Montclair State celebrated the opening of the new Children's Center yesterday, marking the beginning of a program positioned to become a national model for inclusive early childhood education.

Before a crowd of more than 200, the University dedicated the 21,000-square-foot facility that brings together children with identified special developmental needs with their typically developing peers in a setting that fosters learning and growth in a diverse environment.

Ada Beth Cutler, dean of the College of Education and Human Services, and President Susan A. Cole celebrate the opening of the Children's Center with Rocky the Red Hawk and Li'l Rocky.

"The Children's Center provides a social and learning environment where all children can learn and discover that what they share is far more profound than their differences," President Susan A. Cole said at the ceremony. "In addition to serving up to 300 children a year, with the Children's Center, the University has become a national model for childhood education and will serve as a learning laboratory for 400 University students who are studying to become early childhood educators through internships, observations and other hands-on learning experiences. The importance of this component of the Center is apparent in the fact that Montclair State University produces about half of all the pre-school teachers for the most needy school districts in the state (the Abbot districts)."

For decades, Montclair State has served the needs of children through three separate programs--the Child Care Center, for typically developing infants, toddlers and preschoolers; the Demonstration Program, for preschoolers diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders; and the Jeffrey Dworkin Early Childhood Program, which serves children from infancy through age three who have a variety of special developmental needs. 

The Children's Center fully integrates these three programs, giving the children a nurturing environment where together they can explore, create, grow and learn, from their teachers and each other. The Children's Center can serve approximately 300 children a year, with up to 150 children in the facility at a time.

Students in school psychology, special education, speech-language pathology, music and art will also benefit from field experiences at the Center. There are abundant opportunities for faculty and students to study and develop new research findings on inclusive early childhood education at the Children's Center. In the coming years, the Center will offer seminars, workshops, and residential summer institutes on creating and running inclusive early childhood programs that will be open to all interested educators.  "This is a lighthouse program not just for this area, but for the nation," said Ada Beth Cutler, dean of MSU's College of Education and Human Services.

"Montclair State has always been a national leader in teacher education," she said. "Now our students' preparation for teaching will be enhanced by extensive field experiences in an exemplary, inclusive early childhood program right on campus. This will enable us to provide the region with hundreds of new teachers each year who have had experience in working with young children with and without diagnosed disabilities in a caring and inclusive setting." 

Antoinette Spiotta, who is the Center's co-director along with Janey DeLuca, agrees. "What is unique about the Children's Center is that it is a merging of early intervention services, special education services and child care services in an institution of higher learning for the purpose of professional development," she said. "I don't know of any other place that takes that approach. We are not only providing services, but are preparing a future generation of educators. That makes us quite unique."