Childhood and Special Education (Grades 1-6 and SpEd 1-6 Cert)
Saint Rose: Consistently Producing Students' Favorite Teachers
With a reputation for producing great teachers, Saint Rose is the name you want on your resume.
Remember your favorite teacher, the one who understood how you learned best and whose smile was the greatest reward? Be that teacher for children of all learning abilities and from diverse backgrounds, especially those with special learning needs, in grades 1 through 6. Unlike other institutions, education at Saint Rose isn’t just a major.
The Thelma P. Lally School of Education is an entire school with dedicated resources, facilities, and faculty producing teachers who are consistently sought after by school districts.
With more than 28,000 alumni who have been trained as teachers, mentorship and hands-on learning opportunities in schools are part of the student experience starting in their first year on campus.
This major is informally known as the SEED (Special Education and Elementary Education) program. Through comprehensive coursework in a variety of disciplines, you’ll learn the type of teaching and collaboration expected in schools nationwide. Enjoy superlative classroom instruction from professors who are experts in special education and general education. Gain over 150 hours of fieldwork at local districts and in different teaching areas before getting the opportunity to lead your own classroom.
You’ll grow your portfolio and career options with two New York State Certifications in both childhood (Grades 1-6) and childhood special education (Grades 1-6). With the combined academic knowledge and hands-on experience, you’ll graduate with the confidence to impact the next generation of learners.
Get Your Guide
Take a deep dive into our education programs. We prepare the next generation of teachers — are you ready to make your mark?
The Child and Adolescent Development class prepares students for the ever-evolving and diverse classrooms they will one day teach. Students research different challenges and opportunities that modern-day teachers face and discuss their research and perspectives with each other. Largely a discussion-based course, students learn from each other’s unique takes and grow from a diverse array of opinions and ideas.
Program Highlights
Gain practical experience in real classrooms at area school districts, including two student-teaching placements in different areas.
Prepare to work with a wide range of students of all learning abilities.
Enjoy a collaborative relationship with local Pk-12 school partners, that often call our College looking for qualified job candidates.
Learn from faculty with practical teaching experience who are also actively involved in schools across the state.
Study robust coursework across various academic disciplines.
Participate in campus-based social and academic experiences with children and adolescents with disabilities.
Gain access to instructional technology used by both professors and students.
Option to add a grades 7-9 extension with just two extra classes (one offered in the summer) and become a more marketable job candidate.
Curriculum and Placements
The dual major in Special Education and Childhood Education is a four-year program of study and practice that leads to a Bachelor of Science in Special Education/Childhood Education and prepares students for teaching in special education settings, general education settings, and inclusive settings that serve children with a range of abilities and needs. Upon the successful completion of this program, the achievement of passing grades on examinations required by the New York State Education Department and fingerprint clearance, students are eligible for New York State initial teaching certification in both childhood (Grades 1-6) and childhood special education (Grades 1-6).
Candidates in professional education programs at The College of Saint Rose will:
Apply principles and theories of lifespan human development and learning in all of its diversity to education, service learning and clinical practice, and demonstrate a capacity and disposition to continuously update that knowledge and, therefore, practice according to the best emerging research in the field.
Plan and implement practice that is rigorous, comprehensive, inclusive, creative and motivating, inviting students’ analytical skills and promoting their dispositions to be lifelong learners.
Ensure that evaluation and decision-making are data-driven, multi-faceted, collaborative and recursive, and align instructional/clinical goals, practice, assessments, and standards.
Develop and demonstrate personal and professional values that foster the highest ethical standards of the profession; intellectual curiosity and open-mindedness; understanding and responsiveness to multiple social and global perspectives; and collegiality and collaboration among partners in the educational or clinical process that involve children, families, community members, and other professionals.
Promote optimal learning opportunities and environments for all individuals in the context of their experiential, cultural, and/or racial/ethnic backgrounds, including, but not limited to learners who are speakers of non-English languages, or who are gifted, have disabilities, are educationally challenged or who have different interests, ambitions or sexual orientations.
Demonstrate in their practice that oral and written language is a functional, as well as social and artistic tool, for communication and thought, and as such reflect the multiple literacies of local, national and global cultures.
