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Retain Talent

Professional Learning Centers

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Keep your team engaged and thriving

In today’s economy, retaining top talent is a vital focus, and presents exciting opportunities to strengthen an organization’s culture. By addressing factors like stress and burnout proactively, organizations can create a more supportive environment that helps talented workers thrive. Successfully nurturing these talented professionals can enhance your organization’s ability to fulfill its mission and achieve long-term success.

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Lesley's Professional Learning Centers are dedicated to advancing the development of schools and organizations through targeted professional development.

Rooted in our commitment to supporting the world's best practitioners through every stage of their careers, these centers provide specialized support and training for educators, mental health professionals, and others in instructional leadership in literacy, STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) education, working with multilingual learners, supporting students with a range of dis/abilities, and trauma-informed instructional practices. They're just another way we're helping organizations cultivate and retain highly skilled, resilient, and motivated employees.  

Learn more about our Professional Learning Centers.

Center for Literacy Teaching and Instructional Leadership

The Center for Literacy Teaching and Instructional Leadership at Lesley University is dedicated to ensuring every child becomes literate. With over 35 years of evidence-based research and classroom expertise, the center supports educators in making systematic, instructional decisions that foster responsive, inclusive literacy practices across grades pre-K to 8. 

Its tailored professional learning—offered through workshops, institutes, certificates, and long-term school partnerships—builds on the strengths of both experienced and new educators, respecting their valuable insights. Working alongside school teams, the center aims to create sustainable, effective literacy environments that help every child develop into a confident, capable reader and writer, transforming the vision of lifelong literacy into reality.

The Center for Literacy Teaching and Instructional Leadership

Please request more information about the Center for Literacy Teaching and Instruction here.

 

Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math

Lesley's STEAM Learning Lab is an innovative center that research new opportunities for hands on inquiry-based learning and engagement. They provide schools and organizations with professional development and technical assistance, on-site or in our learning lab in Cambridge, on how to embrace the 'maker' way of knowing. The lab provides community partners and Pk-12 educators with support to develop new ways to tinker, play, and create to further science, technology, engineering, arts-integration, and mathematics education.

The Center for Mathematics Achievement helps educators to deepen their mathematics content knowledge and pedagogy through a variety of professional development offerings. We focus on deepening teachers' content knowledge, refining the implementation of effective instructional routines, and building their professional capacity to foster student success. With a proven track record of improving math teaching both nationally and internationally, the center has positively impacted thousands of students’ learning experiences. 

We support teachers, coaches, specialists, teacher leaders, and administrators through a variety of professional development opportunities, including workshops, webinars, coaching, and tailored consultations. Our programs, offered on-site at Lesley and virtually, are designed to enhance teaching skills and empower instructors to create engaging, meaningful math experiences for your students, leading to brighter academic outcomes.

Please request more information about the STEAM Learning Lab here.

Please request more information about The Center for Mathematics Achievement here.

Inclusive and Special Education

Lesley’s Center for Inclusive and Special Education is dedicated to supporting educators, families, and communities in creating equitable, inclusive learning environments for all students. Guided by the belief that every individual possesses unique ways of knowing, learning, and expressing, the center works to expand access beyond mere compliance—aiming to develop practices that are culturally and linguistically responsive, learner-centered, universally designed, and trauma-informed. Through partnerships with districts, we provide coaching, professional development, graduate courses, research, and model programs that support the diverse needs of learners.

Key initiatives like the Lesley Institute for Trauma Sensitivity and the Inclusion Institute focus on building capacity for trauma-informed, inclusive education—helping schools foster safe, supportive environments. Our work has led to notable improvements, including reduced suspensions, stronger classroom communities, and better support networks for educators, ultimately broadening the scope of special education and inclusive practices to ensure every child has meaningful access and opportunity to succeed.

Please request more information about the Center for Inclusive and Special Education here.