Literacy Studies Certificate

The Literacy Studies Certificate provides an educational opportunity for practitioners, specifically classroom teachers, thereby developing and deepening candidates’ literacy knowledge, skills, and dispositions toward teaching diverse students in elementary and middle level classrooms. Utilizing standards for classroom teachers outlined in the International Literacy Association (ILA), the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), as well as the PDE ELA standards, the Literacy Studies Certificate addresses a wide variety of competencies. Candidates have the opportunity to explicitly investigate specific topics within and among courses in order to build a comprehensive perspective of teaching reading and writing simultaneously. The Literacy Studies Certificate supports candidates’ learning preferences, specifically through an online delivery of content and the enhancement of candidates’ technology-based literacy and pedagogical skills. In essence, candidates use technology as a tool to direct their investigations into effective literacy practices, while also balancing their understanding of technology as a literacy tool in elementary and middle-level classrooms.