Chicopee Public Schools Testimonial – Andrea Stolar

Dr. Andrea Stolar, Director of Special Education at Chicopee Public Schools, explains why her district selected Vector’s Inclusive Instruction and Interventions courses and discusses their impact on the district.

Video Transcript:

Hello. I’m doctor Andrea Stoller, director of special education for the Chicopee Public Schools in Chicopee, Massachusetts.

I’m excited to share with you today why we chose Vector for our professional development needs and how they’ve made a significant impact on our educators and our students.

Well, it all started when I stumbled upon Vector at a conference.

We were initially using their platform for our teacher evaluation, so so I was pretty fit familiar with Vector. And I spoke to the representative, I discovered that they have an extensive library of professional development videos. And as an urban district, what caught my attention was their focus on inclusive instruction and interventions, which are crucial for our diverse student population.

As an educator, I always strive to ensure that all members of our community have access to meaningful professional development.

That’s why I particularly was drawn to Vector’s offering for paraprofessionals, for special educators, related service providers.

These groups are often neglected when it comes to professional development and traditional PD, and they may not always be relevant to the professional development that’s happening in the district for their roles. So Vector provided a great opportunity and solution to fix this gap. What truly surprised me was the breadth and depth of the topics covered in Vector’s PD videos. They had addressed everything from bullying prevention to inclusive practices, co teaching strategies to universal design for learning, autism support to behavior management, dyslexia, and reading instruction, to understanding IEPs and special ed regulations. The list goes on and on.

Day finding qualified certified teachers is becoming increasingly challenging, and having resources like vector PD videos is invaluable.

They provide essential training for new or emergency certified teachers or waiver teachers, ensuring they’re equipped with the knowledge and skills they need to support diverse learners effectively. We are now incorporating the vector videos in our yearly professional development plans, and we are using them for onboarding of new staff members.

The impact of using Vector has been tremendous.

Our educators now have access to high quality topics and training. We also have been able to use the training to help emergency licensed teachers teachers and waiver teachers as part of their professional development and requirements to obtaining and moving their license status.

And the best part for me is that they are really reasonably priced. They make high quality professional development, and they also make it accessible to all educators regardless of your budget constraints. So if you’re looking for comprehensible, affordable, and accessible professional development solutions, I highly recommend giving Vectra a try. It has been a game changer for us here at Chicopee. Thank you so much.