Curriculum and instructional strategy in special education must address an extraordinarily diverse range of learner profiles — from students with mild learning disabilities who need strategic support to access grade-level content, to students with significant intellectual disabilities who require substantially modified curricula, to students with autism spectrum disorder whose instructional needs may span this entire continuum. ED7551 develops the doctoral-level expertise to analyze, design, and evaluate curriculum and instruction systems that genuinely serve this diversity.
Analyzing special education curriculum
Critical examination of curricula across the continuum of special education settings
- Curriculum frameworks for diverse learners: ED7551 examines the multiple curriculum frameworks that guide special education — the general education curriculum (which IDEA requires students with disabilities to access to the maximum appropriate extent), alternative academic achievement standards for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities (which form the basis of alternate assessments), life skills and functional curricula for students whose educational needs extend beyond academic content, vocational and transition curricula for secondary students preparing for post-school employment and community participation, and the complex decisions about how to balance and integrate these frameworks for individual students
- Curriculum access and modification: The course examines the continuum from accommodation (changing how content is taught or assessed without changing what is taught) to modification (changing what content is taught or what level of mastery is expected) — developing the analytical capacity to distinguish between appropriate accommodations that maintain access to grade-level content and modifications that alter the content itself, and to make these distinctions with defensible educational rationale grounded in individual student assessment data
- Evidence-based curriculum review: ED7551 develops the skills to evaluate special education curricula against the evidence base — identifying curricula with strong research support (particularly the What Works Clearinghouse evidence standards), recognizing the limitations of the special education research base (small samples, heterogeneous disability populations, limited replication), and making sound curriculum decisions in the face of incomplete evidence
Evidence-based instructional strategies
ED7551 identifies and evaluates the instructional best practices that research supports for students with disabilities. The course covers explicit instruction (systematic, structured, direct teaching of academic skills with clear explanations, modeling, guided practice, and immediate corrective feedback) as the most consistently well-supported approach for students with learning disabilities; applied behavior analysis (ABA) principles and their application to instruction for students with autism and other disabilities (discrete trial training, pivotal response training, incidental teaching, naturalistic developmental behavioral interventions); structured literacy approaches (systematic phonics, phonemic awareness, fluency, and comprehension instruction) for students with reading disabilities; cognitive strategy instruction (teaching students to use metacognitive strategies for reading comprehension, writing, and mathematics); and social skills instruction for students whose disabilities affect social competence. The course develops the capacity to match instructional strategies to individual student profiles, disability characteristics, and learning goals rather than applying disability-category-based approaches that ignore the enormous heterogeneity within disability categories.
Technology applications in special education
ED7551 evaluates technology applications that enhance instruction for students with disabilities — with particular attention to assistive technology (AT), which IDEA requires IEP teams to consider for every student with a disability. The course covers AT categories including augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices and systems, text-to-speech and speech-to-text tools, reading support software, writing support tools, organizational and planning applications, mobility and positioning devices, and sensory supports — developing the capacity to conduct AT evaluations, write AT goals and services into IEPs, support AT implementation across settings, and evaluate AT effectiveness. The course also covers universal design for learning (UDL) technology — the integration of flexible digital materials and platforms that provide multiple means of representation, engagement, and expression as a proactive instructional design strategy that reduces the need for individual accommodations by building access into the learning environment from the start.
Developing curriculum and instruction plans
ED7551 develops the skills to create comprehensive curriculum and instruction plans for students with diverse educational needs. The course covers the assessment-to-instruction cycle in special education (using comprehensive evaluation results, curriculum-based measurement data, and diagnostic assessments to identify present levels of performance and design instruction targeted to specific skill gaps), IEP goal development (translating assessment data into measurable annual goals with appropriate baselines, target criteria, measurement procedures, and review timelines), instructional planning (designing lesson sequences that incorporate evidence-based strategies, provide sufficient practice opportunities, include embedded progress monitoring, and address both academic and functional learning objectives), and instructional delivery across the continuum of special education settings (general education with support, resource room, self-contained classroom, specialized day school, residential placement — developing the capacity to design instruction that is appropriate in each setting while maintaining the least restrictive environment principle).
ED7551 assignments include curriculum analyses, instructional strategy evaluations, AT assessments, IEP-aligned lesson plans, and program quality assessments
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Curriculum analyses, strategy evaluations, AT assessments, IEP-aligned lesson plans, program quality reports.
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Frequently asked questions
ED7551 develops a comprehensive framework for evaluating special education service quality that goes beyond compliance monitoring to assess educational effectiveness. First, the course covers fidelity assessment — evaluating whether evidence-based instructional practices are being implemented as designed, using structured observation tools, coaching feedback, and self-assessment protocols. Research consistently shows that instructional effectiveness depends not just on selecting the right strategy but on implementing it with sufficient fidelity and intensity; poor implementation can make even the most well-supported intervention ineffective. Second, the course covers progress monitoring — using brief, sensitive assessments administered frequently (often weekly) to track student response to instruction and identify students who are not making adequate progress. Curriculum-based measurement (CBM) tools (reading fluency probes, math computation probes, written expression probes) are the most well-validated progress monitoring approach and are used in both general and special education settings. Third, the course covers outcome evaluation — examining longer-term student outcomes including state assessment results, IEP goal attainment data, graduation rates, and post-school outcomes (employment, postsecondary education, independent living participation) for students with disabilities. These outcome data reveal whether special education services are achieving their ultimate goals, not just whether services are being delivered. Fourth, the course covers family and student satisfaction assessment — gathering systematic feedback from the people most affected by special education services. Finally, ED7551 develops the capacity to synthesize data across these multiple assessment domains to make data-informed decisions about program quality and to identify and address gaps in service effectiveness across different settings and student populations.