Integrate a variety of technological methods and programs to enhance pupil learning and practitioner effectiveness, facilitate candidates’ acquisition of technological skills, and their dispositions to use them.
Acquire and apply the knowledge, skills and dispositions of disciplinesrelevant to candidates’ projected educational or clinical roles.
What Our Alumni Are Saying
Saint Rose Teacher Stories
Four Saint Rose alumni who are teaching or serving administrator roles in schools share why they chose Saint Rose for their teaching degrees, ways that they still feel supported by Saint Rose faculty, and how they continue to apply the lessons learned at the College in their classrooms.
What Our Alumni Are Saying
#WhyITeach
Shannon Peterson '11
Shannon Peterson '11 knew she wanted to work with children with autism after watching her mom during her own early intervention therapy sessions. The Thelma P. Lally School of Education at The College of Saint Rose has built its reputation on developing standout teachers who are fully prepared to lead a classroom and leave a lasting impact on students.
What Our Alumni Are Saying
#WhyITeach
Olaiya Curtis-Morris '95
Olaiya Curtis-Morris '95 has taught 6th Grade at the Albany School of Humanities for 22 years and wants to see every student succeed.
Our faculty are great scholars, but your success is their top priority. That’s why Saint Rose has been named a top 25 college for professors who excel at teaching undergraduates by U.S. News & World Report for the second year.
Dana AbbottAssociate Professor of Special Education
I have taught special education or literacy at Saint Rose since 2010. My previous experience includes teaching at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Post University, University at Albany, and Hudson Valley Community College; I also taught kindergarten and preschool students in Troy, New York. Mt teaching interests include developmental assessment, students with disabilities, and positive behavior supports; I have published or presented on emotional behavioral disorders, and teacher certification and assessment.
Patricia BaldwinAssistant Professor of Teacher Education
I taught elementary students in the Newburgh City School District for eight years before working in higher education and, today, I teach in the childhood education and inclusive early childhood education programs at Saint Rose with my research focusing on those areas and the field experiences of our teacher candidates. I believe that each Saint Rose student brings unique gifts, and that our programs should help prepare them to share those gifts with young children to create quality educational programs in their own classrooms.
Susan V. DeLukeAssociate Professor of Special Education
I am the director of social intervention programs at Saint Rose and consult with school districts across New York State on students with disabilities. I have worked as a school administrator and special education teacher. My teaching interests include behavior supports, assessment, and intervention; emotional, behavior, and mental health concerns for children and youth; and autism spectrum disorders. My research interests include autism spectrum disorder, merging special- and general-education programs, and families advocating for their children with disabilities.
Kristi FragnoliProfessor of Teacher Education
I have over 10 years of public school teaching experience and understand that it’s important to keep up-to-date on the latest in social studies education. I am a consultant for the New York State Archives and an editorial consultant for its magazine, a member of the New York State Education Department Content Advisory Board for Social Studies, and am chair of the New York State Council for History Education. In 2020, I was awarded the New York State Council for Social Studies, Dr. Benita Jorkasky Outstanding College Educator Award. Additionally, I have taught as an assistant professor at the State University at Cortland and was an adjunct at Syracuse University while finishing my doctorate degree at Binghamton University.
Dana AbbottAssociate Professor of Special Education
I have taught special education or literacy at Saint Rose since 2010. My previous experience includes teaching at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Post University, University at Albany, and Hudson Valley Community College; I also taught kindergarten and preschool students in Troy, New York. Mt teaching interests include developmental assessment, students with disabilities, and positive behavior supports; I have published or presented on emotional behavioral disorders, and teacher certification and assessment.
Patricia BaldwinAssistant Professor of Teacher Education
I taught elementary students in the Newburgh City School District for eight years before working in higher education and, today, I teach in the childhood education and inclusive early childhood education programs at Saint Rose with my research focusing on those areas and the field experiences of our teacher candidates. I believe that each Saint Rose student brings unique gifts, and that our programs should help prepare them to share those gifts with young children to create quality educational programs in their own classrooms.
Susan V. DeLukeAssociate Professor of Special Education
I am the director of social intervention programs at Saint Rose and consult with school districts across New York State on students with disabilities. I have worked as a school administrator and special education teacher. My teaching interests include behavior supports, assessment, and intervention; emotional, behavior, and mental health concerns for children and youth; and autism spectrum disorders. My research interests include autism spectrum disorder, merging special- and general-education programs, and families advocating for their children with disabilities.
