Graduate Catalog 2023-2024
Sub-Menu

Literacy Education, Master of Arts in Education (044)

Department website: http://www.wku.edu/ste/


Program Coordinator

Janet L. Tassell, janet.tassell@wku.edu, (270) 745-5306

Program Contact
Rachael Lee, rachael.lee@wku.edu, (270) 745-2819

The Master of Arts in Education - The Literacy Education MAE is created to help teachers improve their literacy instruction at all grade levels and to gain leadership skills and knowledge to build and sustain successful literacy programs in schools and other settings. 

Program Admission

Students who seek advanced teacher certification must hold teaching certification.

Students may complete this program without teacher certification if they intend to pursue employment in a setting (where teacher certification is not required). This program does not provide initial teacher certification. Students who do not enter the program with a teaching certification are not eligible for the Reading P-12 endorsement, nor are they eligible for the Literacy Specialist endorsement.

Graduate School Admission

Please refer to the admission section of this catalog for Graduate School admission requirements.

Program Requirements (30 hours)

The Master of Arts in Literacy Education requires a minimum of 30 hours. 

Required Courses
LTCY 519Literacy Development and Instruction 13
LTCY 520Clinical Diagnosis of Reading Variability3
LTCY 521Reading Intervention3
LTCY 523Assessment and Intervention of Reading and Writing 13
LTCY 524Content Area and Disciplinary Literacy 13
LTCY 527Diversity and Equity in Literacy Education 13
LTCY 530Literacy Development for Multilingual Learners3
LTCY 532Literacy Leadership and Coaching3
LTCY 695Practicum for Literacy Professionals 23
Elective
Select one 3-hour elective: 13
Seminar in Literacy Issues and Trends
Psycholinguistics and Sociolinguistics
Special Topics in English
Curriculum, Strategies, and Materials for Gifted Students
Psychology of the Gifted and Creative
Advanced Educational Psychology
Psychology of Learning
Psychological Perspectives on Classroom Behavior
Behavior Problems of Childhood and Adolescence
Advanced Children's Literature and Collections
Advanced Young Adult Literature and Collections
Curriculum/Methods in Early Childhood Special Education
The Exceptional Child: Perspectives and Issues
Organization of Elementary School Curriculum
Organizing Programs for Early Childhood Special Education
Total Hours30
1

Required courses for the Reading P-12 Endorsement. A certification examination is not a requirement to earn the Literacy Education MAE. However, the Kentucky State Department of Education does require a passing score on the PRAXIS II Assessment to earn the Literacy Specialist and/or the Reading P-12 Endorsement. Please contact the Office of Professional Educator Services for more information. For current PRAXIS II information and exam codes, please consult the Kentucky page of the Educational Testing Service (ETS) website, https://www.ets.org/praxis/ky/requirements.

2

Capstone Experience occurs in LTCY 695 as creation and implementation of Professional Development and/or Coaching for school partners; observed by program faculty; evaluated by attendees and program faculty. The Capstone Experience will be created based upon knowledge acquired and gained during the program.

If the graduate student has already completed hours required for the program and the courses have already been counted on a prior degree, he/she must substitute other hours with advisor approval.

Hours above 30 may count toward Rank I.