Practicum: The Field Experience

The mission of the Educational Diagnostician Program is to nurture the professional and personal development of candidates by empowering them with the knowledge, skills and experiences to become culturally competent and effective educational diagnosticians. In fulfillment of the program mission, the faculty are dedicated to training leaders in the profession who are capable of thriving in an ever-changing society, with the ability to successfully create and manage the role of an educational diagnostician that addresses the diverse needs of all students. The field experience courses provide a real-world experience of the daily role of the Educational Diagnostician and is at the heart of the program.

Candidates should begin preparing for the field experience courses when they begin the program. By contacting the SPED director in your desired TEA accredited district, you should recruit a site mentor who is an educational diagnostician with a minimum of three years' experience and currently certified to work with them. Most of our candidates are full-time teachers, so communicating with the SPED director and site supervisor early in the program will help with understanding the two semesters for collecting field hours (50 observation hours of their site supervisor in SPED 5321 and 160 field experience hours in SPED 5322).

Some school districts require an Affiliation Agreement or MOU to participate in field work. It is important to know this information early in the program so you can contact the university to request this document to be sent to your district. See the Field Experience Manual for more information.

In the first semester practicum, focus is put on test administration and interpretation, therefore candidates need to make arrangements with respect to access to test kits for the following assessment instruments (Woodcock Johnson- Achievement, Woodcock Johnson- Cognitive, WISC) AND retain a certified Educational Diagnostician from within their school and/or district who will supervise their use of such instruments. Lamar University, the College of Education and Human Development, and the Special Education program do not provide such test kits or make arrangements for site mentors. There are 50 direct observation hours under your mentor required in this course.

The second practicum provides a holistic experience in the shoes of an Educational Diagnostician. There are 160 field experience hours (60 direct and 100 indirect hours) under the direction of your site supervisor required within this second practicum course.

More information about field hours and site mentors can be found in the Practicum and Site Mentor Manual.