[Nfbv-announce] career in teaching children who are blind

[Michael Kasey]

Full-time, On-campus Program

Training for a Rewarding Career

Generous Student Financial Assistance

Teaching Children who are Blind or Visually Impaired and/or Providing
Orientation and Mobility Services for Those Children 

Northern Illinois University (DeKalb, Illinois) offers a nationally regarded
program at the graduate level for individuals who wish to join a rewarding
career in teaching children who are blind or visually impaired. Teachers of
students who are visually disabled generally travel from school to school
working with the students on a one-to-one basis. The vast majority of
students who are visually disabled attend their local schools with their
sighted peers in the same classrooms as their sighted friends. The special
education teachers who provide instruction for children who are blind or
visually impaired work with their regular classroom teachers to insure that
the youngsters receive the best and most appropriate education designed for
them. There is an overwhelming need for these teachers. As a consequence,
there are many job opportunities in all regions of the United States.
Individuals who choose this career path can anticipate having no difficulty
obtaining life-long employment with great job security! In addition to
numerous job opportunities, good pay, and excellent job security,
individuals who choose this career path experience a sense of fulfillment
not commonly found in other careers. These teachers play a significant role
in the lives of youngsters who are blind and their families. 

Generous student financial assistance is available. We will pay all instate
or out-of-state tuition, all fees, health insurance, and a stipend of $5,200
per calendar year for qualified individuals who wish to come to Northern
Illinois University to enroll in the graduate program focusing on special
education for children who are blind or visually impaired. For more
information, go to the following web site to read about the program.
www.vision.niu.edu <http://www.vision.niu.edu/> 
Also, go to the following Youtube links 
http://youtu.be/UHmpASpzCKA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxgVXY5jg7o

Interested individuals can contact the project director, Gaylen Kapperman,
at the following e-mail:
gkapperman at niu.edu
Or by calling 815-753-8453 

Admissions requirements are as follows:
Online application with a fee of $40
GRE scores of 30%tile verbal and 30%tile quantitative ($160 fee)
Official transcripts of all previous academic work
GPA of 2.8
ACT score of 22 or successful completion of the Test of Academic Proficiency
(TAP)
Three letters of recommendation
Personal statement
The link to the online application process for the Graduate School can be
found on the page,www.vision.niu.edu <http://www.vision.niu.edu/> .

This is not an online program. All courses except for student teaching and
the orientation and mobility internship are taken on campus in DeKalb,
Illinois, the home of Northern Illinois University. 

 

Depending on the credentials held by a program applicant, a master's degree
and eligibility for licensure for teaching children who are blind or
visually impaired, or a master's degree and eligibility for national
certification as an orientation and mobility specialist, may be completed in
16 months. A master's degree and completion of both programs (dual
certification), resulting in eligibility for licensure as a teacher of
students who are blind or visually impaired and eligibility for national
certification as an orientation and mobility specialist, may be completed in
22 months; we encourage applicants to consider dual certification because
this will result in increased employment opportunities post-graduation. Each
of the 3 alternatives may require an additional  summer session if certain
foundation courses have to be completed. The credentials of potential
applicants can be reviewed to determine the length of the program of study.


Students progress through the program in cohorts. Each cohort begins in the
fall of each academic year. Our deadline for receipt of applications is June
15 of each year. The generous financial assistance is awarded on a first
come, first served basis to qualified applicants. 

The Summers-only Orientation and Mobility Component

If you are currently certified as a Teacher of Students with Visual
Disabilities (TVI) or as a Vision Rehabilitation Therapist (CVRT), you may
be eligible to study in a summers-only program which will allow you to
obtain a master's degree and certification in Orientation & Mobility without
an interruption in employment! 

This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity includes full tuition, fees, and an $800
per summer stipend. On-campus courses will take place during the summers of
2015, 2016, and 2017. A full time, 12-week internship will be completed
during the summer of 2018, at any approved site in the contiguous 48 states.
This package is worth $16,000 for Illinois residents; $25,000 for
out-of-state students!

Act now if you are interested! This will not be a continual offering; this
is a one-time cohort opportunity based on federal funding.

Application deadline: MARCH 15, 2015
For additional information on the NIU Visual Disabilities Program, please
visit our website: www.vision.niu.edu <http://www.vision.niu.edu/> 

For the online Graduate School application, please visit the NIU Graduate
School Admissions website: http://www.niu.edu/grad/apply/

This program is a one-time only opportunity open to certified TVIs and
CVRTs. It is designed to enable professionals in the visual disabilities
field to earn credentials in the area of Orientation and Mobility without an
interruption in employment as teachers. 

Funding is available for 6 of the cohort participants to be awarded graduate
assistantships which will pay in-state or out-of-state tuition, fees, and a
stipend of $800 for each of the 4 summers of this program. The graduate
assistantships will be awarded on a competitive basis (combination of
undergrad GPA, GRE scores, recommendations, etc.). There will be more than 6
spots available in the cohort, but only money enough to provide support for
6 students. 

Many school systems, however, have a tuition support program available for
their employees, so this should help tremendously with financing for anyone
who wants to participate but isn't funded by the grant. Also, most salary
schedules have incremental pay increases for coursework, so this should
help, also.

In order to be awarded a graduate assistantship, students must be fully
admitted to The Graduate School at NIU. Admission requirements include: 

- A bachelor's degree from an accredited 4-year institution with a minimum
2.8 grade point average on a 4.0 scale 
- A passing score on the Graduate Record Exam General Test (verbal and
quantitative); and 
- 3 letters of recommendation 
- In addition, admission to this particular cohort requires evidence of
current certification in the visual disabilities area, either as a TVI or as
a CVRT. 

The application process is started with submission of the actual application
and a $40 application fee. This can be accomplished online at the following
website: http://www.grad.niu.edu/online/apply.htm . Other supporting
documents (transcripts, official GRE scores, letters of recommendation, and
copies of certificates) may be submitted (to the graduate school admissions
office, NOT to the vision program!) after the actual application. 

Be sure to notify Gaylen Kapperman (gkapperman at niu.edu ) of your intent to
apply as soon as the decision is made to ensure that your name is included
in the pool of candidates! 

Cohort participants will complete the program in August of 2018, and will be
eligible for ACVREP certification as a Certified Orientation and Mobility
Specialist (COMS) and will be awarded the Master of Science in Education
(M.S.Ed.) degree

 

 


The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the
characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the
expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles
between blind people and our dreams. You can have the life you want;
blindness is not what holds you back.