Kristi FragnoliProfessor of Teacher Education
I have over 10 years of public school teaching experience and understand that it’s important to keep up-to-date on the latest in social studies education. I am a consultant for the New York State Archives and an editorial consultant for its magazine, a member of the New York State Education Department Content Advisory Board for Social Studies, and am chair of the New York State Council for History Education. In 2020, I was awarded the New York State Council for Social Studies, Dr. Benita Jorkasky Outstanding College Educator Award. Additionally, I have taught as an assistant professor at the State University at Cortland and was an adjunct at Syracuse University while finishing my doctorate degree at Binghamton University.
Frances IhleAssociate Professor of Special Education
I have taught special education and literacy at Saint Rose since 2011; previous experience includes a doctoral fellowship at the University of Kansas, and being a high-school special-education teacher in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I presently work to prepare students with disabilities for post-secondary success through Project ASPIRE and Project THRIVE, two federally funded grants awarded to Saint Rose in 2010 and 2019.
My research projects and activities focus on academic discourse and teaching adolescents how spoken and written language patterns differ, and executive function coaching to help college students tutor their peers in self-regulation strategies such as planning, organization, and time management.
James KahlerAdjunct Faculty and Student-teacher Supervisor
I have been affiliated with Saint Rose since 2006 as a student-teacher supervisor and adjunct professor. I have taught classes at both the undergraduate and graduate levels in both the early childhood and childhood departments. I was an elementary school teacher for 33 years, mostly in the primary grades. I have also coached various sports at all levels from modified to varsity. I am very interested in the area of reading instruction and social studies. I have also researched and done my master’s paper on ESL studies.
On a personal note, I have been married for 48 years and have two grown children, a son (41) and a daughter (45) and two terrific grandsons ages 7 and 5. In 2017, I was lucky enough to procure a cabin in the Adirondacks by Whiteface Mountain. I like to do outdoor activities, and my recent adventures have been targeted toward completing the hiking of all 46 High Peaks.
Timothy “Julio” McLaughlinAdjunct Faculty
I am a three-time (4 degrees) alumnus from The College of Saint Rose. The faculty and overall experience as a “Rose Bud” have meant more to me than words can capture; it is both an honor and a privilege to keep that tradition going, helping to develop the next generation of educators. Broadly, I’m an educational generalist. I have taught in public schools and at every level from grade 5 to graduate school.
My background in educational psychology and methodology has equipped me to teach courses in learning, development, classroom assessment, diversity, research, and educational foundations. My specific areas of research are on classroom learning, specifically creativity, motivation, theories of learning, formative assessment, and high-ordered thinking.
Christina PfisterProfessor of Teacher Education
I’m a professor in the Department of Teacher Education at the Lally School of Education at The College of Saint Rose. My research interests include studying the process of becoming a teacher, including mentoring and the experiences of novice teachers. I teach at the undergraduate and graduate levels and serves as an academic advisor.
Frances IhleAssociate Professor of Special Education
I have taught special education and literacy at Saint Rose since 2011; previous experience includes a doctoral fellowship at the University of Kansas, and being a high-school special-education teacher in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I presently work to prepare students with disabilities for post-secondary success through Project ASPIRE and Project THRIVE, two federally funded grants awarded to Saint Rose in 2010 and 2019.
My research projects and activities focus on academic discourse and teaching adolescents how spoken and written language patterns differ, and executive function coaching to help college students tutor their peers in self-regulation strategies such as planning, organization, and time management.
James KahlerAdjunct Faculty and Student-teacher Supervisor
I have been affiliated with Saint Rose since 2006 as a student-teacher supervisor and adjunct professor. I have taught classes at both the undergraduate and graduate levels in both the early childhood and childhood departments. I was an elementary school teacher for 33 years, mostly in the primary grades. I have also coached various sports at all levels from modified to varsity. I am very interested in the area of reading instruction and social studies. I have also researched and done my master’s paper on ESL studies.
