Students are required to complete a thesis (6 sem. hrs.) that passes an examiner external to the University with expertise in the particular area of the thesis. The thesis must be defended orally before an examination committee. Students may choose their area of research with help from the program director and other faculty. This may occur at any time after their first semester in the program.

The major project is a synthesis of research, theory, and practice. Students work under the supervision of an approved supervisor to design, implement and evaluate a project related to their professional field of interest. Such projects may involve an analysis of current educational policy, development of a curriculum product, or an in- depth analysis of extant literature on a particular topic related to the course of study. The main focus of the project is the integration of research and theoretical and practice perspectives to a particular practice, focus or problem.

A major project examines an applied issue from a leadership perspective and, preferably, from the participant's place of employment. The paper focuses on a combination of course content and on a quality presentation of content.

Every non-thesis student in the MA in Educational Studies - Inclusive Education program is required to write a comprehensive examination. The comprehensive is a take-home written exam of 72 hours duration, typically scheduled from a Friday to a Monday. The exam consists of questions from the coursework integrating the professional practice of supporting diverse learners in education within case scenarios, and questions addressing the ethical and legal practice of the profession.

This course is an examination of common parametric and non-parametric statistical techniques used in psychology education and other social sciences research, and principles of accurate application and interpretation of those techniques (e.g., effect size; power; sample size; implications of violations of test assumptions). Topics focus on multiple regression, different models of analysis of variance and covariance, and also include categorical data analysis, meta- analysis, and an introduction to interpretation of multivariate statistics.

This seminar-style course provides training in quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods designs for conducting research in social sciences. It is an advanced level course that assumes competencies in statistics and social scientific research. Students are exposed to the methods and stages of basic research, applied research, and program evaluation. An emphasis is placed on educating students to critically reflect on the methods themselves - their philosophical underpinnings, promises and limitations.

This course serves as the capstone course in the Master of Arts in Educational Studies - Inclusive Education program. It reviews the current state of the field and addresses numerous ethical and moral issues such as the inherent value of life and of euthanasia. In addition, social role valorization is explored in the context of persons with special learning needs as well as related issues of diversity in culture and gender.

An examination of special topics or issues in diversity in education that are not considered in depth in other courses. This course is preparatory for commencement of the Knowledge Transition Project (EDUC 697).

This course deals with students who have visual or auditory deficits, ranging from mild to profound in regard to hearing and partially sighted to blind in regard to vision. In addition to sensory components, the course addresses students with unique physical challenges and those who may have multiple disabilities or for whom the foregoing may have a cause and effect relationship to disorders of communication. Unique characteristics and learning needs of other low- incidence exceptionalities are also addressed.

This course builds upon the information presented in introductory courses to inclusive education and, in conjunction with other courses in the program, examines in depth the unique learning characteristics and needs of persons who are on either end of the continuum of cognitive abilities, and those with at least average intellectual ability but who demonstrate learning disabilities.