The primary objective of Special Education is the education and training of professional educators to serve children and youth who have exceptional challenges and require specialized support through educational, social, cognitive, rehabilitative, and/or behavioral management approaches to attain their maximum learning potential.

In line with this primary objective, Special Education sees its role as contributing leadership in the areas of theory; assessment; understanding differences among children and youth with disabilities; the development and implementation of curriculum and intervention strategies; the improvement of teacher-teacher, teacher-child and teacher-parent relationships; and the integration of special education into total school programs.

Fairfield is one of two NCATE- and TESOL-accredited universities in Connecticut to offer initial certification and cross-endorsement programs in TESOL. We also have elementary and secondary cross-endorsements in Bilingual Education at the graduate level.

The program benefits from the University's location near schools with long-established bilingual and TESOL programs, and has received numerous teacher-training grants from the U.S. Department of Education. The TESOL and Bilingual Education programs are housed in the Department of Educational Studies and Teacher Preparation, a professional community that lives out the ideals of our Jesuit mission as advocates for equity and justice through the transformative powers of education.

Upon their graduation, TESOL and bilingual candidates continue this mission through teaching and a commitment to meet the needs of the linguistically and culturally diverse students in Connecticut schools.

SEHD offers programs leading to the Master of Arts degree and the sixth year certificate of advanced study (SYC) in School Psychology. The programs are shaped by the belief that school psychologists are best prepared when they are instilled with a scientist/practitioner problem-solving orientation, encouraged to think reflectively, motivated to intervene at the primary prevention level, and inspired to be proactive agents of change.

The Remedial Reading and Remedial Language Arts certificate and program options at Fairfield are aligned with standards of both the International Literacy Association (ILA) and the International Dyslexia Association (IDA). 

The Program has met the knowledge and practice standards articulated by the International Dyslexia Association and is accredited by the International Dyslexia Association and its affiliate, the Center for Effective Reading Instruction. We establish innovative partnerships with districts and agencies that are dedicated to ensuring that educators possess the requisite knowledge and skills to positively impact reading achievement.

Candidates complete two supervised practicum experiences with students who qualify for intervention or remediation support. The latter features the provision of structured literacy interventions for students at-risk for, or identified with, dyslexia.

Candidates in this program are prepared to earn national certification with The International Dyslexia Association. Coursework is presented through a gradual release model, with faculty explaining, modeling, and guiding candidates in the acquisition of essential knowledge and skills before then providing them with the opportunity to independently engage applied work with students. Candidates in the Program develop a Professional Resource Portfolio that includes an extensive reference set of strategies to support literacy achievement among diverse student populations, a collection of professional development workshop presentations for parent and educator audiences, and a set of lesson planning and delivery templates for core, intervention and remediation purposes.

The School of Education and Human Development offers teaching internships for both non-certified and certified teachers studying for a master's degree or sixth-year certificate of advanced study at Fairfield.

The internship gives you a year of full-time, hands-on experience in a public school setting and up to $30,000 towards your studies, while offering local schools additional competent staff members and potential future employees.

As an intern, you'll become a member of the school community and attend meetings, professional growth activities and other functions. Each semester, you'll attend a weekly one-credit seminar focused on issues pertinent to your internship experience.

The internship program benefits both you and the school district in many other ways: You receive valuable real-world experience and a chance to demonstrate your capabilities, and school districts receive well-trained staff members and a chance to observe potential job candidates performing their duties for an entire school year.

In our ED 200 course, students engage in a Service Learning component, which allows students to tutor and become mentors in nearby schools. This promotes the hands on experience that students grow from, and allow graduate students to make meaningful progress with their mentees.

You will come to understand how and why school systems are organized, and be encouraged to become an active, engaged participant in the processes of change and transformation necessary to meet the needs of our learners and of our society. In our teacher preparation programs and educational studies minor, you will study and work in local schools, developing your understanding of students, as well as their families and communities.

At Fairfield, you will have the encouragement of professionals who have devoted their own lives to this profession. In our teacher preparation programs, you will teach—mentored carefully by our faculty and local teachers—during an extensive and intensive sequence of field and student teaching experiences, service learning and internships in local schools.

We will help you to form a personal philosophy of education that will guide you for many years to come.