Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development and Landmark School are embarking on a new partnership that will help Landmark teachers access BU Wheelock’s master’s program in special education. Landmark School is a boarding and day school in Beverly, Mass., serving students in grades 2–12 with dyslexia and other language-based learning disabilities, and is a recognized leader in the field. Under this partnership agreement, Landmark teachers will earn a master of education in special education through classes taught on-site and online by BU Wheelock faculty.

“Landmark has an incredible reputation in terms of specializing in the education of students with language-based learning disabilities,” says Nancy Harayama, who as director of BU Wheelock’s Special Education program played an essential role in constructing the new partnership. “We know that we’re working with a school that has incredibly high standards that’s very selective about the teachers they work with.”

Harayama emphasized the importance of hosting courses for Landmark teachers at their school and online. “We’re really excited about the way in which we can structure the program around the intensive field experience that they’re having at their school,” she says.

As an advocate for and organizer of this partnership, BU Wheelock’s associate dean for academic affairs Linda Banks-Santilli expressed her excitement at the possibilities the new relationship opens up: “Our goals for this partnership are to bring the incredible talents and expertise of faculty, staff, and students at both institutions together to learn from each other so that every child with or without disabilities benefits from a well-prepared, well-educated teacher that is committed to ensuring that children with disabilities have all of the same rights and opportunities to succeed as others,” she says.

Landmark’s Tara Joly-Lowdermilk, assistant dean of students, calls the impact of the partnership “immeasurable.”

“BU Wheelock’s rich graduate programming will make our teachers more knowledgeable and well rounded instructors,” she says. “That benefit will ripple out through peer-to-peer interactions ultimately affecting students at Landmark and many other settings.”

Staff and faculty from BU Wheelock visited the Landmark campus in late August to meet with school leadership and faculty. There, they shared details about the academic and student-services support that Landmark teachers will access as BU Wheelock students, and met with many of the teachers who will be joining the BU Wheelock community via this partnership.

Felicity Crawford, clinical associate professor with BU Wheelock’s special education programs, will be among the BU Wheelock faculty members who teach on-site classes at Landmark School this fall. She’ll also work directly with Landmark teachers as an academic advisor and liaison. “I am excited to engage these teachers who are already change-makers,” she says.