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Special Education Resource Project

CEC Standards for Special Educators

CEC Standards for Special Educators Title Image

The Council for Exceptional Children have defined standards for both initial and advanced special education teachers.  These standards define expectations for teacher in the following areas:  ethics, practice standards, learning environments, content knowledge, assessment, instructional planning and strategies, and collaboration.   CEC has also comprised standards for initial and advanced teachers in the following specialty sets:  learning disabilities, multiple disabilities, emotional behavior disorders, early childhood special education, developmental and autism spectrum, deaf and hard of hearing and blind and visually impaired.

The CEC has defined the rational for these standards as followed:

“CEC’s Professional Preparation Standards define the specialized expertise special educators must master for the safe and effective practice of special education. These standards are used to inform preparation programs, accreditation organizations, and licensing agencies. CEC partners with the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP), a national educator preparation program accreditor, to recognize education programs that prepare teachers to work with students with exceptionalities, based on their meeting of standards established by CEC.CEC, as the recognized leader in the development of standards for special educators, has developed initial and advanced standards for the preparation of special education professionals at all levels. CEC has and continues to use a research-based collaborative process that ensures that its standards are current, research-based, and fully address the knowledge and skills special educators must master.” (Source:  Council for Exceptional Children, 2015)

 

To see the requirements for ethical and professional practices, initial and advanced preparation, click on the picture below.  

 

To access the CEC Ethical Principal Standards, click this image.

 

To access the CEC Professional Practice Standards, click this image.

 

To access the CEC Initial Preparation Standards, click on this image.

 

To access the CEC Advanced Preparation Standards, click on this image.

 

 

 

To view the standards for each disability category, click on the image below.  The link will take you to the CEC Initial and Advanced Specialty Sets.  From this page, you can choose your the category and experience level that fits.  

 

To access the CEC Initial and Advanced Specialty Sets, click this image.

 

To return to the About This Project homepage, click this image.

 

References:

CEC Professional Standards. (n.d.). Retrieved October 1, 2019, from https://www.cec.sped.org/Standards.