Associate Professor of Special Education Jamie Pearson Provides Professional Development for Jamaica’s First Public Inclusive School through Partnership, Donor Support

For most of Jamaica’s educational history, children with intellectual, developmental or physical disabilities were educated separately from other children, in schools that focus on students who need special education services. That changed with Savanna-LaMar Inclusive Academy (Sav Inclusive), the first public school of its kind on the island that welcomes children with and without disabilities to learn in a fully inclusive, mixed-ability environment. 

But because of the country’s history of teaching students with disabilities separately, many educators in Jamaica benefit from additional support in leading successful inclusive classrooms. That’s why Peter Rose, the president of the Rockhouse Foundation that built the school, with a financial commitment from longtime NC State donors Pat McKee and Julie Russo, turned to NC State College of Education and Associate Professor of Special Education Jamie Pearson. 

Pearson — with assistance from two doctoral students, Jennifer Macko and DeVoshia Mason Martin — is providing ongoing professional development for teachers at Sav Inclusive. 

“The level of training and sensitization required of our dedicated staff is not easily available in Jamaica. The partnership with NC State, though in its infancy, has already had significant impact assisting our staff across issues of pedagogy, identifying neurodiversity and developing strategies to bond with students and advance their capabilities, building a strong culture, amongst others,” said Peter Rose, president of the Rockhouse Foundation, which built the school. “But, perhaps most importantly, Jamie Pearson and her team provide our staff with a greater sense of confidence in their abilities, and a comfort and pride in the fact that NC State’s College of Education believes in what we’re doing and will be here for the long haul to help take us to greater and greater heights for our children.” 

Sav Inclusive was initially conceived after a conversation with Rose and a Rockhouse Hotel employee who struggled to access services for her child with autism. The school opened in 2017 and currently educates about 250 students from age three through fifth grade.

The partnership with Pearson began through McKee and Russo, who met Pearson and other College of Education faculty through their work as donors. They established the Valerie N. Faulkner Scholarship Endowment and are providing more than $1 million in financial support to Sav Inclusive over a 10-year period to help build out the school through grade 12 and provide elementary math education training for the teachers. 

“At the center of the Sav Inclusive School and NC State partnership is Jamie Pearson and her team. Their expertise, experience and training methods support Sav Inclusive’s need for strong professional development,” McKee and Russo said in a joint statement. “Developing a deeper understanding of common student behaviors for neurodivergent learners is vital for each staff member at Sav Inclusive. Once these student behaviors are identified, they then must be addressed in a way that is helpful to the individual student and the surrounding class. Jamie and her team are the best ones suited to help them do so. The multi-year comprehensive professional development plan with carefully designed deliverables will help ensure that this partnership will provide a lasting impact at Sav Inclusive School.” 

In 2024, Pearson had the opportunity to visit Sav Inclusive twice to gain a better understanding of the school’s dynamic and culture as well as what types of supports were needed. Based on information gathered during those trips, Pearson, Macko and Mason Martin developed a professional development plan they began implementing during a visit in February 2025. 

During their weeklong visit, Pearson, Macko and Mason Martin led professional development for three days, followed by two days of classroom observations and individualized coaching. Session one focused on team building between the classrooms’ lead teachers, teacher assistants and caregivers.

“There’s a good bit of variability in training and education among the educators. Many have bachelor’s degrees, but may not necessarily be trained in inclusive or special education, or disabilities,” Pearson said. “We wanted to help them think about how to work together as a team to address the needs of students with varying disabilities.”

Other sessions focused on understanding disabilities in education, creating neurodiversity-affirming classrooms and Universal Design for Learning. Each participating educator was provided with a notebook of all materials, including resource packets. Pearson and her doctoral students also engaged the teachers in movement breaks to model sensory regulation activities they could incorporate in their own classrooms.

“My understanding of what typical professional development looks like for educators in Jamaica is that they go to the Ministry of Education and attend lecture-style presentations for many hours,” Pearson said. “We wanted to provide interactive and engaging opportunities for learning to model inclusive pedagogy such as universal design for learning. The Sav staff were really excited to be engaged in a different way.”

Pearson and Macko will highlight the team’s experiences during an April 16 event at the Center for Technology and Innovation to celebrate the partnership with the Sav Inclusive School. McKee, Russo, Rose and other representatives from Sav Inclusive are also expected to speak during the event. 

As the team prepares for that event, they are also planning for a return trip to Jamaica and Sav Inclusive in May. During this visit, they will build on the lessons from earlier in the year as well as focus on professional development around building family and professional partnerships and managing behaviors that interfere with learning. 

Pearson is also working with partners to explore what resources and support can be offered between visits, such as developing a newsletter for educators at Sav Inclusive as well as building a webpage and developing short professional development videos focused on topics including differentiation of lessons. 

In everything the team does, Pearson said she makes sure to center the school’s values of “Love, Family and High Expectations.”

“So many schools have values and mottos, but I truly feel the importance of the Sav values when I’m there. We try to incorporate them into our professional development delivery and the resources we develop,” she said. “We work hard to ensure everything we do at Sav Inclusive reflects ‘Love, Family and High Expectations.”