Although the University of Texas Permian Basin College of Education has earned recognition from the International Literacy Association, professors say they will continue to strive for excellence.
Honoring its master’s in literacy program, the recognition “honors outstanding advanced licensure, certificate, or endorsement programs that prepare candidates for the role of reading specialist. The primary role of a reading specialist is instructional. Professionals in these roles predominantly work with students who experience difficulties with reading and writing in grades prek-12,” the UTPB website said quoting the ILA website.
“Reading specialists must have the skills, knowledge, and disposition to work with teachers effectively and improve general classroom literacy instruction,” the website said.
Assistant Professors of Literacy Tara Wilson and Shelly Landreth led the work to achieve ILA laurels.
Wilson said the recognition is good for five years, but they are planning to go for the next level.
“… To be honest, we were not sure we would get it, but we were very excited,” Wilson said. “What I like about it is it … proves that our program is good. It’s aligned to standards. It’s not just UTPB saying we have a good master’s of literacy program. We have other people saying that with that recognition,” Wilson said.
The recognitions are awarded every five years, but Wilson said they have to go through the same process.
“We had to do what they call a self-evaluation of the program which turned out to be about 50-60 pages of documentation,” Wilson said. “We provided examples of how we meet all of the International Literacy Association standards and then we sent all that documentation to the International Literacy Association. Then it was reviewed by their people and then they came back and told us we would get the recognition,” Wilson said.
She said it is for the College of Education’s master’s of literacy program with a reading specialist certification. The program is totally online.
“Currently, we have 16 (students). We are a very small program, but we are hoping to grow, thanks to this recognition …,” Wilson said.
A master’s of literacy or a master’s degree in general will increase a teacher’s salary, but it’s up to each district how much, Wilson said.
“It strengthens you as a classroom teacher,” she said.
Wilson added that it also allows teachers to become more of a campus leader, or a reading specialist, someone who specializes in helping children with reading difficulties and other literacy skills.
She added that she thinks the recognition could attract more students. Even this spring, more applications have come in.
She added that UTPB is one of only six colleges in the country that have earned this recognition. There is another one in Texas at UT San Antonio.
“Most of our students in our program are elementary teachers because that’s where you see more of the reading specialists, but three of our students are high school teachers here in the local area,” Wilson said.
The reading specialist certification is only valid in Texas.
“… Our program cannot certify somebody out of state because we have to go through the Texas Education Agency,” Wilson said.
UTPB has offered the graduate degree for many years, but it went fully online in the 2018-2019 school year.
“It was a hybrid where we had some face-to-face classes, but now we have 100 percent online so that’s a change …,” Wilson said.
Standards at TEA and the International Literacy Association change every few years.
Dean of the College of Education Larry Daniel said getting national recognition of the literacy master’s program from the International Literacy Association puts UTPB in an elite group of institutions that have demonstrated adherence to the world-class program standards for reading/literacy specialists.
“The ILA standards are focused on what our graduates are able to do as professionals and cover all aspects of the work of a literacy specialist, including expert literacy instruction, ability to build effective literacy curriculum, diagnosis and assessment of reading problems, and attention to diversity and inclusion within the classroom/learning environment,” Daniel said in an email.
“Our Literacy program already has the distinction of being state approved (Texas Education Agency) and nationally accredited (Council on Accreditation of Educator Preparation — CAEP). Practically all teacher education programs in any state have state approval. A much smaller number are CAEP-accredited (only 20% of programs in Texas). National recognition by ILA is much more rare, distinguishing UT Permian Basin’s Literacy program from the majority in the country,” he added.
