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University of Arkansas at Little Rock Establishes Center for Literacy |
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In fall, 2006, the Center for Literacy in the College of Education at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock was established. UALR has a history of literacy partnerships with schools, including professional development activities and research projects. The Center for Literacy acknowledges the university’s commitment to increasing literacy achievement in Arkansas and the nation, while also putting into place a structure for organizing literacy initiatives. The mission of the Center for Literacy is to use literacy as a tool for meeting the following goals: 1) to prepare students to assume leadership roles for influencing literacy at local, state, and national levels; 2) to offer a framework for implementing learning communities within schools and regions where students can collaborate on literacy projects; 3) to advocate for reading specialists, Reading Recovery teachers, and Literacy Coaches in all schools by making graduate coursework more accessible to students across the state; 4) to promote research initiatives between faculty and schools;
5) to provide services to the community, schools, and state to address literacy-related issues, including annual conferences, literacy academies, and summer institutes; 6) to provide intellectual resources for supporting literacy efforts within schools, 7) to continue to build partnerships at the national and professional levels in order to advocate for effective literacy practices, early intervention services for struggling readers, and reading specialists in all schools, 8) to increase opportunities for faculty to collaborate on literacy-related projects and research; and 9) to publish scholarly materials, including a peer-referred online journal that focuses on school-based research, technical reports on literacy, and other documents that illustrate university and school partnerships. The UALR Center for Literacy provides a structure for integrating five interrelated elements: teaching, professional development, research and scholarly activity, technology, and partnerships.
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