A recent collaboration between the Clark County School District (CCSD) and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) has enabled the placement of more than 70 teachers in special education classrooms throughout the District.
The Nevada Collaborative on Autism and STAR Endorsement (NCASE) graduate certificate program is a partnership involving CCSD’s Student Services Division and the UNLV Department of Early Childhood, Multilingual, and Special Education. Funding for the program is provided through the Nevada Recruitment and Retention Grant.
- “Every family deserves to know that their child has a highly effective licensed teacher in their classroom,” said CCSD Superintendent Jhone Ebert. “Our collaboration with UNLV is creating a sustained pipeline of certified educators to serve our special education students. We are deeply grateful to the UNLV College of Education for this innovative program, which takes an essential step toward overcoming our shortage of special education teachers.”
“This program is already enhancing instructional support in autism and STAR classrooms,” explains College of Education Dean Danica G. Hays. “We’re excited to be making strides to support student success.”
Utilizing grant funding, CCSD provides approximately $6,000 in tuition and fees for current CCSD teachers with general elementary or secondary licenses who agree to spend three years in a STAR classroom.
The program is also available for CCSD teachers who hold a current general special education license and agree to spend three years in an autism classroom.
This program has already yielded 71 additional teachers in CCSD’s autism and STAR classrooms for this school year, and a second group of 31 teachers is currently enrolled.
The NCASE program is scheduled to welcome its third cohort in Spring 2026. Interested educators can contact the UNLV College of Education at (702) 895-3329.
To learn more about the UNLV Department of Early Childhood, Multilingual, and Special Education, visit unlv.edu/ems.
