College of Education and Human Development

Department of Educational Psychology

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. 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, multimodal best practices for instruction connecting ASL, English, and additional languages through an anti-bias lens.

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, 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 backgrounds: cultures, linguistic, race, socio-economic, hearing levels, and abilities

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.

In person requirements (based on full time program plan)

  • Does not include field experiences
  • Funding support available for travel/tuition/stipend)--see WE-IMAGINE

Semester 1 (Fall Year 1)

  • Program wide: 2 days with one overnight during MEA
  • Course specific: half day in December

Semester 2 (Spring Year 1)

  • Program wide: Thursday - Friday in March
  • Course specific: half day in April

Summer

  • One day in June

Semester 3 (Fall Year 2)

  • Program wide: in person 2 days with one overnight during MEA
  • Course specific: one day in November

WE-IMAGINE Funding:

The Deaf and Hard of Hearing MEd and licensure preparation program has received a federal grant for personnel preparation from the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP). Project WE-IMAGINE: Well-being in Education: Integrating Multilingual & Mindfulness Approaches to Guide & Inspire New Educators- Preparing Teachers to Serve School Age Deaf and Hard of Hearing Student:

  • Purpose: To address the gap in service to Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) students by training teachers to meet the culturally and linguistically diverse needs of DHH students through multilingual and multicultural approaches to education, while addressing the wellbeing of teachers and students.
  • WE-IMAGINE grant scholars will be eligible to receive a range of financial support towards tuition, possible stipends for expenses and travel, and professional development.  

Students who accept support from the WE-IMAGINE Project must agree to the following UMN and OSEP requirements:

  • Teach the full-time equivalent of two years with students who are DHH and/or other disabilities for each year they receive funds.
  • Students who fail to do so are obligated to repay all or part of the scholarship received plus interest directly to OSEP. 
  • Participate in all grant-related activities. These include:
    • Attending in-person and/or online professional development and conferences, and online grant-related events.
      • Participate in planning activities, as requested.
    • Opportunities to work with a grant-related mentor, as determined by DHH program instructors.
    • 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 Ed (1 cr)
    • EPSY 5614 – Assessment and Due Process in Special Ed (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)

    • OLPD 5005 – School and Society ( 2 credits)
    • OLPD 5009 – Human Relations (1 cr)
    • CI 5307 – Technology (1.5 credits)
    • EPSY 5001 – Learning Cognition and Assessment (3 credits)

    Tuition, funding, and financial aid

      Visit the College of Education and Human Development's Tuition and Financial Aid page for information on tuition.

      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

      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.

      Faculty

      Debbie Golos

      Deaf and Hard of Hearing licensure & MEd coordinator

      Laura Paczkowski

      Academic advisor

      Brynn Kraning

      Lecturer, Field Placement Coordinator, and Student Teaching Supervisor: DHH licensure