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Academic Programs

Early Childhood Special Education

MSEd, EdM

  • Program Overview

    In the Early Childhood Special Education master’s degree program, you will transform your passion for equity into a specialized teaching practice centered on young children with disabilities. The program prepares educators for certification to teach children with a wide range of developmental strengths and needs, including those requiring individualized supports. Rooted in Bank Street’s signature developmental-interaction approach, you will deepen your understanding of child development and disability while designing differentiated, modified, and goal-informed learning environments. Through this work, you will develop the skills to create responsive, inclusive classrooms that support each child’s growth and participation.

    Your academic coursework will align with immersive, supervised fieldwork, allowing you to apply and practice what you’re learning from your first semester. Throughout, our dedicated faculty, advisors, and administrators will provide you with individualized mentorship and guidance so you continually apply theory and research to practice, refining your teaching practice as you prepare to lead classrooms with confidence. In both the on campus and online options, our program is highly interactive and relationship-centered, with active student engagement in classes built on dialogue, collaboration, and reflection. When you graduate, you join an enduring Bank Street network that fosters ongoing professional connections, mentorship, and leadership opportunities across your career.

    In This Program, You Will

    • Become well-grounded in child development and disability and learn how to tailor  research-based inclusive teaching practices to provide children with disabilities with the specialized instruction that will best support them.
    • Develop strong observation skills and apply a disability-informed lens to guide instructional decisions, building responsive, child-centered environments that create engaging and inclusive learning experiences for all young children, including neurodivergent learners.
    • Design and individualize strategies that support learning through play, social interaction, and sensory experiences, based on careful knowledge of each young child’s unique profile.
    • Prepare to work in a range of roles and settings within the birth to grade 2 age range
    • Develop skills in both formal and informal assessment to better understand and support young children’s learning
    • Foster young children’s growth in literacy, math, and critical thinking while helping them cultivate a deep understanding of—and curiosity about—the world around them

    What Makes Bank Street and This Program Distinctive

    • Integration of Theory and Practice: You will collaborate with practitioners and advisors who bring real-world, experience-based learning into your courses and intensive fieldwork, emphasizing adaptability, problem-solving, and a joy for learning.
    • Responsive and Differentiated Pedagogy: You will learn to design accessible curricula and partner with families to help every child reach their full potential.
    • Collaborative Learning Model:  Join a community that honors diverse identities, centers strengths, values peer collaboration, and is rooted in strong, caring relationships.
    • Commitment to Equity and Advocacy: We prepare you to be a changemaker who leads, influences, and innovates while centering equity and access for all children and families.
    • Flexibility for Working Professionals: Designed to meet the needs of today’s educators, our program is structured so most students can maintain their current teaching position or obtain a paid teaching position that can serve as a fieldwork placement during the program.
    • Student Teaching Support: If you are not already employed, Bank Street will find you placements with expert mentor teachers for your supervised fieldwork. You will have the opportunity to work with different ages and across a range of school settings under the guidance of an experienced mentor teacher, many of whom are Bank Street graduates.

    Who Should Apply

    • Current and aspiring educators who embrace collaborative learning, reflective inquiry, and culturally responsive practice
    • Individuals who want to work with children from birth through grade two in inclusion, and/or special education settings
    • Individuals seeking initial certification should enroll in Teaching Students with Disabilities in Early Childhood (Online) – 38 credits
    • Individuals already holding a valid New York State certification in Childhood Education, Grades 1-6 or Early Childhood Education, Birth – Grade 2 should enroll in Early Childhood Special Education – 30 credits

    We find that the most successful online students are students who thrive in collaborative group work done during synchronous meetings, and who are also independently driven to complete asynchronous work on their own time.

    Graduate school class

  • Admissions & Tuition

    The Spring 2027 application is currently open for the on-campus version of this program. 

    The on-campus version of this program will not be available after the Spring 2027 term.

    Application Deadlines

    • Applications are reviewed in rounds to ensure you receive a timely decision.
    • You will have five business days after the application deadlines to finish providing any missing required materials. Incomplete applications will be moved to the next round for consideration.
    • In some cases, applications submitted after the final deadline will be reviewed on a space-available basis.
    • We strongly encourage you to submit your application as early as possible. This guarantees the most timely admissions decision and the broadest consideration for scholarships and financial aid.
    • If you’re accepted, you will have 3 weeks to respond to our offer of admission.

    Spring 2027

    Round Application Deadline Materials Deadline Decision Released
    1 October 1, 2026 October 6, 2026 October 30, 2026
    2 November 5, 2026 November 11, 2026 November 27, 2026

    Admissions Criteria

    In addition to meeting other admissions requirements, to be eligible for admission to the Early Childhood Special Education (On Campus) 30 credits program you must:

    • Hold a valid New York State teaching certification in Childhood Education, Grades 1-6 or Early Childhood Education, Birth-Grade 2. If you are certified in Childhood Education, Grades 1-6, there may be additional Early Childhood tests you need to take to become certified in working with Students with Disabilities, Birth-Grade 2.

