EDU 6304. Interpreting Educational Research
This course teaches educators how to understand and critically evaluate educational research.  Topics include research design, ethics, sampling, measurement, reliability and validity, statistics, and both quantitative and qualitative methodologies.  Sustained attention is given to the practical application of research findings in educational settings.

EDU 6315. Diverse Learners
This course introduces students to different teaching approaches that help create equal educational opportunities for students from diverse racial, ethnic, social-class, and cultural groups. The course will provide strategies to make teaching more effective in increasingly diverse schools. Some sections of this course require Spanish proficiency.

EDU 6356. Foundations of Special Assessment
This course focuses on educational policies, laws, and practices associated with education for individuals with disabilities.  Topics cover the range of perspectives underlying school-based delivery of educational services.

EDU 6359. Families and Collaboration
This course provides participants with the knowledge and skills necessary for effective collaboration with school-based personnel supporting the learning and social needs of individuals with disabilities and their families. Models that facilitate communication, lead problem solving teams, and engage in advocacy for individuals with disabilities will be demonstrated.

EDU 6389. Instructional Strategies for Intensive Intervention
This course builds the foundation for teachers to develop instructional strategies for any struggling student, including those identified as having special needs. Student in the course will development of intensive interventions for students who need targeted academic support. Students study intensive interventions, learn how to adapt curriculum for individual differences, and learn about other strategies to address executive functioning and student engagement.

EDU 6360. Behavioral Interventions in the Classroom
This course provides participants the principles of classroom management, both proactive and reactive, within the context of educational diagnostician.

EDU 6330. Survey of Dyslexia and Related Disabilities
This course provides teachers with evidence-based practices for teaching children who have dyslexia and related written language disorders. The course presents the basic linguistic structures of written English (LSE) related to reading and spelling.

EDU 6323. Literacy Assessment
Presents the most current understanding of literacy development and assessment based on recent research, focusing on standardized and criterion-referenced, as well as diagnostic and Curriculum-Based Measurement procedures at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. Emphasis is on gathering and interpreting assessment information for making instructional decisions.

EDU 6373. Bilingual/ESL Assessment
Too often, students for whom Enlgish is not their first language are incorrectly identified as not having a learning issue because their challenges are all attributed to language or they incorrectly are placed in special education for cognitive struggles that are really due to language acquisition. For this class, students will deepen their knowledge of language acquisition and its intersection with cognitive and processing struggles. Students will review the theory underlying language learning, learn the Spanish version of tests and learn new assessments that provide more information about language. Further, students will examine the intersection between factors impacting English language learners and considers implications for assessment such as previous education, immigration, acculturation, poverty, trauma, and even structural differences between the child's first and second languages. Throughout this time, they will continue skills developing report preparation.

EDU 6370. Diagnostic Assessment 1
A critical part of understanding student learning is understanding cognitive processes and how they impact student achievement. In this course students will learn a) theories of intelligence, b) specific assessments used to measure intelligence and achievement, c) how to administer intelligence and achievement assessments, and d) how to apply skills necessary to professionally interpret evaluation data and analysis of assessment information to create appropriate educational programming. Students will learn how to administer, score, and interpret the Woodcock Johnson IV full battery which includes the cognitive, achievement, and oral language tests. Expectation of this course is mastery of administration, scoring, and interpreting the WJ IV battery. Completion of course prepares students to take the TEA Educational Diagnostician exam.

EDU 6371. Diagnostic Assessment 2
Students will deepen their knowledge of special education eligibility diagnosis by learning more about intelligence and achievement and how it differs, yet is influences student learning. Students will review the theory underlying individual ability tests and continue skills developing report preparation. In this course students will learn a) specific assessments used to measure intelligence and achievement, b) how to measure student intelligence and achievement, and c) make initial diagnosis, practice writing reports, and use evaluation data for instructional planning in relation to student needs. Students will learn how to administer, score, and interpret the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Wechsler Individual Achievement Test and additional batteries as needed. Expectation of this course is mastery of administration, scoring, and interpreting the Wechsler battery. Completion of course prepares students to take the TEA Educational Diagnostician exam.

EDU 6372. Practicum
This course is field-based with requirement for attendance at a two-hour introduction to the course. During the practicum, students are paired with a mentor diagnostician (site supervisor) and a SMU faculty member (field supervisor). Students will be required to find their mentor diagnostician (site supervisor). This person must have minimum 3 years’ experience as a diagnostician. During the practicum students are required to document 160 hours of practicum activities. Activities will range from interviewing, observing, and shadowing the mentor diagnostician (site supervisor). These activities will include attending a variety of ARD meetings. The student will also continue practicing administering, scoring, interpreting, and explaining assessment results. Prerequisite courses are EDU 6370, 6371, and 6373.