5 credits

Literacy may be understood in multiple ways across various settings and populations. In this course, a foundation will be laid for educators to define literacy based on historical and contemporary perspectives, the sociopolitical landscape, the influence of social media and technological innovation, and influences coming from national, state, local, and Common Core standards. Educators will examine ways to overcome barriers to student literacy learning and develop techniques to improve communication and increase community and family involvement. Based on what they learn in this course and drawing on professional reading and curriculum standards, education professionals will develop a plan to gain stakeholder support for the improvement of curriculum and literacy programming at the systems level.