Pre-admission Writing Assessment (PWA)

The Department of Special Education policy for meeting the Pre-admission Writing Assessment (PWA) for the Master of Arts degree, (also referred to as Written English Proficiency-WEP).

Pre-admission Writing Assessment (PWA)
(also referred to as Written English Proficiency-WEP)

The University requires that all applicants meet a pre-admission (Level 1) writing standard prior to entering a graduate program.

LEVEL I:

I.  Applicants will be required to submit evidence of one of the following as part of their application for admission to the MA in Special Education:

•  score of at least 3.5/6.0 on the GRE Analytical Writing Test or GMAT Analytic Writing Assessment;

•  score of at least 4.5/6.0 on the essay test of the paper-based [PBT] TOEFL (a minimum score of 24/30 on the Writing section of the Internet-based test [iBT] TOEFL);

•  score of at least 6.5/9.0 on the IELTS writing test, or a concordant score on the Pearson Test of English.

•  a passing status score of at least 220 on the CSET Writing Skills Test

NOTE:  Applicants who took the former Graduate Essay Test  (GET) and scored 5 or above may submit that test result to meet the Level I requirement.

II.  Applicants who do not meet this requirement will be denied admission, or, if all other areas of the application are strong, a faculty member may choose to file a petition with Graduate Studies to request conditional admission. The student will need to pass one of the tests listed above, or complete an English Writing course from an approved list that will be maintain by the department within one semester of conditional admission.

LEVEL II

Students will be required to complete one of the following Culminating Experiences:

Option I (6 units):    

  • Two elective graduate seminars (6 units), which will reflect critical analysis of literature and application of research; and
    SPED 896EXM: Master’s Comprehensive Written Examination.

Note: One elective seminar must be outside of the student's credential program area; can include SPED 881: Advanced Research Seminar in Special Education                                                                              

Option II (6 units):  

  • An elective graduate seminar (3 units), which will reflect critical analysis of literature and application of research; and
    SPED 894 Creative Work in Special Education (3 units).

Note: One elective seminar must be outside of the student's credential program area; can include SPED 881: Advanced Research Seminar in Special Education
 

Option III (6 units):

  • SPED 881: Advanced Research Seminar in Special Education (3 units); and
  • SPED 895: Field Study (3 units); or
  • SPED 898: Master’s Thesis (3 units) with Oral Defense of Thesis

Note: Options II and III are by selection process only with an approved proposal (see program advisor).