Deaf and Hard of Hearing
teaching licensure and MEd
Teach Deaf and Hard of Hearing students
In the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) MEd and teaching licensure program, you'll receive the training you need to teach students, birth through 21, with diverse backgrounds and hearing levels. You'll take courses when and where it's convenient for you. Our classes are offered in the evenings, in real-time primarily online with some in-person components. You'll graduate with the qualifications needed to apply for a DHH licensure in Minnesota and the skills you need to teach DHH students through culturally responsive and multilingual best practices for ASL, English and additional languages.
Students in the program often have undergraduate degrees in special education, Deaf education, elementary education, bilingual/ESL education, Deaf studies, and interpreting
Careers
Graduates of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing licensure preparation program:
- Teach in classrooms at residential or day Schools for the Deaf
- Teach in classrooms or resource rooms with DHH programming
- Provide instruction directly with students and their families as itinerant teachers or early interventionists
- Serve as a DHH consultant to general classroom teachers
- Serve DHH students from birth through young adults, who come from a variety of cultural, linguistic, and socio-economic backgrounds and/or have disabilities
Coursework
All classes are offered in the evening to allow students to maintain full time employment while completing course requirements, as long as their employer is flexible in allowing them to complete all field experience requirements. Most courses are taught synchronously online with some in-person sessions on the St. Paul campus and in local DHH programs.
The Deaf and Hard of Hearing MEd program requires the completion of 45-46 credits (plus an additional 7.5 credits for those without prior licensure). Your total number of required credits may vary based on previous educational experience or licensures.
Required DHH licensure courses (45-46 credits)
- EPSY 5641 – Foundations of Deaf Education (3 cr)
- EPSY 5644 – Early Childhood Language and Literacy Development and Best Practices: DHH (3 cr)
- MTHE 5355 – Mathematics for Diverse Learners (3 cr)
- EPSY 5653 – ASL/English Structure and Application (3 cr)
- EPSY 5651 – Best Practices Teaching Content Areas: DHH (3 cr)
- EPSY 5646 – Best Practices Teaching Reading and Writing for School Age: DHH (3 cr)
- EPSY 5645 – Deaf Plus: Deaf with Disabilities (1 cr)
- EPSY 5654 – Current Research and Trends in Deaf Education (1 cr)
- EPSY 5614 – Assessment and Due Process in Special Education (3 cr)
- EPSY 5705 – Field experience in ECSE/Elementary DHH settings (1-2 cr)
- EPSY 5704 – Field experience in Middle/Secondary/Transition DHH Settings (1-2 cr)
- EPSY 5642 – Early Childhood Interventions for Infants, Toddlers and Families: DHH (3 cr)
- EPSY 5647 – Spoken Language and Assistive Technology DHH (2 cr)
- EPSY 5652 – Incorporating Academic ASL in the classroom: DHH (3 cr)
- EPSY 5616 – Classroom Management and Behavior Analytic Problem Solving (3 cr)
- EPSY 5643 – Seminar: Identity, Culture and Diversity in Deaf Ed (2 cr)
- EPSY 5751 – Student Teaching Practicum and Seminar (6 cr)
Required for initial licensure and MEd
- EPSY 5699: Experimental Teaching Seminar (2 cr)
OR
Required for additional licensure and MEd or MEd only
- EPSY 5991 – MEd Paper/Project Independent Study (2 credits)
Common content courses (7.5 credits)
These courses are required for all College of Education and Human Development initial teaching licensures and degrees.
- OLPD 5005 – School and Society (2 cr)
- OLPD 5009 – Human Relations (1 cr)
- CI 5307 – Technology (1.5 cr)
- EPSY 5001 – Learning Cognition and Assessment (3 cr)
Tuition
Visit the College of Education and Human Development's Finance and Funding page for information on tuition.
Funding
MSA Housing and Professional Development Award
The Minnesota State Academies (MSA) (incorporating two academies—one for the deaf and one for the blind) is offering free housing to a limited number of students accepted into the University of Minnesota's DHH teacher preparation program to begin the 2023-2024 academic year. Housing is located on the MSA campus in Faribault, MN.
Requirements: These awards will prioritize students who identify as Black, Indigenous, People of Color, Deaf and Hard of Hearing. As part of this award, students must participate in enrichment activities that support MSA students (i.e. tutoring, providing workshops or other enrichment experiences, supporting after school programming, etc.)
Scholarships, fellowships and awards
Special education scholarships, fellowships, and awards
College of Education and Human Development awards
TEACH Grants
TEACH Grants are part of a federal program to provide financial support to students who will teach in a high need area at a low-income school for at least four years. Application information is available from Onestop on their grants and waivers page.
Financial aid
Visit OneStop Student Services for more information on available financial aid.
I chose this path [becoming a Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) teacher] because I wanted to understand issues that impact the lives of the people in the Deaf community and what I could do to contribute—especially towards Deaf children’s education.
Aaron Waheed
MEd - DHH alumni
Read more about Aaron's experience as a student
Faculty & staff
Janet Cavenjcaven@umn.edu
- Strong foundation of language and literacy development in learners who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing
- Effective teaching preparation to meet the needs of diverse learners using differentiated instruction and assessment
- Developing strong relationships, engaging in effective collaboration and promoting problem solving to encourage critical thinking and professional excellence
Debbie Golos
Deaf and Hard of Hearing licensure & MEd coordinator
dgolos@umn.edu
- Incorporating culturally responsive pedagogy, anti-bias education and mindfulness practices into instruction
- Developing and evaluating the effects of educational media in ASL on young, Deaf and Hard of Hearing children's language and literacy skills
- Examining the portrayal of Deaf characters in media and literature from a cultural perspective and its role on children's multiple and interacting identities
- Exploring multilingual routes to language, literacy, and identity development that meet the needs of visual learners, particularly Deaf and Hard of Hearing children
- Examining the benefits of mindfulness and well-being practices in education for teachers and students
