Our Approach
Young people living in long-term poverty demonstrate challenges and difficulties related to thinking skills, language and literacy development, social-emotional development, and behavioral wellness. Districts and schools wanting to build internal capacity to improve student outcomes and close opportunity gaps at the classroom, grade, school and district levels can leverage content and strategies for students in poverty and other groups of learners experiencing persistent opportunity gaps; emphasizing inclusive practice, social-emotional learning, school and classroom culture, and family engagement.
Experience
Based on our work with the Leading Educational Access Project (LEAP), CES offers trained presenters and facilitators for this work, and content that will introduce the resources offered by LEAP, including understanding the impact of poverty on identification, placement and student outcomes; and access to resources, strategies and best practices for instruction. (Please note that while low-income student populations include those living in poverty, not all low-income students live at the poverty level.)
Services
LEAP Training of Trainers
DESE’s Leading Educational Access
Customized Professional Development
We offer a range of tailored professional development and team and individualized coaching on the impact of poverty. Some of the topics that can be adapted include:
- Approaches to poverty and racial diversity in schools; Impact of poverty on learning
- Basic physiology of memory, emotion, and learning; brain and learning principles
- Special Education: Disproportionality, identification & assessments, student support, placement, least-restrictive
- Special populations: Homeless and transient, English learners, traumatized learners
- The intersection of race, bias and poverty
- School and classroom culture that supports students living in poverty
Albert Johnson-Mussad
Albert serves as a staff consultant in leadership and instruction at the Collaborative for Educational Services. He travels nationally to facilitate professional development for school leaders, teachers and other licensed educators in instructional leadership; English learner education; world language and bilingual education; adolescent literacy education; and improving outcomes for students in poverty. Dr. Johnson-Mussad is a seasoned K-12 teacher and curriculum leader who has worked with central office and school-based administrators to increase opportunity and achievement for both vulnerable learners and high-achieving learners. He has facilitated professional development, provided individualized leadership and instructional coaching, and evaluated educational programs to provide actionable recommendations and implementation assistance.
Dr. Johnson-Mussad led the training-of-trainers component of DESE’s Leading Educational Access Project (LEAP) to improve outcomes for students in poverty. Albert presented on teaching students in poverty at the 2019 ASCD Conference on Educational Leadership, and he facilitated an intensive institute on this topic as part of the 2019 Anchorage, Alaska School District Summer Academy. Dr. Johnson-Mussad also facilitates curriculum development and strategic planning, and evaluates educational programs. He has taught K-12 English learners and high school Spanish. Albert served as an assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, and also in the role of elementary school principal. He is currently supporting the Chelsea Public Schools with professional development, technical assistance and coaching for leaders, teachers and instructional coaches in the district’s three middle schools to improve student outcomes.
Position: Leadership and Instruction Continuous Improvement Specialist
Email: ajohnsonmussad@collaborative.org
Phone: 413.586.4900 x5945