Education Specialist in Reading, Language and Literature

 

The Education Specialist Program in Reading, Language and Literature is designed primarily for practitioners in the field who are interested in assuming literacy leadership and curriculum positions within school buildings, school districts, or community agencies and groups. This certificate program consists of a minimum of 30 semester hours of advanced work beyond the master's degree.  Students seeking a K-12 Reading Specialist Endorsement within this program may need additional courses.

General Requirements

All students complete a common six-hour core:
RLL 8500 Critical Literacy in a Socio-Political Culture (3 sh)
ED 7998 Field Studies (3 sh; intended as the student's culminating experience and must be taken toward the end of the program)

In addition, RLL 7100 (Emergent Literacy) and RLL 7200 (Comprehension) maybe required in some cases as prerequisites but cannot be applied toward the certificate.

Areas of Concentration

Candidates for the certificate also select one area of concentration from among reading, language, and literature and take required courses from within their concentration as well as courses from across the three areas.

Additional courses to complete the 30 hours are selected in consultation with the student's advisor and may include coursework from other divisions of the College of Education and/or from the College of Liberal Arts.  Those who have a Master's from another university and/or whose degree is dated could also be required to take some of the master's level courses as electives to update their knowledge.

Students will select one area of concentration from among the following three:

Reading Concentration: 9 required semester hours
RLL 8800 Seminar in Research in Reading I (3 sh)
RLL 8810 Seminar in Research in Reading II (3 sh)
RLL 8840 Practicum in Supervision and Administration of Programs in Literacy Development (3 sh)

Fifteen additional semester hours will be completed in consultation with advisor.

Language Concentration: 9 required semester hours
RLL 7800 Writing Development and Instruction (3 sh)
RLL 7820 Responding to Texts:  Theory and Practice (3 sh)
RLL 8200 Thought, Language, Social Interaction and Learning (3 sh)

Fifteen additional semester hours will be completed in consultation with advisor.

Literature Concentration:  9 required semester hours
RLL 7720  Survey & Analysis of Current  Literature for Younger Children,
PreK-3 (3 sh)
RLL 7740  Survey & Analysis of Current  Literature for Older Children, 4-8
(3 sh)
RLL 7760 Functions of Literature in Early & Late Childhood (3 sh)

Fifteen additional semester hours will be completed in consultation with
advisor.

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The remaining fifteen hours for completion of the Education Specialist Certificate may be taken in courses from concentration area(s) other than the student's primary concentration. For example, a student who elects the language concentration may choose to take RLL 8800, Seminar in Research in Reading I, as an elective for his or her concentration. Students are required to meet with their advisor as soon as possible after being accepted into the program in order to develop a plan of work and prior to registering for any course that is not a part of that initial plan.

Some possible elective courses are on the following list.  Note that this is not an inclusive list.

EED  6310 Literature for Adolescents (3 sh)
EED 6330 Teaching Literature in Secondary Schools (3 sh)
RLL 7780 Storytelling (3 sh)
RLL 7800 Writing Development and Instruction (3 sh)
RLL 7820 Responding to Texts:  Theory and Practice (3 sh)
RLL 8830 Current Issues and Research in Literacy (3)