School of Education

News & Events

Summer Literacy Program and Summer Special Education Program
The Literacy program serves as the New York State required capstone practicum for graduate students who are certified teachers to become certified in Literacy. The Special Education program serves as the New York State required capstone practicum for graduate students who are already certified teachers to be qualified for certification in teaching Students with Disabilities. The graduate student teachers work with school-age students who are struggling in reading and writing, grades 1-12. Using evidence-based “best practices” they create an individualized program to increase motivation and achievement for each student based on comprehensive assessments. 

For more information and application Please click here

Rockland Literacy Extravaganza
The Rockland Literacy Extravaganza is a professional development conference, prek -12, that brings nationally recognized literacy experts to St. Thomas Aquinas College to present keynote addresses on multiple aspects of research-based best practices in literacy instruction. It also offers a menu of 20 interactive workshops on multiple aspects of literacy instruction presented by exemplary local educators. The event generally occurs in October.

Summer Literacy Program
This program serves as the New York State required capstone practicum for graduate students who are certified teachers to become certified in Literacy. The graduate student teachers work with school-age students who are struggling in reading and writing, grades 1-12. Using search-based “best practices” they create an individual program to increase motivation and achievement for each student based on comprehensive assessments. Learn more.

Summer STEM Enrichment Program 2013
This summer the School of Education and the School of Arts & Sciences will co-host the 2nd Annual Summer STEM Enrichment Program for students entering 7th or 8th grade in the fall of 2013. This program is designed to give potential young scientists the opportunity to develop their interests in the practices of scientific inquiry by studying forensic science in the newly renovated, state-of-the-art college science labs. There will be two sessions: Introduction to Forensic Science and Advanced Forensic Science. For more information please click here.

Dr. Meenakshi Gajria, Chair of the Division of Teacher Education and Professor of Education, coauthored a chapter Main Idea and Summarization Instruction to Improve Reading Comprehension in the Handbook of Reading Interventions, published by Guilford Press (May 2011) and an article titled Reading Comprehension Instruction for Students with Learning Disabilities in the April 2001 issue of Focus on Exceptional Children.  She presented at the Annual Convention of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) in Maryland. The presentation was titled Using Content Enhancements to Improve Text Comprehension for Students with Learning Disabilities.  She was also awarded a mini grant to map the curriculum of the Undergraduate Childhood and Special Education program against NY State Quality Indicators for Literacy, Positive Behavior Support and Effective Special Education Practice. 

Dr. Ernest Piermarini, Associate Professor of Education, focuses his research on the role of teacher leaders in public education reform efforts.

Dr. Helene Robbins, Professor of Education, focuses her research on using technology as a tool for educating children in the 21st Century.

Dr. Suzanne Reynolds, Associate Professor of Education,presented at the 39th Annual Meeting of the Research Council on Mathematics Learning held in Charlotte, North Carolina. Her presentation, Preservice Teachers' Analysis of a Textbook Lesson on Volume, was based on research that was supported by a St. Thomas Aquinas Faculty Development Grant. Recently, Dr. Reynolds presented at the New Jersey Education Association annual convention.  The title of the presentation wasDeveloping an Understanding of Fractions.

Dr. Michael Shaw, Professor of Education, was appointed to the Editorial Board of the professional journal Reading Horizons. He has made professional presentations at the annual conferences of the International Reading Association, National Council of Teachers of English, and the Association of Literacy educators and Researchers. Dr. Shaw was the subject of an interview by NBC New York’s Darlene Rodriguez as part of NBC’s “Education Nation,” a special weeklong series that focused on teachers who made a lifelong impact on students. Dr. Shaw was Darlene’s 4th grade writing teacher at P.S. 108 in Bronx, NY. She credits him for inspiring a love for reading and writing that led her to get her degree in journalism from NYU and her success as a news anchor. Dr. Shaw was reappointed as a member of the Editorial Board of The Reading Teacher, a professional journal of The International Reading Association.