When Emily Ernst was in fourth grade, she began to fall behind in school. She struggled particularly to keep up with math and had difficulty staying organized and keeping track of her homework. 

“I was very all over the place and scattered,” said Ernst, who’s from Marblehead, Massachusetts.

Her family worked with teachers and school personnel to secure an Individualized Education Program (IEP), a legal document that outlines specialized instruction, supports and services for public school students who need special education. 

“Just having that extra support helped set me up for success in the future,” she said. “It really helped with notetaking and making sure I knew what I was supposed to do for homework. By the time I was in high school, I didn’t need the IEP anymore. Looking back on it now I can see the progress that I made in such a short amount of time.”

In December, Ernst graduated from the University of Maine with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and a concentration in special education.  

After receiving her degree, the College of Education and Human Development recommended to the Maine Department of Education that she be dual-certified in General Elementary (grades K-6) and as a Teacher of Students with Disabilities (grades K-8). Since graduating, she has been working at Asa Adams Elementary School in Orono as an educational technician and is planning to apply for full-time teaching positions in the area starting this fall.

Previously, the only option to become a certified special educator through UMaine was to complete a Master of Education (M.Ed.) in special education. 

“I’m so glad UMaine is opening up more opportunities for its students to work in special education,” Ernst said. “It’s a very special job, and working with these students is just awesome.” 

Providing more first-hand experiences for students

The College of Education and Human Development in partnership with three local school districts — Regional School Unit (RSU) 34 (Old Town, Alton and Bradley), RSU 26 (Orono) and the Hermon School Department — received a $20,000 grant last year allowing the university to pilot the four-year pathway to special education certification, which Ernst was the first student to complete. 

Funding for the pilot came from the Collaboration for Effective Educator Development, Accountability and Reform (CEEDAR) Center at the University of Florida, which helps states and educator preparation programs enhance high-quality instruction for teachers and school leaders.  

A portion of the college's share of the grant is helping pay for the work of staff and faculty to place students like Ernst in special education classrooms for their required field experiences. After completing the first half of her final semester as a student teacher in a general education kindergarten classroom at the Dedham School, Ernst spent the second half of her student teaching in a K-3 special education classroom at Asa Adams.

“In the general ed classroom, you’re lesson planning for a group of 20 students who are all mostly going to be doing the same thing,” said Ernst. “In special education, you have a wide range of students with different needs. I was in a life skills classroom, so we had students on the autism spectrum and students on the behavioral spectrum that needed very personalized instruction and one-on-one support.” 

Ernst was also able to attend IEP meetings, where parents or other caregivers meet with school personnel to discuss their students’ progress and ongoing needs.

“Having first-hand experiences in a variety of educational settings is a vital part of our teacher education programs, and it’s essential we offer placements that are relevant to and align with students’ career goals,” said Julie Ireland, field experience coordinator with the UMaine College of Education and Human Development.

Ireland, along with Director of Field Placements and Teacher Preparation Erin Staine, worked with the three partner districts to identify appropriate special education placements for UMaine student teachers.

Boosting the K-12 workforce

The college’s share of the CEEDAR Center grant also supported a series of asynchronous online professional development modules developed by faculty members in special education. The modules, which are being rolled out this spring, will be completed by undergraduate students in the special education concentration as part of their training as student teachers. They will also be offered to practicing teachers and other educators, initially in the three partner districts and eventually to personnel at other schools and districts.

Each online module takes about an hour-and-a-half to two hours to complete. Topics include “Explicit Instruction,” developed by associate professor Sara Flanagan; “Mathematics Language and Communication,” developed by assistant professor Joo Young Lee; “Creating Digital Accessible Educational Materials,” developed by lecturer of special education Krystle Merry; and “Supporting Multilingual Learners,” developed by assistant professor Melissa Cuba.

“We really wanted to use our portion of the funding to make sure our students enter the field as prepared as possible, but also to make professional learning more accessible to our district partners,” said UMaine professor of literacy education William Dee Nichols, who is co-principal investigator of the grant along with associate professor of special education Sarah Howorth. 

In addition to the online modules, the College of Education and Human Development arranged for students like Ernst to take undergraduate special education coursework virtually through other institutions within the University of Maine System, including UMaine’s regional campus, the University of Maine at Machias; the University of Maine at Presque Isle and the University of Maine at Augusta. 

Nichols said the goal is to make the pilot program permanent so more students who want to become special educators can do so with a bachelor’s degree rather than continuing into a master’s program. Doing so is contingent on the continued availability of field placements in special education classrooms. Nichols added that any four-year pathway will not replace the master’s in special education, which is one of the largest master’s degree programs at UMaine. 

“It’s really meant as a supplement to the master’s program, which will still offer a pathway for educators who are not certified special educators and want to become certified. The master’s degree can also be a way for those who are already certified to develop additional skills and leadership, or to earn their master’s on their way to doctorate or other terminal degree,” Nichols said.

Maine, like many other states, faces a shortage of qualified teachers, including special education teachers. As a largely rural state with an aging population, many districts face additional challenges recruiting and retaining certified educators. 

Staying in Maine to Teach

As an educational technician, Ernst has been providing one-on-one support to a student in the same special education classroom where she did her student teaching last fall. She says the people she’s met through UMaine and her field placements influenced her decision to plant roots in the state.

“I found my community in Maine and I really want to stay here,” she said.

For other students who are pursuing teaching careers, Ernst said she would encourage them to give special education a try.

“You hear a lot of, ‘Well, the kids you’re working with aren’t easy,’” she said. “But if you think about it, there’s always some aspect of learning that’s hard or difficult, even for kids without an IEP. And even in a general education classroom, you’re going to have special education students, because of how integrated they are. So knowing how to work with them is really important. I’d just say if you’re thinking about it, you should try it.”

About the University of Maine: As Maine’s only public research university and a Carnegie R1 top-tier research institution, the University of Maine advances learning and discovery through excellence and innovation. Founded in 1865 in Orono, UMaine is the state’s land, sea and space grant university with a regional campus at the University of Maine at Machias. Our students come from all over the world and work with faculty conducting fieldwork around the globe — from the North Atlantic to the Antarctic. Located on Marsh Island in the homeland of the Penobscot Nation with UMaine Machias located in the homeland of the Passamaquoddy Nation, UMaine’s statewide mission is to foster an environment that creates tomorrow’s leaders. As the state’s flagship institution, UMaine offers nearly 200 degree programs through which students can earn bachelor’s, master’s, professional master’s and doctoral degrees as well as graduate certificates. For more information about UMaine and UMaine Machias, visit umaine.edu/about/quick-facts/ and machias.edu/about-umm/umm-facts/.