    For all program options, please review How to Apply for full details on the application process, admissions criteria, and application requirements.

    Tuition

    At Bank Street, tuition is charged per credit. The Early Childhood Special Education program requires 30 credits for completion. Read more on our Tuition page

    Financial Aid

    The majority of Bank Street students receive some type of financial aid. We strongly recommend applying early and submitting your FAFSA at the time you apply for the broadest consideration for scholarships and financial aid. Read more on our Financial Aid page

  • Curriculum & Courses

    Our Approach

    Our curriculum centers on active, inquiry-driven learning that mirrors how children learn best — through exploration, collaboration, and reflection. We engage you in rigorous study of educational theory, human development, and inclusive practice while you apply that learning immediately in classroom settings. Through rich dialogue, purposeful assignments, and collaborative projects, you will refine your ability to think critically, teach responsively, and support diverse learners. By the end of the program, you will have deepened your professional judgment, strengthened your reflective capacities, and grown as an educator ready to lead and innovate in early childhood contexts.

    Time Commitment

    Each course typically meets once per week, either from 4:45 PM to 6:45 PM or 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM ET. Classes are not typically held on Fridays. Depending on a student’s course schedule for that term, you can expect to dedicate approximately 10 hours per week to program-related study and activities. Over the summer, classes typically meet twice a week from 5:15 PM to 9:00 PM ET.

    Course Plan for Early Childhood Special Education (On Campus or Online): 30 Credits

    Course catalog

  • Supervised Fieldwork

    Learning Through Experience and Reflection

    Supervised fieldwork, which can be completed as a working teacher or through student teaching placement, integrates hands-on teaching with intentional reflection, enabling you to see first-hand how children learn and how inclusive practices function in classrooms and are tailored to provide the individual attention young students need. You will engage in cycles of observation, planning, teaching, assessment, and reflection, which foster critical thinking and professional judgment. This experiential approach ensures that learning is active, grounded in evidence, and responsive to each child’s diverse developmental needs.

    If you are a working teacher, you may be able to use your place of work for your yearlong fieldwork experience with the approval of the program director, as long as your classroom serves children with disabilities from birth to second grade. If you are completing fieldwork as a working teacher, you will need to complete additional field hours with alternate age groups and/or setting types depending on your workplace. Bank Street will work with you to identify a series of times (weekends, spring break, etc.) when you can complete these additional field requirements.

    Alongside your fieldwork placements, you will meet each week with your advisor and a small group of peers in a conference group designed to support you as you grow into your role as an educator. This is a space where you can bring the real experiences, questions, and challenges that arise in your field placement and explore them openly with others who are learning alongside you. Together, you will reflect on your practice, learn from one another’s perspectives, and support each other through the complexities of teaching. Over time, these conversations help you deepen your understanding of your work, grow in confidence and skill, and build meaningful relationships that become the foundation of your lifelong professional network.

    Advisement and Mentorship

    At Bank Street Graduate School of Education, your fieldwork is closely supervised through an ongoing advisement process that integrates observation, mentoring, and reflective dialogue. In the online program, you document your teaching through recorded lessons and classroom interactions, which you share with your faculty advisor for review and feedback. In the on-campus option, your advisor will periodically visit your field placement site for observation.

    Through these observations and follow-up conversations, your advisor provides individualized guidance, modeling, and support while conferring with you about your teaching practice and experiences in the field. This sustained mentorship helps you navigate challenges, celebrate successes, and deepen your understanding of child-centered, equitable teaching while developing practical skills, professional confidence, and the ability to advocate for all children while addressing their individualized needs in collaborative, inclusive settings.

  • Certification & Careers

    Certification

    When you successfully complete the program, you will receive a master’s degree and be eligible for New York State Certification in Students with Disabilities, Birth-Grade 2, provided you complete all other state certification requirements. Read more on our Certification page

    Professional teaching certification from New York State is very portable to other states. To learn more, please visit our Outside of New York disclosure website page. 

    Careers

    After graduation, students pursue a range of career opportunities including:

    • Teaching in early childhood special education or inclusion classrooms in public, charter, or independent schools
    • Working as an early-interventionist in social service or education-based agencies, as well as in hospitals, non-profit organizations, or daycare settings
    • Working one on one as a Special Education Itinerant Teacher (SEIT) in home, classroom, and daycare settings
    • Designing and assessing educational programming, curriculum, and policy

    Pursuing doctoral degree programs: As a student at Bank Street, you will have full access to our robust Career Services, including the CareerConnect job site, opportunities to attend job fairs and workshops, and connections to our alumni network nationwide.

  • Faculty

Meet our alumni
The connections and community that Bank Street provides have made a difference.
Shavon Frazier - Early Childhood Special Education/Early Childhood Leadership '17
Meet Shavon Meet Our Alumni

Alumni Voices

Carolina Soto Bonds, ’18, describes bringing the developmentally appropriate and culturally responsive practices she learned at Bank Street to her work with preschoolers in the Bronx.

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