In December 2016, Houghton student Justin Bullard ‘16 will graduate with a major in Inclusive Adolescence Education (IADE), the first and only Houghton student thus far to do so. The IADE major, which exists alongside the Adolescence Education major, was added in 2014. Associate Dean of Education, Cathy Freytag, said in a Houghton press release, “By intentionally infusing purposeful inclusive/special education content into our existing Adolescence Education Program and incorporating two courses that are already taken by teacher education students in the Inclusive Childhood major, we are able to offer a robust program at the adolescence level that will prepare middle and high school teachers to address the unique needs of the diverse learners that they will encounter in any classroom.”
Like the Adolescence Education major, IADE majors may choose a second content major. For example, a student who desires to teach math in a classroom inclusive of differently-abled students would major in IADE with a math concentration. Bullard’s major will be accompanied with a generalist concentration, enabling him to teach a broad range of subjects. Bullard said his wide range of studies gives him the tools to “help my students in all subjects.” He continued, “I can bridge gaps between subjects that a conventional single subject classroom educator may not be there to see how techniques in other classes could benefit a particular student in another setting.”
Education Department Chair, Sunshine Sullivan said, “If someone wants to teach, they need to be prepared to teach in an inclusive setting.” To clarify the term ‘inclusive,” she added, “Today’s classrooms PK- college are full of diverse learners with incredibly powerful learning differences. These learning differences have always been present in our classrooms, but they’ve often been marginalized and labeled as ‘special,’ ‘slow,’ ‘hyper’, ‘challenged’, ‘challenging,’ and the list goes on.” Sullivan also said, unfortunately, “There is a growing shortage of teachers being qualified to teach in an inclusive setting as special education teachers at the adolescence level.”
Bullard, who “can’t remember” a time he did not want to educate young people, quickly took advantage of the IADE major after it became available. “I was conflicted when I came to Houghton,” he said. “I wanted to be a special needs educator, but I also greatly preferred teaching high school students. When I started at Houghton I was an Adolescent Education and Biology double major, but I felt the lack of contact time with special needs students was not something I was just going to get over.”
Bullard’s “prayers were answered” in his sophomore year (2014), when Professor Sullivan informed him of the new IADE major. He said, “Upon hearing her describe the major I immediately said ‘yes.’ I was so excited when they added the major. It is perfect for me and sets me up for exactly what I want to do in my career as a future educator. With my degree I can run a resource room and help a great number of students by providing them with increased individualized attention. I can also participate in a ‘push-in style’ classroom, which is where I enter a mainstream classroom to aid a student with special needs.”
Education professor, Martin Coates, said that while the number of students declaring the IADE major is currently low, “We expect them to grow and we plan to continue offering this major for the foreseeable future. It has a minimal impact on faculty load as the bulk of the major consists of existing courses, so we do not anticipate problems staffing it.” He added that while Bullard is the only student of his year to graduate with the major, there are several students in the department who are at this time considering declaring the major.