Three new partnership organizations in the Teacher Education program specialize in assisting students with one of the most common learning disabilities.

Students in NYU Steinhardt’s Department of Teaching and Learning are working in new partner school placement sites in the Bronx, Staten Island, and Manhattan with students with dyslexia, allowing them to expand their hands-on experience working with this important population of young learners.
Over the last several years, Carolyn Strom, clinical assistant professor of early childhood literacy, has been developing relationships with the South Bronx Literacy Academy (SBLA), Stephen Gaynor Community Learning Center, and Bridge Prep School. These new partnership sites focus specifically on meeting the instructional needs of students with dyslexia. Partnership schools are an important aspect of teacher education at NYU Steinhardt, as they allow emerging teachers to learn from and work closely with mentor educators at schools across New York City.
“These three sites focus on students with dyslexia, which allows our students to gain more expertise in this critical area,” says Strom, whose work is on improving early literacy instruction for young children and students with learning difficulties. “Dyslexia is one of the most common learning disabilities, so we want our students to have supervised, real world experience working with students who have these kinds of reading challenges.”
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) estimates that approximately 5 to 20 percent of the U.S. population has dyslexia. Many students with dyslexia may not meet the specific criteria for an individualized education program but still need accommodations and modifications to succeed academically.
Marielle Czerniecki (MA ’24, Childhood Education and Special Education) did her student teaching at SBLA during the partnership’s pilot year with Strom as her field mentor. Czerniecki spent three days a week in an Integrated Co-Teaching second grade classroom with both a general education and special education teacher. SBLA trained in the PAF Reading Program, which is a structured language program for teaching reading, spelling, and handwriting using multisensory techniques. It can prevent reading failure for children at risk for learning difficulties, as well as be used as an intervention program.
“Literacy is a passion of mine, so I was excited about the opportunity to do a placement at SBLA,” says Czerniecki, who was hired full-time by SBLA after she graduated and is now a special education teacher for fourth grade students. “At other schools I worked at, I felt like the struggling readers got lost. SBLA emphasizes explicit instruction, and everyone receives 90 minutes of small-group literacy intervention every day, which I think is a key difference for kids who aren’t reading at their grade level.”
Earlier this spring, Strom hosted a workshop at SBLA that was open to families and other community members. She discussed how children’s brains transform as they learn to read and spell, as well as what the neuroscience of literacy development means, in practical terms, for families and classroom teachers.
“Empowering families with knowledge and tools to support children with dyslexia transforms uncertainty into advocacy—ensuring every child has a champion at home who understands their journey and believes in their potential,” says Strom. “As a field, we need to do better making scientific knowledge more accessible and actionable to caregivers.”
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