Molly Buren, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Middle Grades Education
National College of Education
SPE 506- Frameworks, Perspectives, and Collaboration in Special Education
SPE 576- Practicum II
SPE 592- Student Teaching Seminar
MGE 501- Young Adolescents in Context #1
MGE 503- Young Adolescents in Context #2
MGE 509- Integrated Curriculum in the Middle Grades
CCD 615- Sociology of Education
- Parent advocacy training in special education
- Minoritized families’ experiences with school engagement and home-school partnerships
- Critical theory with a focus on intersectionality and equity in schools
- Disproportionality in special education
- PhD Special Education- University of Illinois at Chicago
- MAT Special Education- National Louis University
- BA Sociology- Northwestern University
After her PhD, Dr. Buren completed a two-year post-doctoral fellowship at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Buren worked as a research study coordinator for Project ASSIST, a longitudinal parent advocacy intervention study with families of youth with autism. The work aimed to improve parents’ ability to advocate for adult services on behalf of their son or daughter with ASD.
Dr. Buren began her career as a special educator working with high school and middle school students in Chicago Public Schools. During her doctoral studies, she taught courses on disability, families, and collaboration at UIC, NLU, and Elmhurst College. Dr. Buren worked towards developing critical and reflective thinkers able to digest, question, and tailor research-based practices with an emphasis on fostering cultural self-awareness.
After working in underserved communities for many years, Dr. Buren decided to study the experiences of families who are historically marginalized and their perceptions of the special education system. Her research attempts to identify facilitators to successful home-school partnerships between families and teachers to impact equity, advocacy, and collaboration.
Parent advocacy training in special education; Latinx families’ experiences with school engagement and home-school partnerships; Experiences of rural families with special education systems and advocacy; Families’ experiences with transitions from EI to school services
Email: mburen@nl.edu
