Kim Rockers to Lead Milestones Day School & Transitions Program as CEO

WALTHAM, Mass. | Milestones Day School & Transitions Program, a therapeutic day school that serves students ages 7 to 22 with special educational needs, is pleased to announce the recent promotion of Kim Rockers to be the new Chief Executive Officer.

Rockers previously served as the acting CEO at Milestones. She has helped advance the school’s long-term goals and business operations. Due to her excellent work, the Board of Directors recently voted unanimously to keep Rockers on in a permanent capacity.

As CEO, Rockers will continue to strengthen and expand Milestones’ best practices and programming to optimize students' success. She is also dedicated to attracting and retaining top staff, increasing opportunities for parent engagement, and further cultivating collaborative partnerships with districts and within the community.

In 2003, Rockers joined Milestones leadership team as a co-director where she assisted with designing the school program and initiating student enrollment. During her years as a co-director at Milestones, Rockers led efforts to expand transition services and therapeutic programming and created targeted staff recruitment and professional development initiatives.

“Kim does a wonderful job of seeing the bigger picture of what it takes to provide an educational setting that is therapeutic, rich academically, and meets the needs of all students, families, and staff,” says Lori Bruce, Milestones principal. “I am always impressed by her ability to see things from a variety of lenses and then make decisions based upon objective information. Her positive and thoughtful approach allows for an environment where both students and staff develop their skills and confidence.”

Previously, Rockers worked at Emory University’s School of Medicine as an associate director of research. She managed multi-site developmental disabilities research initiatives sponsored by the National Institute of Health and numerous private entities. While at Emory, she served on two leadership committees for a nationally renowned private foundation that offered consultation to autism research teams across 11 leading U.S. and Canadian universities. Over time, she developed a passion for guiding mission-driven organizations and transitioned to special education by working with students on the autism spectrum.

“Kim possesses an innate ability to foster a culture in which employees are inspired and supported in their growth,” says Sarah Folk, head of admissions at Milestones. “The exceptional programming available to our students is in no small way a direct result of Kim’s tireless dedication to her staff and our students’ families.”

Rockers has co-authored numerous research publications on genetic, developmental, learning disabled, and psychiatric conditions. She obtained her Master’s Degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education where she specialized in child and adolescent development and a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology, cum laude, from Dartmouth College.

Milestones Day School & Transitions Program is a member of maaps (Massachusetts Association of 766 Approved Private Schools), a non-profit association that represents 85 private special education schools across the state.

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About maaps:

The Massachusetts Association of 766 Approved Private Schools (maaps) is a non-profit association whose member schools provide high quality and cost effective educational programs and services to students with special needs throughout Massachusetts. The schools operate over 150 day and residential programs and schools, providing education and treatment to approximately 5,500 Massachusetts students with disabilities. They also bring in over $144 million into the Commonwealth’s economy in tuition payments from about 1,500 out-of-state students, and employ over 9,000 teachers, clinicians, residential care and other staff. For many of the students, maaps schools represent their first real opportunity for hope, achievement and to become productive members of society.

About Milestones Day School & Transitions Program:

Milestones is a 766 approved therapeutic day school, providing a comprehensive education with rigorous academic and therapeutic curriculum for students age 7-22, including services for students transitioning to adulthood. Through the insightful collaboration and dedication of our multi-disciplinary teams, our direct teaching and embedded therapeutic model proves to empower our students to build skills and confidence, resulting in engaged learners, and self-assured community members. Teams are made up of special educators and academic specialists, psychologists, speech pathologists, occupational therapists, and if necessary our Board certified behavior analyst.