Partnerships with Schools and Districts in Massachusetts

We are partnering with the Somerville, Medford, and Cambridge public school districts to offer a teacher residency program where students can take classes and work at one of the schools and finish their coursework in approximately 14 months. Students take our Elementary M.Ed. with Initial Licensure in Elementary Education program as well as courses in English as a Second Language, with which they can apply for the license on their own. The program prepares Lesley students for careers in elementary classrooms in urban settings that have large numbers of culturally and linguistically diverse students.

For more than 30 years, Lesley University and the Cambridge Public Schools have collaboratively offered a program in Cambridge that provides a six-week summer program for children in grades PreK–6 that extends and reinforces children's learning during the school year. It satisfies the practicum requirement for Lesley students in the Specialist Teacher of Reading program, and half of the field practicum requirement for those in the early childhood, elementary, moderate disabilities, and instructional technology programs.

The M.Ed. in Early Childhood Education with ESL Preparation teacher residency program prepares Lesley students for careers in PreK-2 classrooms that have large numbers of culturally and linguistically diverse students. It also offers courses that give students a background in English as a Second Language so they can apply for the license on their own.

Otis Elementary School: Nicole Weber and Sue Cusack provided on-site technical support and professional development focusing on making, science, and the 5E [an instructional model - Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, Evaluate] from Summer 2019 - February 2020. This work directly impacted 350 students and 20 educators. This effort was funded through an Edvestors grant secured by the school. 

Boston Public Schools Office of English Language Learning partnered with our STEAM Learning Lab to empower schools and educators to provide more equitable, meaningful, rigorous, and interdisciplinary STEAM and Computer Science Learning opportunities for BPS ELL students. The BPS EL STEAM+CS Learning Program was designed to enable BPS educators to enhance their teaching strategies and support the co-creation and implementation of standards-based STEAM+CS student project modules. (2018 - 2019)

The Center for Inclusive and Special Education, in partnership with the Massachusetts Advocates for Children, the Oak Foundation, and Harvard Law School, has developed a training program that supports school personnel to become knowledgeable about childhood trauma and its effect on learning, and has given training in Boston, Brockton, New Bedford, Newburyport, Reading, Salem, Webster, Plymouth, and beyond. They have developed a four-course sequence designed for school-based professionals to understand how trauma manifests in schools and how schools can become trauma-sensitive environments.

Founded by Irene Fountas, the Center for Reading Recovery and Literacy Collaborative has been engaged in 30 years of innovative, research-based, system-wide educational improvement efforts. As a University training site for Reading Recovery and Literacy Collaborative, it has partnered with thousands of schools to improve literacy outcomes for children.

For decades, Lesley University's Graduate School of Education and Graduate School of Arts and Social Sciences have had year-long field-based internships in both public and private schools across the Commonwealth. In the 2013-2014 academic year, the Department of Graduate Counseling and Psychology had 25 students in yearlong internships in Massachusetts public schools (Boston, Lexington, Brookline, Cambridge, Haverhill, Arlington, Somerville, Everett, Wellesley, Westwood, Waltham, Cambridge, and Newton) to meet the requirements for either school guidance or school adjustment counseling.

Partnering with four public and seven independent schools, this program offers a residency model wherein graduate students spend a year in a school while completing their degree. Schools are located in Massachusetts in Belmont, Cambridge, Lincoln, Needham, Newton, Westwood, Beverly, Andover, and in South Berwick, Maine. Graduates of this program are highly marketable and find employment in schools regionally and nationally. Read more about teacher residency programs.

Through our yearlong internships in schools/districts, qualified students can spend a full academic year as interns in Cambridge, Boston, and Newton public schools. Yearlong interns are able to complete all of their required field experiences for the initial license while earning a stipend and gaining valuable classroom experience. Each year approximately 20-25 candidates complete these internships.

Examples of faculty working in school districts include:

• Faculty project to analyze enrollment, outcomes, and excellent schools for black and Latino male students in the Boston Public Schools
• Faculty partnership with The Education Cooperative to provide a summer institute on the best practices related to assistive technology and Universal Design for Learning
• Faculty member who was appointed Boston's Poet Laureate helping to bring teaching artists into schools
• Faculty helping schools with staff development goals
• Faculty bringing counseling students to Boston Latin Academy to have conversations with K-12 students
• Faculty collaboration with the Federation for Children with Special Needs
• Faculty providing leadership on the Reggio Emilia approach to Early Childhood Education

Lesley University has engaged educators in research and professional development. This includes:

• PhD students in continuing roles in PreK-12 schools in Massachusetts and beyond
• Faculty working in Concord and Boxborough to identify technology-integrated literacy instruction
• Partnership with faculty and an urban high school (Medford) history teacher
• Adjunct faculty working in schools and districts