Center for Special Education

The Center for Special Education is dedicated to understanding and promoting improved teaching of learners with disabilities.

Mission
Founded in 1998, the Center for Special Education at Lesley University is dedicated to understanding and promoting the knowledge needed by educators to improve the teaching of learners with disabilities.

Vision
With particular regard for the economically stressed, and for multicultural and multilingual populations, the Center seeks to create collaborations among families, schools, and communities which make it possible for every child, adolescent, and adult to develop and learn.

Values
The Center is guided by a philosophy that presumes the competence of all people in their different ways of knowing, learning, and expressing.

Goals
The goals of the Center are threefold:

To disseminate information about current and effective instructional technologies and approaches, and ways to better integrate theory and practice.
To conduct research that enhances understanding of what teachers need to know about the development of learners with disabilities, and the processes and contexts that best support their development.
To provide resources for students, teachers, families, school systems, and policymakers on critical questions related to the teaching and learning of individuals with special needs.

COLLABORATIVE INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

Established in 2002, the Collaborative Internship Program is a unique opportunity to earn a Master's degree and Initial teaching license in Moderate Disabilities (Prek-8 or 5-12) while spending a full academic year in the classroom. This full-time program operates on a structured sequence of courses held at both the school site and at the Lesley University campus in Cambridge.

The Carroll School - Lesley University Collaborative Internship Program, in partnership with Buckingham Browne & Nichols School

The Carroll School, in Lincoln, MA, is a dynamic independent day school for elementary and middle school students diagnosed with language-based learning disabilities in reading and writing. The Carroll School is committed to the principles of the Orton-Gillingham (OG) approach for reading remediation, and all teachers are required to have studied OG within their first three years of hire. This ensures that consistency and support are provided curriculum-wide throughout a student's day.

This program partners with Buckingham Browne & Nichols (BB&N), a coeducational day school in Cambridge, MA, whose educational program provides a rigorous core curriculum, taught in flexible and innovative ways and strengthened by its commitment to the arts and athletics.

Article: Effective Teacher Preparation and Student Achievement: High Correlation [PDF]

For more information about this program:
Angela M. Wilkins, Director
The Carroll School Collaborative Graduate Programs
25 Baker Bridge Road, Lincoln, MA 01773
781.259.8342 ext. 3332 * 781.259.8852 (fax)

Beverly Schmitt Malone, Director
Teacher Training Institute
Buckingham Browne & Nichols
10 Buckingham Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
617.800.2466 * 617.492.2729 (fax)

Faculty Spotlight

Mary E. Curtis
Professor, Director, Center for Special Education

Read Bio »

CONTACT INFORMATION

Mary E. Curtis, Ph.D.
Director
617.349.8577
Ph.D. in Psychology, University of Pittsburgh

Susan Kando, M.A.
Project Manager
617.349.8260
skando@lesley.edu
MA in Multicultural Studies, Lesley University; BA in Fine Art, Portsmouth College of Art and Design, England.