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Overview

Certification

The certification officer is responsible for verification of program completion.

The District of Columbia’s Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) follows the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education standards for professional education programs review and licensure. Contact OSSE for information about how to obtain a D.C. teaching license.

The university has several state-approved licensure programs, including for school service providers and school educators.

Licensure

Some licensure programs may require criminal background checks, fingerprinting, and/or drug testing prior to placement in an internship or practicum. A criminal background or felony conviction may affect the student’s ability to secure a site for practicum hours. In addition, states may restrict or prohibit those with a criminal background from obtaining a professional license and/or eligibility to sit for licensing/certification examinations.

If you are considering an academic program that leads you to obtaining professional licensure in your state, it is highly recommended that you contact the appropriate licensing agency in your state to seek information and additional guidance before beginning a program outside of your state.

View our Academic Programs’ Licensure Pass Rate

Au.D. in Audiology

M.S. in Speech-Language Pathology

Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology

Psy.S. School Psychology

Education

Professional Licensure Disclosures

Some professions (e.g. speech pathologists, lawyers, teachers, psychologists, etc.) require that you obtain licensure or certification beyond your degree in order to hold a position in that field. Professional Licensure regulations and requirements vary from field to field, and from state to state. Each state and U.S. territory has an authority, be it public or private, that is responsible for overseeing the licensure requirements of the various professions in that state.

For students that are considering enrolling in, or are currently enrolled in, a program that leads to professional licensure, Gallaudet University strongly recommends you to contact the appropriate department or program to determine the educational requirements and review whether or not the education provided at Gallaudet University will allow you to sit for the applicable licensing exam in the state where you are located or intend to later seek employment.  Students should also consider contacting the applicable licensing board to determine any additional requirements, beyond the degree program, that may need to be fulfilled in order to obtain licensure in a particular state as some licensing boards and states may require additional post-graduation examinations or coursework, additional experience, licensing fees, criminal background checks, or other actions prior to you obtaining licensure.

Below, you can review the list of programs that lead to professional licensure as well as those that have not been designed to lead to licensure, but may assist you in achieving a professional licensure or certification in a field later.

Please note: Licensing requirements are often evolving, and Gallaudet University will make every effort to keep this information up to date, however students are encouraged to inquire with the appropriate licensing board in your state (or the state where you intend to practice or work) in order to ask any questions regarding licensure and confirm that you understand the requirements for licensure or reciprocity.

Current and prospective students will be notified directly via email should it be determined they are applying to or enrolled in academic programs that do not meet the educational requirements for licensure in the state in which they are located. For this reason, it is important that Gallaudet University students update their location should it change while completing their education.  Students are required to update their location address at the beginning of every term in Workday and should regularly review their location information for accuracy.

Counseling

M.A. in Counseling: Clinical Mental Health Counseling

M.A. in Counseling: School Counseling

Education

B.A. Education: Early Childhood Education, Elementary Education, or Secondary Education – Teacher Educator

M.A. Education: Teacher Preparation: Deaf Education, Early Childhood Education & Deaf Education, Elementary Education & Deaf Education, or Secondary Education & Deaf Education- Teacher Educator

Hearing, Speech, and Language Sciences

M.S. Speech-Language Pathology – Speech Pathologist

Au.D. Audiology – Audiologist

Psychology

Psy.S. School Psychology – School Psychologist

Ph.D. Clinical Psychology – Clinical Psychologist

Social Work

MSW. Social Work – Social Worker

Programs Not Designed for Licensure 

B.S. in Accounting

The Accounting Program provides a broad base of study and is designed to ensure that the student is adequately prepared for entry-level positions. Through careful course selection within the program and supporting fields, it is possible for students to prepare themselves for careers in government, nonprofit organizations, and private industry. Students aspiring to become certified public accountants (CPAs) need to be aware of the educational requirements of the state in which they intend to sit for the CPA examination. Advisors in the program are available to help students plan their courses to meet the CPA requirements or any specialty within the field of accounting.

While Gallaudet University’s B.S. in Accounting program is an accredited program by the Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP), the program is not designed to be a licensure program, it is possible that the degree and specific courses taken might count toward licensing requirements in some states.

B.A. in Social Work

While Gallaudet University’s B.A. in Social Work program is an accredited program by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), the program is not designed to be a licensure program. It is possible that the degree and specific courses taken might count toward licensing requirements in some states. Additionally, states may not require licensure to work in the field.

M.A. in Sign Language Education

Gallaudet University’s M.A. in Sign Language Education program is not designed to be a licensure program. It is possible that the degree and specific courses taken might count toward licensing requirements in some states. Additionally, states may not require licensure to work in the field.

The Masters in Sign Language Education program is not a state-approved licensure program or part of the Educator Preparation Providers unit accredited by the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP). Completion of the program does not result in a recommendation for teaching licensure. If you are seeking employment in K-12 school settings, you should contact your state office of licensure and certification to see if our program meets their requirements.

Licensure in Washington, D.C.

Students completing one of Gallaudet’s state-approved licensure programs are eligible for a D.C. State License.

School Service Providers

For School Service Providers seeking a D.C. License (i.e., School Psychology or School Social Work), contact the program director in your department for further information. Verification of program completion is signed by Gallaudet’s Certification Officer.

School Educators

If you will be applying for a teaching license, we recommend that you first get your DC teaching license even if you will later get a license in another state. Why? Often the process is easier if you already have a license in the state in which you completed your program. The information below will help you with both processes.

