The former member of the Special Education faculty returns to UMF to lead Graduate Studies in Education.
By Marc Glass
In early October, Kathy Yardley, acting provost of the University and former dean of the College of Health, Education, and Rehabilitation, sent UMF faculty and staff an email that prompted a wave of congratulations for two individuals: Johanna Prince and Brian Cavanaugh ’04.
Prince, the University’s director of Graduate Studies in Education for the past five years, received kudos for her service to UMF and well wishes for her new role as principal of nearby Kingfield Elementary School.
And Cavanaugh, a graduate of and former faculty member in the University’s storied Special Education program, received “Wonderful to have you back!” messages for his new role as Prince’s successor.
Brian Cavanaugh ’04, the University’s new Director of Graduate Studies in Education, looks forward to building on the success of UMF’s advanced degree programs, which have seen enrollment more than double in the past three years. (Photo by Marc Glass.)
An online instructor in the University’s Special Education Alternate Route to Certification (SPARC) program since his departure from the faculty in 2016, Cavanaugh says strong enrollment in UMF’s Graduate Studies in Education programs — which has more than doubled in the past three years under the leadership of Prince and Director of Educational Outreach Sandy MacArthur — speaks to the quality and relevance of the instruction, as well as the needs of Maine’s classroom teachers.
“UMF has historically been a leader in educating pre-service teachers. With the Graduate Studies in Education programs, we have built on the excellence of our undergraduate education programs to meet the in-service needs of practitioners,” he says. “We know from our strong connections with schools that there are a lot of needs across the state that require or would benefit from graduate education, whether it’s degrees or certificate programs. Our goal is to create and expand those professional development opportunities.”
See umf.maine.edu/gradstudies for more information on UMF’s M.S.Ed. programs in Early Childhood Education and Educational Leadership; the Maine Mathematics Coaching Project and Special Education Alternative Route to Certification; and 12-credit certificate programs in Administration, Gifted and Talented Education, Math Leadership, and Proficiency Based Education. The registration deadline for the Spring 2019 cohort is January 5, 2019.
Cavanaugh’s ongoing experience in regional public schools informs his thinking about how to meet the needs of practitioners and their students. After teaching at UMF, he spent a year conducting school compliance reviews and doing special education policy work for the Massachusetts Department of Education. He was then director of Social and Emotional Learning for Portland Public Schools, a role that involved ensuring the city’s nearly 500 homeless students receive educational services. At this writing, he continues to consult in Regional School Units 10 and 74, as well as Maine’s Bureau of Indian Education Schools.
Cavanaugh says teaching, working with, and learning from public school educators and administrators provides him with invaluable opportunities to move from theory to practice — and have practice inform theory. While he admits the work requires crisscrossing the state and time away from his wife, Jessica (Ball) Cavanaugh ’04, and their twin 5-year-old boys, he says he “wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“It’s essential for me. It would be impossible for me to completely give that up,” he says. “As a consultant, you’re looked at as an expert. But, in many ways I’ve learned so much from the classroom teachers and the schools that I work with, in terms of implementation of the programs and practices. The learning is really a two-way street.”
Among the things Cavanaugh says he’s learned from his time in public schools is that while educational best practices may not have shifted significantly over the years, what classroom teachers are being asked to do has. And the complexity of challenges facing educators, students, and families has increased dramatically.
“I think we’ve always had poverty, homelessness, and mental health issues in schools. The difference now is that I think the support systems around schools — mental health systems, social service systems, family systems — are overwhelmed,” says Cavanaugh. “For some of those needs, communities can’t be as responsive as they used to be. Schools are where teachers, students and their families intersect with those issues. So the challenge is developing internal systems to provide the necessary supports.”
Fortunately, Cavanaugh brings program design and implementation science expertise to the University’s GSE program. Asked to explain the importance of a macro, system-level focus of in-service teacher education, he draws on immunization for an analogy.
“There’s the science of the serum and the science of the syringe,” he explains. “If the vaccine is effective but the delivery mechanism isn’t, it’s useless.”
“Likewise, we have really good classroom management practices that we know about,” he continues. “The challenge is how do we get those practices to all kids. How do we find ways to implement practices, scale them up across classrooms and schools, and then sustain them? That’s what’s exciting about the work of improving teacher leadership. It’s teachers asking themselves not only how do I improve as a teacher, but also how do I support other educators with sustaining practices that we know work.”
Looking ahead, Cavanaugh says his goals for GSE include partnering with MacArthur to expand enrollment in UMF’s master’s degree programs in early childhood education and educational leadership, as well as the 12-credit graduate certificate programs in Administration, English Language Learning, Gifted and Talented Education, Math Leadership, and Proficiency Based Education.
MacArthur says the blended delivery model of several GSE programs — featuring 70 percent online coursework complemented by 30 percent in-class instruction — has proven to offer students “the best of both worlds.”
“Students report that they enjoy the in-person connections with the faculty and a network of other educators,” she says. “But they also appreciate that they can be full-time working professionals and complete their coursework as their schedules and family commitments allow.”
For now, Cavanaugh says that current master’s and certificate students and graduates will remain the best ambassadors for drawing more applicants to the University’s GSE programs.
“The program evaluation data and the student feedback we gather tell us that our graduate programs are very strong, that people see value in them, and they want to receive their graduate education at UMF,” he says. “Being able to grow programs that are meaningful and that we know are in demand is exciting.”