This course examines critical issues in special education leadership, emphasizing evidence-based practices and data-informed decision making. Topics include disproportionality in identification, inclusive strategies, culturally responsive practices, and intervention methods. Students explore policy, assessment, and fostering positive school cultures. Participants develop skills in program analysis and improvement planning.

This course addresses reading and writing development from emergent literacy through adolescent readers with attention to diverse needs of students. The course also addresses components of effective literacy programs (e.g., concepts of print, fluency, phonological awareness, phonics, spelling, writing, comprehension, vocabulary) and evidence-based practices for reading and writing instruction informed by assessment within an MTSS framework.

This course provides an examination of current reading and writing research and its implications for assessment and instruction for students with reading and writing disabilities. This course focuses on the assessment and diagnosis of reading and writing difficulties and instructional strategies for addressing literacy problems. Students will learn how to conduct literacy diagnoses, develop case reports, and develop programs based on assessment.

This online course is designed for educators of children who are learning English as a second language. Theory is grounded in researched practices for teaching reading with an understanding of the challenges facing non-English native speakers.

Designed to teach elementary pre-service teachers fundamental social studies concepts of United States history, Virginia Studies, civics, geography, and economics appropriate for meeting the Virginia Standards of Learning in grades PreK-6. The course also focuses on the planning, instruction, and assessment of social studies curriculum.

Translate theory & research into practice: design instructional units using a variety of best practices. Emphasis on individualized projects, developmentally appropriate learning objectives, authentic assessments, plus cooperative learning, creativity, reflection, media & technology integration. Critique & reinvent school textbooks for effective instruction; incorporate standards while delivering imaginative, relative learning.

This course focuses on the many genres of children's literature. Students will learn strategies for promoting reading for enjoyment and information, developing collections to support diverse learning needs, and collaborating to support literacy instruction. Students will evaluate literacy quality and learn a range of instructional techniques to support a literature curriculum.

Using Sims Bishops' (1990) mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors framework, students read, analyze, and discuss contemporary young adult literature (YAL) featuring marginalized viewpoints and identities. Students will collaborate around strategies to incorporate contemporary YAL into schools and evaluate the viewpoints present and absent in the titles they currently use with young adults.

This course aims to help educators understand how to provide quality instruction for diverse learners in schools and classrooms that are becoming increasingly multicultural. In the course, students explore theories of culturally responsive/sustaining teaching and how they can be applied to help diverse learners (including but not limited to ethnically, culturally, and linguistically diverse students) feel valued and successful in classrooms.

This course introduces the scientific study of language, exploring how linguistic insights can prepare teachers who work with preK-12 ELLs. It addresses the sounds of the language (phonetics and phonology), the structure of words/sentences (morphology and syntax) and how these features convey meaning (semantics and pragmatics). Students will apply this knowledge of language to the everyday use of English and its acquisition in school settings.