On a personal note, I have been married for 48 years and have two grown children, a son (41) and a daughter (45) and two terrific grandsons ages 7 and 5. In 2017, I was lucky enough to procure a cabin in the Adirondacks by Whiteface Mountain. I like to do outdoor activities, and my recent adventures have been targeted toward completing the hiking of all 46 High Peaks.
Timothy “Julio” McLaughlinAdjunct Faculty
I am a three-time (4 degrees) alumnus from The College of Saint Rose. The faculty and overall experience as a “Rose Bud” have meant more to me than words can capture; it is both an honor and a privilege to keep that tradition going, helping to develop the next generation of educators. Broadly, I’m an educational generalist. I have taught in public schools and at every level from grade 5 to graduate school.
My background in educational psychology and methodology has equipped me to teach courses in learning, development, classroom assessment, diversity, research, and educational foundations. My specific areas of research are on classroom learning, specifically creativity, motivation, theories of learning, formative assessment, and high-ordered thinking.
Christina PfisterProfessor of Teacher Education
I’m a professor in the Department of Teacher Education at the Lally School of Education at The College of Saint Rose. My research interests include studying the process of becoming a teacher, including mentoring and the experiences of novice teachers. I teach at the undergraduate and graduate levels and serves as an academic advisor.
Tammy SchillingerAdjunct Faculty
I have my doctorate in early childhood education, my master’s in elementary education pre-k through 6, and a bachelor’s in psychology. I am certified in elementary education (pre-k through 6) and TESOL pre-k through 12 (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). I have been a teacher for the past 20 years in a school in upstate New York. I am currently an ENL (English as a New Language) teacher and an adjunct professor at The College of Saint Rose in the education department. As an ENL teacher, a big part of my focus is teaching foundational skills focused on phonics and phonemic awareness.
As a college professor, I design and teach early childhood education courses and elementary education courses. I also supervise teachers in the field in pre-k and kindergarten classes. I have experience in teaching grades pre-k through 12. My research areas include critical thinking in all subject areas, the collaboration of speech and ENL teachers, and online learning for ELLs.
Julienne SlichkoAssistant Professor of Special Education
With many years of experience as a special education teacher in Capital District schools, I have helped develop the teaching practicum and was an instructional developer at University at Albany, where I helped faculty teach effectively using online technology. My teaching interests include exceptionality, inclusion, partnerships with families, and assessment. I have published papers on teaching students with disabilities, the use of technology in teaching individuals on the autism spectrum, and comparison of best practices in school districts.
Tammy SchillingerAdjunct Faculty
I have my doctorate in early childhood education, my master’s in elementary education pre-k through 6, and a bachelor’s in psychology. I am certified in elementary education (pre-k through 6) and TESOL pre-k through 12 (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). I have been a teacher for the past 20 years in a school in upstate New York. I am currently an ENL (English as a New Language) teacher and an adjunct professor at The College of Saint Rose in the education department. As an ENL teacher, a big part of my focus is teaching foundational skills focused on phonics and phonemic awareness.
As a college professor, I design and teach early childhood education courses and elementary education courses. I also supervise teachers in the field in pre-k and kindergarten classes. I have experience in teaching grades pre-k through 12. My research areas include critical thinking in all subject areas, the collaboration of speech and ENL teachers, and online learning for ELLs.
Julienne SlichkoAssistant Professor of Special Education
With many years of experience as a special education teacher in Capital District schools, I have helped develop the teaching practicum and was an instructional developer at University at Albany, where I helped faculty teach effectively using online technology. My teaching interests include exceptionality, inclusion, partnerships with families, and assessment. I have published papers on teaching students with disabilities, the use of technology in teaching individuals on the autism spectrum, and comparison of best practices in school districts.
Career Outlook
According to NYSUT, New York State will need more than 180,000 teachers in the next decade in both urban and rural districts.
According to Education Week, a Rockefeller Institute of Government report found that teachers in New York State are paid the highest in their field in the United States with the average teacher making $79,588.
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Where Our Students Work
Because we’ve graduated more than 28,000 teachers, you can find a Saint Rose alum in countless schools, including:
Lansingburgh
Ravena
Glens Falls
Albany
Guilderland
North Colonie
East Greenbush
Contact Us Today
Of course, if you have any questions, please reach out. We’re here to help.