common wealth of the discipline.

Individuals who complete U.Va.'s teacher preparation programs work in a diverse array of school settings, depending on their area of specialization. Those who study in ECSE focus on children from ages birth through 5 and the primary mission of the program is to produce high-quality graduates to staff and lead educational programs that serve infants, toddlers, and preschool children with mild to severe disabilities or developmental delays and their families in home, community, and preschool settings. Those who complete the high-incidence programs (i.e., focus on LD, EBD, and ID) usually focus on preschool through secondary aged students (i.e., prek-12th grade) in school settings; although some may teach in special schools or self-contained special education classrooms, they usually find employment in collaborative or inclusion settings where they work as members of teams with regular or general educators in meeting the unique needs of students with disabilities in typical school situations.

Graduates of Curry's special education doctoral program have regularly taken positions in schools and colleges of education (as well as other situations such as research organizations) where they have taught and conducted research. Many of them have become noted scholars who have contributed to the discipline of special education not just by teaching but also by publishing texts and research papers as well as by serving as officers in national and international organizations.

Please review the list of degree programs we offer, as shown in the accompanying table, and learn about the faculty members in special education by clicking on the names under the heading "associated faculty."

"I learned how to help students with disabilities. When I started [in the program], I was a history teacher interested in switching to special education. I have now been teaching at Louisa County High School for two years, and I think things would have been much more difficult after the earthquake if I had not been prepared as well as Curry has prepared me."

Emily Thacker, M.Ed. Special Education - Adapted Curriculum '12

D. Browder, 1981 Ph.D. graduate of Curry "The PhD program in Special Education at UVA asked me the hard questions when I was a student and so taught me to be a scholar. More importantly, the faculty taught me to focus my scholarship on improving educational opportunities and quality of life for individuals with disabilities.  My interest was students with severe disabilities and I found a strong mentor in Marti Snell, but I also was challenged by all the special education faculty to think deeply about what I believed and what I wanted to achieve."

Diane M. Browder, Ph.D. '81, M.Ed., '76
Lake and Edward Snyder Professor of Special Education
2011 Recipient of O. Max Gardner Award for Research that Contributed to the Human Race

M. Gerber, 1981 Ph.D. graduate of Curry "Actually, what the doctoral program at U.Va. did for children with disabilities, their teachers, their schools, and their families through me and my fellow alumni is what I find important.

"Without that opportunity, I would not be a professor at the University of California. I would not have trained about 20 doctoral students over the course of my career who, in turn, will help prepare over 10,000 teachers—and their own doctoral students—over the course of their careers who then will influence the quality of life for over 150,000 students with disabilities and their families over the course of their careers. U.Va. strongly contributed to a unique set of intellectual habits, values, and professional competencies and skills with which I've been able to do these things, all of which and in some measure have been passed on to others. 

"Now multiply that impact by the number of U.Va.'s special education doctoral students over 35 years and you will have a small idea of the value of this doctoral program."

Michael Gerber, Ph.D. '81
Professor,
Gevirtz Graduate School of Education 
University of California Santa Barbara

"The faculty in the Curry School taught me to respect rigorous scholarship and the importance of basing practice on sound research. [My studies] shaped the way I think about problems in education...to question and critically analyze issues and proposed solutions."

Margart J. McLaughlin, Ph.D. '77
Professor of Special Education
University of Maryland
President, International Council for Exceptional Children