Licensure Requirements for Students in Graduate Certificate for SPED (General Curriculum)

North Carolina has specific requirements for teacher candidates, and our mission is to help you prepare well through coursework and resources. Comprehensive information about tests, other requirements, and resources can be found at tealr.uncc.edu/testing-information-0.

Licensure exams: Special Education (General Curriculum) candidates are required to take the North Carolina Foundations of Reading test and the General Curriculum test. The General Curriculum test has two subtests: the Multi-Subject subtest and the Mathematics subtest. Information about these tests can be found here: www.nc.nesinc.com. Registration is currently open. Deadlines for taking these are below.

The new testing requirements include two new tests in three major areas:

  1. Foundations of General Curriculum with Math, a test including questions from areas such as Language Arts, History, Social Science, Science and Math. The math portion of this test may be taken separately. Note the total cost will be higher, but the time is divided into smaller chunks.
  2. Foundations of Reading, which is related to the teaching of reading.

You’ll need to have taken both of these tests (general information at www.nc.nesinc.com/TestView.aspx?f=HTML_FRAG/SA003_TestPage.html) before you apply to student teach. Applications are submitted early in the semester before you student teach.

Recommended testing sequence:

Early First semester:

  1. Take the College of Education Math practice test and follow up with resources available within the College of Education (more information will be provided as the semester begins).
  2. Take the practice General Curriculum test, which includes the Multi-subject subtest and the Mathematics subtest. (www.nc.nesinc.com/PageView.aspx?f=HTML_FRAG/GENRB_PrepPractice.html)

End of First semester: Take the official General Curriculum test.

A little later in your program, but immediately after you complete SPED 5275 (or 5276): Take the practice and then official Foundations of Reading test. (www.nc.nesinc.com/PageView.aspx?f=HTML_FRAG/GENRB_PrepPractice.html)

Other testing resources (with thanks to the ELEM program):
Practice Tests
General Curriculum: Mathematics test [link]
Foundations of Reading test [link]