Applying for a D.C. Teaching License

How to Obtain a Background Check, as required by DC

Getting a Teaching License from Another State (Contact state licensure offices in the state you want to be licensed. Our office completes program and licensure verification forms.)

FAQs

Policies and Information

No. The assessment team does not keep a tally of the number of outcomes met. We do not report these numbers to deans, the provosts, the accreditors, or to anyone else. We do, however, maintain logs of units that have current assessment documents on file, and the quality of those documents. We provide feedback to units on whether their assessment practices are likely to provide meaningful information about student learning that can be used to improve learning over time. It is important that units who identify simplistic outcomes, weak measures, and unreasonably low performance criteria receive lower ratings than units who set reasonable expectations, acknowledge when outcomes have not been met, and identify realistic changes to address any issues they identify. Remember: We are not graded on the number of outcomes we meet but on our efforts to collect meaningful information about student learning and then use that information to improve student learning.
Yes. We are still accountable to our institutional accreditation body for the assessment of student learning. There are some specialized accreditors that require programs to engage in the assessment of student learning but are not prescriptive about how that should occur. Such agencies rely on the programs to participate in the institutional assessment activities and to document the evidence of those activities.
All academic programs including majors and certificates, undergraduate and graduate, and units in Student Affairs are expected to participate in assessing student learning.

Common Questions

No. The purpose of academic program assessment is not to evaluate individual students or instructors. The purpose is to determine the extent to which program graduates possess the intended knowledge and skills of the program when they graduate, and to use the information gathered to support larger picture programatic improvements over time.
Student learning is the major component for determining institutional effectiveness. A review of institutional effectiveness will assess additional avenues of institutional activities. It is important for programs to assess their outcomes with the goals of the college and institution in mind. The combination of institutional effectiveness and program assessments ensures the best data will be available for assessing the effectiveness of the mission of the university.
Both are necessary for continued improvement, but the purposes and timelines are different. Assessment is an ongoing process that occurs during each academic year and focuses on student-specific outcomes for a single academic major program. An academic program review occurs every few years. It is used as a comprehensive evaluation of the overall effectiveness of an entire academic unit that may administer multiple degree programs at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.
All programs in Academic Affairs submit an annual Learning Assessment Update (LAU) in June. All units in Student Affairs submit their LAUs in August. LAUs were submitted via the online assessment management system of WEAVE. To submit an LAU now, contact Rosanne Bangura (https://gallaudet.edu/emailto/?rosanne.bangura) and he can make the form available to you. The LAUs should document the ongoing assessment processes that includes the components of Student Learning Outcomes, measures performance targets, scoring criteria, data summary, data analysis, and findings. The improvements are tracked because there is a record of current and past LAUs.
As soon as a new program has been approved, an assessment plan is made. Considering many aspects of the new program may not be in place yet, it is still important for program faculty to know the intended program outcomes at the time a program is created. It is equally important for faculty to identify where in the curriculum that students will be exposed to program content, have opportunities to reinforce initial learning on that content, and ultimately to demonstrate their knowledge of the content. A curriculum map may be necessary at this point. The Office of Academic Quality will review each draft plan and either approve it or return it for revision. When the recommended revisions have been made, the plan must be submitted for final review. Final approval will be uploaded to Blackboard under Program Assessment Outcomes. After approval, assessment plans must be updated if there are significant changes in the program, measures, or scoring criteria. The university assessment coordinator is available to assist you with assessment planning and curriculum mapping.
Both activities are used to measure the degrees to which students have been learning concepts. Grading is a measure based upon individual students whereas assessment focuses on the performance and gains of an entire cohort of students.
  • Grades do not provide meaningful information on exactly what a student has learned. Assessments should address precisely the areas of strengths and weaknesses that students are having within the curriculum. A grade of a “B” does not accurately detail which elements of the curriculum were mastered and which were not.
  • Grading and assessment criteria may differ. As course grades can be based upon a number of factors such as points for attendance and penalties for late papers, assessment practices should not consider these elements in their scoring, focusing entirely on the outcomes and performance of the students.
  • Grading standards may be inconsistent. Assessment reviews should often be done through rubrics by committees to ensure consensus. Course and assignment grades may depend on the experiences and expectations of a singular reviewer.

Gallaudet University has authorized the National Student Clearinghouse to provide current enrollment and degree verifications and certifications.

Please click here for more information.

Current and former students may also request Registrar’s Office official business letterhead and university sealed certifications at the Registrar’s Office web link. OPEN the Student Enrollment Verification Processes – Student Guide

Services and Support

Continuous improvement of our programs is an important priority for educators who want to do everything possible to prepare our graduates to perform in society, in the workplace, or in graduate school. Assessment planning and reporting allow faculty to report the specific learning outcomes they desire for their graduates and to collect solid evidence of how well those outcomes have been achieved. Assessment is required to maintain institutional accreditation as well as specialized program accreditation. The Middle States Commission on Higher Education, Gallaudet’s regional accrediting body, places heavy emphasis on assessment of student learning. Assessment is at the core of MSCHE’s seven Standards and Student Learning Assessment is crucial to Standard V Educational Effectiveness Assessment. Additionally, program accreditors (e.g. American Psychological Association, National Association for the Education of Young Children, Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs) require evidence of the assessment of student learning. There are more than nine accredited programs at Gallaudet University. For more information about programs with accreditation requirements at Gallaudet, please visit Accreditation and Approval.
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