Charlotte Literacy Summit

Literacy Summit Schedule [CLICK TO DOWNLOAD Full Schedule with breakout session information including links to presentation slides where provided by presenters]

The Summit will begin at 8:30 a.m. in the Cato College of Education at UNC Charlotte with a welcome session followed by three breakout sessions with presentations you can choose from. At noon, we’ll move to the Student Union for lunch and to hear from our keynote speaker, Alicia D. Williams. Following lunch we’ll split into networking meetings to foster conversation and build community for literacy educators, regional literacy groups, and Literacy Innovation Leaders (LIL).

Download full schedule with breakout session information with links to presentation slides where provided by presenters
Add your thoughts to our Networking Session Jamboard where you can post your questions, ideas for collaboration, possible goals. We’ll use these in our networking meetings at 1:30 p.m.

Time	Event	Location
8:30 to 8:50 a.m.	Welcome	Cato COED 010
9:00 to 9:50 a.m.	Breakout Session #1	Cato COED 038, 102, 103, 110, 166, 167
10:00 to 10:50 a.m.	Breakout Session #2	Cato COED 038, 102, 103, 110, 166, 167
11:00 to 11:50 a.m.	Breakout Session #3	Cato COED 038, 102, 103, 110, 166, 167
Noon to 1:15 p.m.	Lunch with author Alicia D. Williams, Keynote Speaker A buffet lunch	Student Union Multipurpose Room (3rd floor)
1:30 to 2:30 p.m.	Networking Group Meetings [Networking Ideas Jamboard] Regional Literacy Groups – COED 102 Teacher Educators & Literacy Innovation Leaders (LIL) – COED 103 Preservice/Inservice Teachers -COED 166

2023 Charlotte Literacy Summit is April 22

UNC Charlotte’s Cato College of Education is hosting its second Charlotte Literacy Summit on April 22, 2023. The Literacy Summit 2023 is a space for literacy educators and stakeholders to meet and share ideas to help us forge paths forward after challenges faced by teachers, students, and communities over the past few years. The Summit will include a morning of conversation and workshops followed by lunch featuring a keynote speaker, Alicia D. Williams, award-winning author of Genesis Begins Again, The Talk, and Jump at the Sun: The True Life Tale of Unstoppable Storycatcher Zora Neale Hurston.

The summit will be open to educators and is free of charge with a maximum capacity (around 125 participants). Lunch will be provided at no cost and a book from our keynote speaker, Alicia Williams, will be given to each participant.

We have sought input from teachers and literacy leaders in our network and have developed a theme to communicate the challenges faced by literacy educators including changing curricula and post-pandemic needs of students: Forging New Paths. The summit will include workshops, discussion and networking organized around three strands:

Elementary educators
Middle and secondary educators
Teacher education and educator professional development

There will be 18 presentations to choose from in three breakout sessions.

Register to Attend

The Charlotte Literacy Summit is free but requires registration which is limited to 125 participants so SIGN UP TODAY by completing the Registration Form.

Building Community & Fostering Conversation with Networking Meetings

Our goal is to foster conversations and share ideas of practice and research to help educators address today’s literacy and learning needs and challenges and to build community to sustain discussion and collaboration. After lunch we will host a networking meeting for literacy educators and stakeholder groups to engage in capacity building and foster better communication among:

Regional Literacy Groups
Teacher Educators & Literacy Innovation Leaders members (LIL)
Preservice/Inservice Teachers

Keynote Speaker

Alicia D. Williams is the author of Genesis Begins Again, which received the Newbery and Kirkus Prize honors, was a William C. Morris prize finalist, and won the Coretta Scott King–John Steptoe Award for New Talent. Alicia D also debuted a picture book biography, Jump at the Sun: The True Life Tale of Unstoppable Storycatcher Zora Neale Hurston. And followed up with Shirley Chisholm Dared: The Story of the First Black Woman in Congress. Recently, she published The Talk, which is a recent Coretta Scott King Author Honor winner about ! The Talk is about that very difficult conversation far too familiar to so many Black and Brown Americans.

Alicia shares a passion for storytelling which stems from conducting school residencies as a Master Teaching Artist of arts-integration. Alicia D infuses her love for drama, movement, and storytelling to inspire students to write. She resides in Charlotte, NC.

Questions & Information

Please email us at reading-programs@uncc.edu for questions and information.

Frequently Asked Questions

Admissions requirements and deadlines for M.Ed. in ALII?

