Concentration: Gifted Education

Program Description

Certification in Gifted Education is designed to enable the licensed education professional to obtain skills and training in Gifted Education in order to become highly qualified to teach gifted learners in a P-12 setting.

Certificate Outcomes

  • Recognize a high-ability student who needs more depth and complexity in instruction or who may need a referral for further assessment and service
  • Design appropriate learning and performance modifications for individuals with gifts and talents that enhances creativity, acceleration, depth and complexity in academic subject matter and specialized domains
  • Coordinate gifted and talented programs and services for PreK – Grade 12
  • Be familiar with theory, research, curriculum strategies, and educational practices necessary to develop and sustain high quality classroom-based opportunities for advanced student learning
  • Select, adapt, and use a repertoire of evidence-based instructional strategies to advance the learning of gifted and talented students

Admission Requirements:

Students applying for entrance to the Certification track in Gifted Education are required to submit an application for admission, Apply Online (www.alcorn.edu/academics/graduate-studies)

  • Educator license
  • official transcript from an accredited school (if a student has attended more than one school, transcripts must be submitted from all schools attended). At least one transcript must document the student has a bachelor’s degree.
  • two letters of recommendation.

Decisions are made only after receipt of all credentials by the Department of Education and Psychology admission committee. The department uses an admission formula to accept students. The entire application packet, including all supporting materials, must be submitted to the Graduate School.

Certificate Completion Requirements:

The curriculum for Gifted Education certification requires 15 credit hours of coursework.

Program completion expectations require the following:

  • A minimum of 9 credit hours of graduate instruction must be completed in residence at Alcorn State University
  • Earn no more than two Cs in coursework
  • Successfully complete any certification assessments according to content area
  • Official transcripts on file for all transfer credits accepted by the University

Academic advisors are allowed to accept up to six semester credit hours earned at an accredited university with a grade of “B” or higher for graduate coursework completed. Substitutions of coursework are allowed with the approval of an advisor and department administrators up to nine hours if the substitution(s) meet curriculum requirements.

See Transfer of Credits Policy for additional information.
See the Substitution of Courses Policy for additional information.

Certificate Audit:

Before students are eligible for certification in Gifted Education, each student’s progression to certification completion will be evaluated to determine if student has met all academic requirements for course work and other aspects of the student’s course of study, Graduate School requirements, and Mississippi Department of Education certification requirements. When these requirements are met, the student is cleared for verification of certification.

Time to Certificate Completion

Alcorn’s time to degree completion policy applies to all students seeking a certificate or certification. The policy allows 6 years to complete the NCAA Compliance and Academic Progress Reporting certificate program. Certificate completion depends on the pace a student completes the curriculum. If the time exceeds six years, the student must petition the Graduate School to consider an appeal for more time to completion of the certificate coursework.

See the Student Academic Appeals Policy for Expiration of Timeline for additional requirements

Curriculum
Core Courses (15 Hours)
ED 580 Methods and Materials for the Gifted
PH 525 Psychology of Exceptional Children
PH 579 Psychology of the Gifted
SE 551 Administration and Supervision of Special Education
SE 582 Curriculum and Program Development for Gifted Learners

For More Information Contact:
Dr. LaShundia Carson ▪ 601.877.2371▪ [email protected] (School of Education and Psychology)