Family & Community Special Communities
Special Education

Massachusetts FOCUS Academy Graduate Courses

Free Graduate Level Courses for Middle and High School Practitioners, Administrators, Related Service Providers, and Parents*

Background

Beginning in 2007, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education was awarded a five year federal grant to develop a cost free state wide professional development system targeting middle and high school practitioners, administrators, and parents. This initiative, called Massachusetts FOCUS Academy (MFA) is designed to improve the outcomes for students with disabilities while increasing the retention of highly qualified personnel.

The MFA courses are delivered through the Massachusetts Online Network for Education (MassONE). This forum contains several components including a virtual hard drive, discussion boards, personal storage space, survey tools, and email communication. Course providers facilitate the online discussion board as well as provide feedback to individual participants on course projects.

Course Information

MFA will be expanding the course offering in the Fall 2009 to include a total of eight courses offered on MassONE. In some cases, there will be face-to-face meeting time in addition to the online discussion forum. Participants will be notified by the course instructor of face-to-face meeting time once they are enrolled in the course.

In addition to receiving 67.5 PDP upon course completion, each MFA course is also a graduate level course. Participants have the option to purchase graduate level units at a discounted rate through each of the partnering institutions of higher education.

Participants should expect graduate level coursework including 4-7 hours per week of online interaction and course requirements. Please note: Creating Positive Learning Environments I is a 90 PDP or 4 credit course and requires 7-10 hours per week.

Fall 2009 Course Offering

• Creating and Sustaining Positive Learning Environments
• How to Partner with Families of Middle and High School Students with Disabilities to Achieve Success
• Parent and Professional Partnerships: Transition Planning for Students with Disabilities in Middle and High School
• Youth Development and Self-Determination
• Generalist: Transition Planning
• Universal Design for Learning: Meeting the Needs of Diverse Learners
• Collaborative/Co-teaching Model
• Differentiated Instruction

*Priority will be given to educators from targeted districts who submit a complete application. Educators from other districts will be placed on a waiting list; complete applications will be considered on a first come first served basis. Information about MFA Courses is available at http://www.doe.mass.edu/sped/2009/mfa.html. Please apply at https://www.keysurvey.com/survey/260463/6d98/ by September 17, 2009.