College of Education News

Gaining access to the world

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Imagine walking down a sidewalk, getting on a bus or boarding a plane.  

Now imagine accomplishing them without sight.  

Missouri State University’s orientation and mobility (O&M) program trains students how to assist individuals with visual impairments. This includes providing individuals with the tools and experience they need to navigate the world independently.  

Missouri State also offers the blindness and low vision teacher education (B&LV) program. The program ensures that teachers can provide the accommodations necessary for students with visual impairments to excel in the classroom. 

“Blindness and low vision are low incidence disabilities, so they can get pushed aside,” Dr. Shari Scott, B&LV program coordinator, said.  

“Even if you have just one person who needs Braille or access to large print, it’s worth providing that support.”  

The O&M and the B&LV programs at MSU recently received national accreditation from the Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AERBVI). 

The difference access can make  

Providing visually impaired students with accommodations in the classroom is crucial to allowing them to participate in everyday life.  

Dr. Christopher Craig, deputy provost at MSU, learned this at a young age when attending the Missouri School for the Blind. He credits the school with much of his success in discovering how to navigate his environment despite his visual impairment.  

“Part of what I’ve been able to do in my life, including being deputy provost, is because I had a strong skill base for learning how to cope and communicate,” Craig said. “Every kid deserves to be taught reading by a qualified teacher.” 

The blind and low vision certification ensures that students with visual impairments can manage classroom materials like textbooks, course websites and other media that is consumed visually.  

As the skills needed for success go beyond the classroom, the orientation and mobility program covers everything from cane skills to public transportation and metro travel. 

To get an O&M certification, students spend more than 20 hours under a blindfold learning the skills they will be teaching to individuals with visual impairments.  

“Even if someone can read Braille and access the world digitally, they may not feel comfortable hopping on a plane and going to Brazil,” Scott said. “Learning orientation and mobility opens up the world.”    

Explore the O&M program  

A broader vision  

Craig began developing these programs at MSU with the hope that they would produce the specialized instructors needed to better serve people with visual impairments.  

“I started this program in Missouri because there were children with visual impairments who needed greater care. They weren’t learning Braille, communication skills or how to use assistive technologies,” Craig said.  

“There also was nothing in Missouri to help these children learn how to physically get around.”  

With proper accommodations, people with visual impairments can meet their full potential alongside their sighted peers.  

“Having a job brings self-fulfillment and self-actualization,” Scott said. “If you have a sensory deprivation, such as hard of hearing or blindness, you can benefit from a specialized instructor to help you navigate functional skills. 

“One of my former students was the first blind student to go to Columbia University in New York. The things he is doing in journalism today are totally amazing.” 

MSU is bringing these necessities to students who need them, providing opportunities for them that would otherwise be inaccessible.  

“This is bigger than just the university,” Scott said. “The K-12 kids in Missouri who don’t have instructors are front and center for us, but preparing specialized instructors goes beyond that. We are part of a global endeavor to improve accessibility.”  

About the accreditation 

While the B&LV program receives its teacher-certifying credentials from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), the AERBVI accreditation endorses the program as effective preparation.  

For the O&M program, the AERBVI is the certifying body. The accreditation allows for students in MSU’s O&M program to graduate fully licensed.  

MSU is one of just 12 universities with an accredited O&M program across the United States. 

Learn more about the accreditation 

Supporting English language learners

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When Dr. Kennedy Ongaga, assistant professor in the department of counseling, leadership and special education, found out he won the Spencer Foundation research grant, he ran to his front yard and shouted, “Thank you, God!”  

“When we have a crisis, marginalized students and English learners are always left behind,” Ongaga said. “During COVID-19, our homes, our students’ homes, became the schools when schools moved to remote. The question becomes, what resources are available or did schools leverage to support student learning?” 

Ongaga’s research seeks to assess the education of English language learners (ELL) in Springfield Public Schools (SPS) during the pandemic. 

The data he collects will serve as a foundation for improving and creating support services for ELLs in times of crisis.  

Working in social justice 

Ongaga’s work in SPS specifically addresses ELLs. Many of them are refugees from around the world including Afghanistan, Congo, Iraq, Malawi and Tanzania.  

“I try to acculturate them and help them to understand what life is like in America,” Ongaga said. “I also do interpretation for students who don’t speak English for the K-12 schools within this region.” 

The pandemic caused transitions in class delivery, communication and the structure of school. Ongaga’s research questions address how accommodations were made to assist ELLs during this transition and the ongoing pandemic.  

Asking the right questions  

Ongaga will officially begin this research project in October 2021 and plans to conclude it in September 2023. 

The data collection will occur in four phases: 

  • Surveying students, administrators, EL specialists, teachers and other staff members.  
  • Interviews with counselors, school nurses, social workers and psychologists.
  • Focus groups with parents, teachers and students.
  • Secondary data including assessment results and test scores from DESE. 

“Using secondary data, in connection with the qualitative data that we’ll get from the participants, we should be able to make evidence-based projections of what is going on,” Ongaga said. 

