New Center Will Focus on Literacy Achievement

The College of Education has established the Literacy Achievement Research Center (LARC) as a focal point for literacy research both within the college and across the university.

Professor Michael Pressley, who will serve as the center’s director, said that literacy has emerged as a frontline educational issue throughout the nation given the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act. Although literacy demands are increasing, he said, there are too few teachers who are well prepared to educate students to meet those demands.

Thus, a key goal of the center, which is funded by a five-year, $2 million grant from MSU’s Research Excellence Funds program, will be to engage in research that will lead to strong student achievement and informed and effective literacy policies.

“Recent American commitments to increasing literacy, in part, reflect recognition that there has been great scientific progress in understanding how to improve reading and writing, especially in some learners who have traditionally struggled with reading and writing,” Pressley said. “That said, MSU faculty members have been leaders in informing the nation that the breadth of evidence being considered by policy makers to craft laws such as No Child Left Behind is dangerously narrow relative to the entire body of scientific research evidence that could inform policy.

“The MSU literacy research group is well prepared to continue and expand their multifaceted, multimethod, and multidisciplinary research aimed at increasing understandings about how to maximize literacy achievement of all people.”

The center will also draw on MSU’s national leadership in the study of teacher learning and development. Pressley said that part of the work of the center will be to inform the field of teacher education about the development of a teacher corps that can maximize the literacy achievement of its students.

Another important aspect of the center will be the active involvement of Ph.D. students, Pressley said. “Graduate students will leave MSU very well prepared to continue the work begun in the center. Their departure will provide even further reach for MSU, with them continuing to expand their research in ways that will reflect back to their graduate training.

“For example, we expect that as the graduate students grow to be independent scholars, they will be in positions to create collaborative opportunities for future MSU faculty members and graduate students.”

Research at the center is already underway. Some of the projects are analyzing how to assess reading fluency in elementary students, how to improve upper elementary and middle school students’ reading and writing of expository text, how to help teachers communicate effectively with parents to promote student achievement, and how com munity-based research projects can empower urban youth.

In addition to Pressley and Associate Director Nell Duke, faculty members include Mark Conley, Patricia Edwards, Carol Sue Englert, Susan Florio-Ruane, Mary Lundeberg, Troy Mariage, Ernest Morrell, Cindy Okolo, and Cheryl Rosaen. Former faculty member Victoria Purcell-Gates of the University of British Columbia is also part of the center.