Exit Criteria - Special Education Examination


ITSC candidates are working to earn Penn State's recommendation to the Pennsylvania Department of Education for issuance of a Level One certificate as a Specialist in Instructional Technology. PDE has mandated that all candidates recommended for a Level I professional certificate must demonstrate ten generic competencies (see pages 3-5) dealing with the education of handicapped children. The guidelines pertain to compliance with U.S. Public Law 94-142 as amended in 1997 by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) -- Public Law 105-17.

Based upon this mandate, Penn State requires all certification candidates pursuing any Level I certificate (Instructional, Administrative, Educational Specialist, Supervisory, Administrative Letters of Eligibility, and Vocational II) to demonstrate these knowledge competencies by successfully passing Penn State's Pre-Certification Competency Exam on Educating the Handicapped.

Even if a candidate already holds other PA Level One or Two certificates and has many years of experience in schools, candidates are still required to either pass the exam or complete PSU approved coursework before the certification office at Penn State will make a recommendation to PDE for the Specialist in Instructional Technology certificate.

Effective Spring 2000, a criterion performance of 75% is required to pass this exam.

However, this exam is waived for recipients of degrees in School Psychology and Special Education, and students who have completed the PSU course SPLED 400, 444, or 501 with a grade of "C" or better.

The exam is administered on computers at University Park in 228 Chambers Building. Candidates may pre-register in person or call (814) 865-0488. The computer test lab is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to noon and 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., with test administrations at 8:00 a.m., 9:00 a.m., 10:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m., 2:00 p.m., and 3:00 p.m. Evening and weekend hours are not available. The exam may also be scheduled at Penn State's Great Valley Campus just outside of Philadelphia and you may call (610) 648-3200 for scheduling details. At Great Valley the exam is administered on paper.

Note: At University Park, the exam is typically administered via computer within a 60 minute time frame. This means that you will need to answer 100 questions in 60 minutes! In order to ensure a fair and nondiscriminatory testing process, please make the receptionist aware of your need for extra time. You will then be permitted to complete the exam in whatever time frame necessary. This will help to alleviate any extra stress that you would have experienced due to the one hour time constraint ; )

Although there is no charge for the exam, there is a limit of two attempts to pass the exam. If a candidate is not successful in passing the exam in two attempts, Penn State requires that you complete SPLED 400.

Completing SPLED 400 has always been an alternative to taking the SPLED pre-certification exam. However, until recently SPLED 400 was only offered as a face-to-face resident course. Many students working to complete our program at a distance are unable to take time from work and travel to a class that meets several times a week. In order to help students who need to complete programs at a distance, Dr. Jim McAffee in the SPLED Department created a course with the flexibility to meet your needs. SPLED 400 is now offered as an on-line distance learning experience however, the on-line version of this course is only offered in May of each year.

SPLED 400 is a three-credit resident instruction course and SPLED 400 is not offered through the World Campus. Registration for this course may be completed on line at http://www.psu.edu/registrar or at eLion.psu.edu. There are several course sections. Section 1 is for students who wish to attend class with the online supplement. Sections 2 and higher are online only options and the online option is only available in the early Summer Session, during the month of May.

While the online version of SPLED 400 is only available in the early Summer Session each year and officially begins in May, you can register early for this course and also begin as early as April 1. However, the ending date, which is the first week of June, is firm and can not be changed.

All work for this course must be completed online. This includes assignments and quizzes. No assignments will be accepted through any other medium. You will need a PSU access account and a PSU password to access the course website. You can get information about obtaining an account and password on line at http://its.psu.edu/accounts.html. This will require you to go to a PSU campus to get an ID. However, if you do not have easy access to a campus, you can process a request for an account by fax. Call CAC at 814 865-4772.

Because all communication during SPLED 400 is asynchronous, students can schedule online time to suit their needs. The course website is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. However, due dates for assignments, etc. are firm and cannot be changed to suit individual schedules. Due dates for assignments etc. are not negotiable. Based upon last year's experience, doing the course online does not appear to be a disadvantage. Specific requirements in the course are described on the website. However, there are four online quizzes (one per week), two online assignments and a number of online activities.

Should you need or elect to complete SPLED 400, are unable to travel for and attend a resident course, and can not wait until May to complete SPLED 400, you can request permission to register for a non-PSU course however, Penn State will only accept the following courses:

Preparing for the Exam:

Over 50 references were used during the the creation of Penn State's Precertification Competency Examination on Educating the Handicapped to address PDE's skills and abilities requirement! The reality is...unless you study ALL resources that were used, you will not be fully prepared. We do however, recommend (at the very least) that you only schedule the exam after you have:

1) reviewed the SPLED 400 study guide. (You may contact the ITSC Program Director to request that a SPLED 400 study guide be mailed to you),

2) reviewed "Educating Special Learners" by Cartwright (1995),

  • You can borrow this book from your local library, or
  • purchase the book on amazon, and/or
  • purchase the study guide for this book from ecampus.

3) reviewed sample exam questions,

4) contacted your ITSC advisor via phone to discuss the exam, and

5) sent an Email asking for the name of someone who recently took the exam and contacted that person directly.

After you have completed all of the above, contact Cathy Hipple, (228 Chambers Building, University Park, PA 16802; phone: 814 863-1497; fax: 814 865-0489) about scheduling the Precertification Competency Examination on Educating the Handicapped. OR, you may contact Mary Morgan at Penn State's Great Valley Campus (just outside Philadelphia) to schedule the exam (610 648-3200). It is worth noting that you can schedule to sit for the exam twice on the same day at Great Valley Campus.

Note: When you complete the ITSC program, the ITSC program will recommend you to Penn State's certification office. However, the certification office at Penn State will not mail you the PDE application nor endorse an application until this examination is passed OR appropriate coursework is successfully completed.