He hopes this data will help answer questions such as:  

  1. What services, strategies and special accommodations did SPS implement to support ELLs learning during the pandemic? 
  2. To what extent do ELLs perceive that their academic needs were actually met during the pandemic? 
  3. What is communication like between the school, teachers and parents to keep the momentum of student learning going? 
  4. What guidance and supports are educators provided with to address EL learning needs?   

“For some students, school is where they take their breakfast, their lunch and sometimes that’s where they get that sandwich that they take home for dinner,” Ongaga said. “I want to know what services and programs have been used to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on the ELL’s social-emotional development and their family’s wellbeing.” 

Ongaga hopes to make research-based recommendations for SPS and other K-12 districts so they can be more specific in addressing the needs of such sub-groups and marginalized students.  

“We have a lot of resources to rehumanize education in times of crises – if only we can know how to leverage those resources to reach students,” Ongaga said. 

Spencer Foundation Funding  

Ongaga’s research is funded in part by the Spencer Foundation research grant that he won this fall. The Spencer Foundation awards grants nationally and applicants have only a 5% chance of receiving funding.  

Ongaga submitted the application himself, but he is grateful for the support he found in his department. 

“Dr. Reesha Adamson, who was my answering department head, was absolutely helpful in calming me down,” Ongaga said. “She’s very good with grant writing and shared sort of a toolbox of what I needed to do.” 

The pandemic continues to reveal inequities that ELLs and children from immigrant families experience in U.S. schools and their communities.  

Support from the Spencer Foundation is an acknowledgment of how important this kind of work is in making a difference in the lives of students.  

“I’m very sure, through these small grants, we will be able to make an impact and meaningfully partner with our K-12 school districts in addressing challenges of reaching vulnerable populations,” Ongaga said. 

Making a difference 

Ongaga’s research connects to the ways Missouri State is working to improve the community through the public affairs mission. Ongaga hopes the work he is doing will inspire others.  

He referenced a well-known quote: “You don’t get harmony when everyone sings the same note. Only notes that are different can harmonize. The same is true of people.”  

Ongaga encourages people to find their own ways to help the people around them.  

“When you look at what’s going on around the world and see what people are going through – they’re not worse than me and you. They’re just human beings caught up in some kind of mess,” Ongaga said. “We have a moral responsibility to be our brother’s keeper, and I’m very sure we can do it.” 

Learn more about the public affairs mission   

Education, diversified

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The world of education is extremely diverse. No two students share the same background, culture and experiences. As a result, each can benefit from the perspectives of their peers. 

The College of Education aims to effectively teach culturally-diverse students—and prepare teacher candidates to do the same.  

“Diversity strengthens our community and enriches our lives,” COE Dean David Hough said. “It undergirds our many teacher preparation programs as we strive to develop educators who can teach all children.” 

A Missouri State student teacher helps a student in this 2017 photo.
A Missouri State student teacher helps a student in this 2017 photo.

Diversity initiatives 

Several COE diversity initiatives are in place to continue building a culturally-competent experience for pupils to come.  

  • Bear Partnership seeks to increase the number of COE students from underrepresented backgrounds. Last year, 17 students attended the week-long campus residential program. This summer, 29 students were scheduled to attend. Due to the pandemic, however, it could not take place.   
  • A recruiter in Mobile, Alabama, engages Black high school students to consider MSU for studying education.  
  • Dean Hough regularly travels to the University of Arkansas, Little Rock; the University of Arkansas, Pine Bluff; the University of Memphis; Alabama State University; and the University of South Alabama, in an effort to recruit diverse faculty. The diverse faculty recruitment rate improved by 33% in the last six years.  
  • COE regularly finances six to eight faculty members to participate in a St. Louis diversity conference every year. 

Further details regarding COE’s diversity initiatives can be found on the Missouri State website.  

A Missouri State practicum student visits with high-schoolers in this 2017 photo.
A Missouri State practicum student visits with high-schoolers in this 2017 photo.

Faculty engagement 

Conversations surrounding diversity don’t stop there.  

Dr. Nathan Quinn is a senior instructor for the counseling, leadership and special education department—and part of MSU’s Educator Preparation Provider Council (EPPC). The council ensures education programs at the university meet state and national guidelines in preparing qualified school personnel.  

As chairperson for the EPPC’s diversity subcommittee, Quinn leads a team in examining diversity issues within the education department.  

“I believe we’re doing a good job, but we need to increase our diverse students within the College of Education,” Quinn said. “It’s a matter of continuing to identify those students to come to our university.”  

Dr. Dennis Rudnick, assistant professor in the reading, foundations and technology department, teaches Introduction to Multicultural Education. It’s a course requirement for MSU teacher candidates. Rudnick says the course plays an important role in diversity issues in education. 

“Its goal is to enable future teachers to become more aware of and responsive to these complex dynamics underlying education in the United States,” Rudnick said. “In return, they can best advocate for the students, schools and communities they will serve as professionals.” 

Dr. Elizabeth King, assistant professor in the child and family development department, added the college’s efforts to increase diversity requires continuous engagement.  

“If we’re doing it right, it’s not an initiative,” King said. “It’s sustained, active work in every space we hold.”