Participants will research current factors for the achievement gap and identify best practice strategies for supporting the closure of the achievement gap. Course topics will include highly qualified teachers, rigorous curriculums, educator professional development, culturally competent classrooms, behavioral and emotional management, communication with families, creating positive schools, and student supports, including enrichment, progress monitoring, and extended school days and years.

The course, Designing Effective Reading Interventions, will develop participant understanding of the science of teaching reading and teach participants how to use this knowledge to design effective, best-practice reading interventions for students.

This course is designed to provide educators with an understanding of collaborative and co-teaching models and prepare them to implement these models in their schools and classrooms. A model of shared responsibility among staff will be studied. Participants will learn about the unique, diverse, and specialized skills and instructional practices of co-teaching, including pedagogical skills consistent with state and local educational goals.

Writing legally compliant and educationally meaningful Individualized Education Programs is one of the most complex responsibilities educators face. This course focuses on the practical skills required to write, implement, and monitor IEPs with accuracy and confidence. Participants will analyze real-world examples of IEP components, including present levels, measurable annual goals, service delivery, accommodations, and progress monitoring systems. Emphasis is placed on aligning documentation with federal and state regulations while ensuring goals are instructionally relevant and data-driven. Educators will develop IEP components that can withstand legal scrutiny and support student growth. This course is designed for teachers and related service providers seeking applied, example-based training that strengthens compliance and instructional impact.

Using a balanced literacy approach, course participants will learn how to implement Writer’s Workshop. The course will cover practical ideas for launching Writer’s Workshop, including mentor text, planning strategic mini-lessons, ideas for maintaining records and creating portfolios for assessment, organizing supplies, building and managing community, and establishing a productive learning environment.

Participants will learn how to respond, rather than react to student behaviors. Emphasis will be placed upon the notion that a student’s behavior is an essential component of their social and academic experience. This course will explore the interaction between learning issues, behaviors, and performance in students. Best instructional practices and strategies will be explored to help understand student behaviors and to promote acceptance and improve their social skills.

The course will provide comprehensive information on emotional disorders as well as the behaviors that may arise from the disability. Course material will provide you with information on: definitions, characteristics, causes, common assessments, functional behavior assessment, ABA and Positive Behavior Supports, advocacy, and current issues in the field. This information will benefit all educational teachers and counselors, parents or anyone who is interested in learning about emotional disorders and the best practices for supporting students with social emotional disorders.

Stages of cultural development and typical second language acquisition trajectories will be reviewed as a foundational basis for the course. Determination of Special Education eligibility for culturally diverse learners will be reviewed. Participants will learn specific interventions and accommodations to support and teach Special Education Culturally Diverse Learners.

Participants will explore the nature and significance of phonological awareness, examine the challenges students may face when learning it, and learn evidence-based instructional strategies for all students. The course covers phonological awareness assessments, creating a scope and sequence based upon typical child development, setting instructional goals, key components and teaching techniques for teaching phonological awareness, activities that promote phonological awareness, and intervention strategies for struggling students.

Participants will learn to teach the content area of social studies at the elementary and middle school levels through the development of students’ critical thinking and literacy practices, focusing on their understanding of the world around them and their role in it. This course will emphasize teaching social studies through the curriculum mapping, creation of meaningful lessons, cooperative learning, critical thinking, interdisciplinary projects, and the assessment process.

Participants will delve into the assessment of writing. A scope and sequence for writing instruction will be presented, focusing on the writing process, building foundational skills, and the progression of a student’s development from learning to write to writing to learn. Educators will explore evidence-based instructional strategies such as teaching text structures, utilizing mentor texts, enhancing sentence building skills, and guiding students in narrative composition, informational writing, and opinion writing.

Participants will review the basic components and goals of being a Special Education teacher working with students with learning disabilities, including paperwork requirements, implementing a system of organization for tracking goals and monitoring progress, designing an appropriate classroom environment, meeting liaison expectations, conducting Special Education evaluations, writing testing reports, and developing skills to master attending and managing of IEP team meetings and obtaining support from as well as effectively communicating with families.

Learn the fundamentals of teaching reading and how to translate this into an easily applicable design for best practice, research-based instruction. By learning about the Four Part Processor, participants will understand how the human brain learns to read. Participants will learn how this knowledge along with an understanding of the Stages of Reading impacts the way we teach reading as well as be able to identify the early warning signs of struggling readers.

Definitions for each category as well as determination criteria will be reviewed. Participants will learn a structured approach to assess and understand the assessment of students’ needs, provide appropriate modifications and accommodations, and obtain the suitable support services that match the disability. Participants will study the IEP process, review the parts of an IEP, and learn strategies for implementing IEP accommodations.

Navigating Massachusetts' Updated IEP Form offers educators a comprehensive exploration of the recent changes to the Individualized Education Program (IEP). This course equips participants with essential knowledge and tools to effectively understand and implement the revised Massachusetts IEP form.

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