Program Learning Outcomes

The Reading and Literacy Added Authorization program is a purposeful, developmentally-designed sequence of course work and field experiences that builds upon the foundational knowledge, skills and competencies developed as a classroom teacher. It effectively prepares teacher to teach all students to read and helps teachers understand the challenges of developing literacy among California’s diverse population. Successful candidates will be able to maximize literacy development for all students.

• Candidates will be able to promote a culture of literacy in their classroom and at their school site by including the clear and strategic use of reading, writing, listening, and speaking throughout the day, across a variety of contexts using narrative, expository and other texts, and developing online and offline reading and writing skills to meet the diverse needs of students, and the effective implementation of the adopted curriculum including the use of peer coaching and professional development.
• Candidates will learn how review current research on elements of an effective culture of literacy at the classroom, school, district, and community levels, including the clear and strategic use of reading, writing, listening, and speaking throughout the day, across a variety of contexts using narrative, expository and other texts, and developing online and offline reading and writing skills to meet the diverse needs of students, and the effective implementation of the adopted curriculum including the use of peer coaching and professional development.
• Candidates will be prepared to teach literacy to all students through assessment, instruction, and appropriate interventions through the review and analysis of current, confirmed, reliable and replicable quantitative and qualitative research pertaining to language and literacy instruction and how that research is reflected in the contents of the California Preschool Learning Foundations, Volume 1 (2008), the California Preschool Curriculum Framework, Volume 1 (2010), and the Reading/Language Arts Framework for California Public Schools, Kindergarten Through Grade Twelve (2007).
• Candidates learn how to candidates to learn how to assess, instruct, and provide intervention, if needed, for each component of research-based literacy instruction, including oral language development, word analysis, fluency, vocabulary development, listening and reading comprehension, written language development, and to develop the skills needed to modify the curriculum to address the specific needs of diverse groups of students, including but not limited to struggling students, English learners, gifted and talented students, and students with special needs. The program provides opportunities for candidates to learn the normal progression of complexity for each component of literacy, as explicated in the California Preschool Learning Foundations, Volume 1 (2008), the California Preschool Curriculum Framework, Volume 1 (2010), and the Reading/Language Arts Framework for California Public Schools, Kindergarten Through Grade Twelve (2007), the expected stages and patterns in students’ development including early and adolescent literacy, the implications of delays or differences in students’ literacy development relative to grade level standards, and when such delays/differences warrant further assessment, differentiated instruction and intervention. The program provides opportunities for candidates to learn instructional sequences and routines that develop and accelerate students’ language and literacy learning, including RtI2, and how to maximize students’ literacy development by using the reciprocal relationships among the components of a research-based literacy program, as well as methods to incorporate information literacy skills. Students learn to access, evaluate, use and integrate information and ideas found in print, media, and digital resources enabling them to function in a knowledge-based economy and technologically-oriented society…. (Model School Library Standards for California Public Schools, Kindergarten through Grade Twelve, rev. 9/2010)
• Candidates learn how to integrate curriculum through a series of fieldwork opportunities to evaluate research for appropriateness to the target population, integrate research and practice, and to apply appropriate assessment, instruction, and differentiation in the field. Candidates will work with individuals and/or small groups of students at both early (PreK-3) and intermediate (4th grade and up) levels of literacy acquisition. Candidates will demonstrate the knowledge, understanding, and application of all elements of the curriculum defined in Standards 2 and 3. Comprehensive experiences will be available for candidates to: interpret results of classroom assessments, including formative, on-going and summative; perform additional assessments as appropriate; implement instructional strategies based on results of the assessment; and monitor and evaluate student progress. The program ensures that candidates work at field sites or clinical settings where the instructional approaches and methods are consistent with a balanced, comprehensive program of reading and literacy instruction.