The inaugural cohort from the Arlington Diocese Catholic Schools
recently completed its special education certificate program through Marymount
University in Arlington.
The cohort included eight kindergarten through eighth-grade
teachers from three diocesan schools:
Teresa Eichner, Gracelin
Emmanuel, Amanda Fallon, Kathleen Hofer and Madeline Lawson from St. Agnes
School in Arlington; Patricia Cummins and Maria May from St. Ambrose School in
Annandale; and Nancy Tierney from St. Joseph School in Herndon.
“Working with this group was incredible,” said Clara Hauth, assistant
professor of special education at Marymount. “They were some of the best
students we’ve had because they were so dedicated to their teaching. They were
immediately able to have hands-on application of what they learned, and could
come back and share what worked, what didn’t, and ways they were able to
improve upon it.”
Hauth said they also engaged in “turnaround training,” where
students learned something and directly implemented training for others in
their respective schools.
Hauth worked closely with Diane Elliott, special services coordinator
for the Office of Catholic Schools, to develop and customize the advanced
program, the only one of its kind in Northern Virginia. The program took 21
months to complete, from August 2016 to May 2018. It used a hybrid format of
primarily classroom educated, but also integrated online learning.
“An important component of this program was doing what we could
to meet the needs of this very close-knit group of full-time teachers,” Hauth
said.
That included holding classes at the students’ schools, changing
the order of classes or adjusting the schedule to fit their own teaching
schedules.
The special education certificate is one of four certificates
offered by Marymount. The others are science, technology, engineering, art and math
(STEAM), English as a Second Language, and Global Education.
With 15 credits earned, half of the special education cohort
members already are working toward their master’s degrees, which require 36
total credits.
“We’re putting together the second cohort and still have a few
spots available,” Hauth said. “Everyone in the first group was a teacher but
this program is open to teaching assistants and administrators.”
Marymount will hold an information session on its graduate
education programs June 5 at 6:30 p.m. at the main campus in Arlington. The session
will cover all of the university’s graduate level education programs and
certificates and include a discussion on additional cohort opportunities.
Find out more
Go to marymount.edu/graduate-education-info.