Felix Flores, Principal
Robert Cooper, M'ville PDS liaison

In January 2010 Claremont School in Ossining, NY became a Manhatttanville College/School of Education (SOE) professional development school (PDS).  The partnership is directed by Dr. Diane Lang as the PDS liaison, Mr. Felix Flores as the principal, and Mrs. Fran Jacobson as the assistant principal, and the PDS leadership team.  Claremont and the SOE are partners in making sure that:

• Elementary school students have access to high quality curriculum and instruction,
• School staff has "at the elbow" access to professional development that is specific to the needs of the Claremont community,
• SOE teacher candidates have access to authentic professional learning experiences that assure high quality teacher preparation, and
• SOE faculty members have access to a school setting for advancing their teaching and mentoring skills as well as conducting educational research. 

Several significant projects have been set up. A major initiative was offering the childhood curriculum methods classes as a field-based courses taught at Claremont.  In the field-based course preservice teachers teach alongside veteran teachers and professors, thus learning to teach through teaching at the elbow of another teacher. As well, student teachers hone their teaching skills alongside professional mentor teachers.  Additionally, graduate and undergraduate teacher candidates serve as volunteer tutors (during the school day and afterschool) for students who are at-risk for academic failure. 

The Claremont School faculty was involved in a staff development day workshop presented by the PDS liaison on teacher action research.  During this interactive workshop, teachers identified questions for research during the 2010-11 school year and began to consider research design options. Further, the PDS liaison is engaged in providing on-going staff development support to the administration and faculty focused on their knowledge of and implementation of a research-based approach to response to intervention (RTI) methods.

A PDS leadership team of teachers, administrators, and the PDS liaison establish educational achievement and climate goals for the partnership to address and monitor.

Members of the Manhattanville community are encouraged to consider serving as tutor at Claremont.  If interested in this delightful and rewarding opportunity please email Dr. Diane Lang ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) for more information.

http://claremont.ossiningufsd.org/