About Us

Mr. Wilmot received his B.A. in Liberal Arts from St. John's College in Annapolis, MD, with a focus on philosophy and the history of science and math. He earned an Ed.M. in School Leadership, specializing in School Development from Harvard Graduate School of Education. He is currently a consultant working with CAST on the implementation of the Universal Design for Learning framework. Prior to that, he was the Founding Head of School at Tremont School, a project-based school focused on academic, social, and emotional learning as three equal parts of school. He approached designing a school with the goal of making school fit students rather than students fitting schools. Before that he was the second Head of School for four years of the Seacoast Charter School, an arts-integrated, K-8 charter school. He began his career teaching math, science, and music in grades 5-9 in a variety of charter and district schools. He has also worked as a consultant for public, charter pilot, and independent schools, including school design and redesign, program evaluation, and strategic planning. In all of his work, his goal is to transform the relationship between students and teachers toward mutual learning, building a sense of ownership for students over their learning.

Claudia is the Joan Weiler Arnow '49 Professor of Education and serves as Chair of the Education Department at Lasell University. Her scholarly focus addresses implementation of Response to Intervention (RTI) and Multi-Tier System of Support (MTSS) in urban settings and with large numbers of English language learners, and teacher preparation that responds to the growing diversity in urban schools. She engages educators on how to improve systems and instructional practices for students with reading difficulties who may be at-risk for failure, or those who are English language learners and who may have mild and moderate disabilities. She authored "Practical Ways to Engage All Struggling Readers" and co-authored the RTI-Based Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD) Identification Toolkit for Educators for the Response to Intervention Action Network. Her leadership roles include service on the Board of Directors for the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) and as a member of the Professional Advisory Board for the National Center for Learning Disabilities. She currently serves as a reviewer for the National Center of Intensive Interventions, a Thought Leader for the National Center for Systemic Improvements, and as an advisor for the MA DESE Shaping Teacher Quality and Students in Experience.

Jim Ostrow, Ph.D. is Provost Emeritus of Lasell University, where he served as the institution's chief academic officer from January 2001 through July 2020. Prior roles included Director of Academic Affairs/Chief Academic Officer of Penn State Fayette, and Director of the Bentley University Service-Learning Center and Chairperson of Bentley University's Department of Behavioral Sciences. His principal scholarly interests combine social theory, continental philosophy, and American pragmatist philosophy. He has published books on pedagogy and sociological theory, with articles appearing in Sociological Perspectives, Qualitative Sociology, and other academic outlets. He contributes commentary to The Boston Globe, WBUR's Cognoscenti, Inside Higher Ed, and School and Society. He served as Visiting Scholar at the New England Center for Research on Higher Education (NERCHE), conducting research on how the value of education is experienced, understood, and articulated by different constituencies.