Become a Special Education Teacher

The Department of Special Education offers undergraduate and postbaccalaurate paths to special education teacher certification. We train teachers to work with students with disabilities in early childhood through 12th grades in the state of Texas.

A young woman works with an autistic boy while sitting on a sofa.

Undergraduate Special Education Major

The undergraduate major in Special Education prepares students to teach students with a wide range of disabilities for all grade levels. Students earn a Bachelor of Science in Education.
A young woman works with several young children in a daycare setting.

Postbaccalaurate Special Education Teacher Certification

This three-semester (10-month) sequence involves completion of 30 total credit hours. This option is designed for students who have already earned a bachelor’s degree or higher from an accredited university. Completion qualifies students to take the required state certification examinations (TExES Special Education EC–12).

Alumni

A young woman works with several children in a classrooms setting.

Jessica Cantu, B.S. '18

“The best part of being a Life Skills Teacher is being able to design high, but achievable goals for my students, then watching them master each one of them. Even better is hearing inclusion teachers and parents tell me that those same skills we have been working so hard on during class has started to generalize to other settings!”

Tingyi Wang

Tingyi Wang, M.Ed. '18

“As a special education teacher in a SCORES program within the Austin Independent School District, I know that a special education teacher starts here to change the world… and we do it one child at a time!”