Students applying for admission to the Advanced Literacy Instruction and Intervention AND the M.Ed. in Reading Education programs must have:

A bachelor’s degree, or its equivalent, from a regionally accredited college or university
Students who hold a bachelor’s degree are expected to have a GPA of at least 3.00 (based on a 4.0 scale) on all previous work completed beyond high school (secondary school). Students applying for early entry are expected to have a 3.2 GPA or higher.
An online application through the Graduate School’s application system for the M.Ed. in Reading.
A statement of purpose
Transcripts of all college coursework attempted
Official and satisfactory scores on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), if English is not the applicant’s native language and he or she has not earned a post-secondary degree from a U.S. institution
Standardized test scores are NOT required for admission (e.g., GRE, GMAT, MAT). Test scores may be submitted as an option by applicants to provide additional information or supplement their application.

Students applying for admission to the M.Ed. in Reading Education are required to have all the of above PLUS:

Three professional recommendations (submit names and emails, the Graduate School sends out a form, no letter writing required). This is not required for the ALII Certificate.

Application Deadlines

Students can start the program any full term: Spring, Summer or Fall. Applications for Spring are due by Dec. 1 while Summer start applications are due by April 30 and applications for Fall start are due by Aug. 1 of that year.

Are programs online or in person?

Our undergraduate programs like the Minor in Reading Education are in-person and the majority of courses are face-to-face.

The M.Ed. in Reading and the Advanced Literacy Instruction & Intervention Certificate are both fully online. Courses are delivered in the Canvas learning management system with some instructors also using video meetings through platforms like Zoom. Early Entry students take master’s level courses which are online.

Coursework for the Ph.d. program varies with a mix of face-to-face and online.

What about Scholarships & Grants?

We encourage students to apply for scholarships and grants through the Niner Scholarship Portal.

There are two grants we encourage applicants and students to check out.

The TEACH Grant is a federal grant designed to encourage highly qualified teachers to serve in low-income schools in high-need fields. It requires a service agreement with the potential to convert grant monies paid to a student loan. The federal Department of Education has a website with information about TEACH grants.
Established by the North Carolina General Assembly in 2011, the Forgivable Education Loans for Service provides financial assistance to qualified students enrolled in an approved education program and committed to working in critical employment shortage professions in North Carolina. The North Carolina State Education Assistance Authority provides administration for the program. For the 2022-2023 academic year the approved degree programs and approved institutions can be found via the Scholarship Resource Section.

What about teaching certifications?

Successful completion of the minor, along with a passing score on the Praxis 5206 exam, will lead to a recommendation for a North Carolina add-on K-12 license in Reading.

The M.Ed. in Reading Education program qualifies graduates who hold a North Carolina professional educator’s license for an Advanced North Carolina K-12 Reading Education license at the master’s level. Graduates from the program who do not have a professional educator’s license can earn the M.Ed. in Reading degree but will not be eligible for licensure at any level.

The Advanced Literacy Instruction and Intervention Certificate does not lead to any teaching certifications nor does the Ph.D. programs in Curriculum & Instruction.

What are career options for graduates?

The Minor in Reading Education program is designed for students already seeking initial licensure in another content area who wish to gain expertise in reading methods in the K-12 public school setting. The minor provides additional expertise in reading and literacy adding to the employablity of our graduates.

Many of the graduates with the M.Ed. in Reading Education who are already teaching move into teacher leader roles such as grade-level lead teachers or subject area chairperson while others become Reading Specialists or Literacy Coaches who work with teachers to improve literacy instruction through coaching, modeling, co-teaching and leading professional development. Some literacy specialists work with students in pull-out groups to support their literacy advancement. We now accept students who are not classroom teachers and do not have an initial teaching license and for those outside of the school setting there is a range of possibilities including tutoring and working with non-profits that serve children through out-of-school programs during the summer or after-school.

Graduates with from the Reading Strand of the Curriculum and Instruction Ph.D. program have a variety of career paths with many successfully entering academia in tenure-track positions while others move into leadership positions in school districts.

What are graduates saying about the programs?

Here’s what graduates have said about the Graduate Reading programs and its impact on their work as educators:

The program has better equipped me as a current literacy teacher and a future literacy leader. It has provided me with the opportunity to reflect on my own teaching practices and also practice first-hand new literacy research and strategies through case studies and projects. I have been able to grow in my confidence as a literacy leader and feel better equipped to support and lead my colleagues. –2021 graduate
Looking at data and making data-based decisions as guided by the assignments of this program helped me target students’ needs in my current classroom. The way this program was designed helped me see my path as an educator going forward. –2021 graduate
The program has better equipped me as a current literacy teacher and a future literacy leader. It has provided me with the opportunity to reflect on my own teaching practices and also practice first-hand new literacy research and strategies through case studies and projects. –2021 graduate
This program allowed me to explore so many aspects of literacy from K-12 and has allowed me to offer more differentiation to my students and make my classroom a more equitable learning environment for every individual in my classroom. –2019 Graduate

I live and work in a rural school in Southeastern Illinois. Many of my students are significantly behind in reading and writing…and through the online Reading M.Ed. program at UNC Charlotte I gained knowledge in diagnostic assessments and evidence-based approaches to develop differentiated and targeted approaches to reading instruction that would reach my students where they are. –2019 Graduate

During my experience at UNC Charlotte, I developed close relationships with the faculty and classmates. To this day, I continue to seek input and advice from classmates in the M.Ed program when faced with professional challenges. The knowledge and skills I obtained from the program opened many doors for me professionally. — 2015 Graduate

What are the degree and work requirements for M.Ed. & ALII Certificate?

Applicants to the M.Ed. and ALII Certificate programs must have a bachelor’s degree from a regionally-accredited university. Candidates are not required to have teaching experience, although teaching or work with K-12 students in literacy in our out of schools is highly recommended.

What are the estimated program costs?

Programs costs depend on your residency status which is determined the State of North Carolina. Below is an estimate of costs for our M.Ed. in Reading Education and our Advanced Literacy Instruction & Intervention Certificate programs as of Feb. 2022:

ALII Certificate

Resident:

$280.34 per credit hour
$3,364.00 est. program cost

Outside of NC Non-Resident:

$521.29 per credit hour
$6,256.00 est. program cost

**For most up-to-date estimate of costs please visit the School of Professional Studies program website for the Advanced Literacy Instruction & Intervention Graduate Certificate

Master’s of Reading Education

Resident:

$280.34 per credit hour
$9,252.00 est. program cost

Outside of NC Non-Resident:

$521.29 per credit hour
$17,203.00 est. program cost

**For most up-to-date estimate of costs please visit the School of Professional Studies program website for the Reading Education, M.Ed.

What is the sequence of courses for the Masters and Certificate programs?

M.Ed. in Reading Education Course Sequence

The master’s program is a two-year program for most students taking two courses per Fall and Spring term and three courses taking in two summer terms. The current course of study for students depends on what semester they start. See our Fall-Spring-Summer start sequence document for the classes students typically take depending on when they begin the program. We strongly encourage students starting the program to begin their first summer taking one or two courses. This lightens the courseload during the second Summer from 9 hours to 6 or 3 hours.

The courses for the master’s with the semesters they are offered typically include:

Summer

READ 6204 Teaching Reading to ELL
READ 6300 Global Literacy in a Multicultural World: Genre Studies
RSCH 6101 Educational Research Methods

Fall

READ 6100 Trends and Issues in Literacy and Leadership
READ 6250 Emergent and Elementary Literacy

Spring

READ 6252 K-12 Writing Development and Instruction
EDUC 6254 Individualizing Instruction for Diverse Learners

Fall

ELED 6303 Teacher Inquiry and Data Analysis in the Elementary Classroom
READ 6255 Middle/Secondary Reading and Writing

Spring (final term)

READ 6260 Diagnostic Assessment and Instruction in Reading
READ 6254 Collaborative Leadership in Literacy Education

We develop an Early Entry plan that is individualiized for each of our undergraduates who begins the Masters program while an undergraduate so early entry students do not follow the cohort sequence.

Advanced Literacy Instruction & Intervention Certificate Course Sequence

Students in the 12-hour certificate program take READ 6250 or READ 6255 and three other READ courses:

READ 6250 Emergent and Elementary Literacy or READ 6255 Middle/Secondary Reading and Writing — take one based on the grade level(s) you work with
READ 6252 K-12 Writing Development and Instruction
READ 6204 Teaching Reading to ELLs
READ 6260 Diagnostic Assessment and Instruction in Reading

All coursework in the Advanced Literacy Instruction & Intervention Certificate can apply towards the M.Ed. in Reading Education at UNC Charlotte for students who wish to go beyond the certificate and earn their master’s degree.

Students may start the ALII Certificate any term–Spring, Summer or Fall. The program requires three semesters or one academic year to complete.

Link to our Current Course Sequence for Master’s and Certificate Programs

Here is a link to the current course sequence for our M.Ed. in Reading Education and ALII Certificate programs.

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Current Students

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