The Center for Adolescent Literacies at UNC Charlotte

The Center for Adolescent Literacies at UNC Charlotte focuses on developing instruction to make literacy and learning relevant and effective for adolescents and those who work with them.  The Center also conducts and supports research and service in support of its primary mission.

What we are doing...

ReadWriteServe Tutoring & Community Outreach Programs

• The Center is a partner in the Project 1,000, an effort led by the United Way of Central Carolinas to recruit 1,000 readers, tutors and mentors to work with children in our community. The Center is developing tutor/mentor/reader training, handbooks and a support website. For more information to the Project 1,000 website. 

• The Center has collaborated with Charlotte area literacy organizations to form the Charlotte Mecklenburg Literacy Roundtable, a network of literacy providers in our community. This group had its first meeting on March 3, 2011 in the College of Education. 

• The ReadWriteServe Student to Student tutoring programs including the America Reads and America Counts at UNC Charlotte, Literacy PALS volunteer tutoring program have placed over 1,100 UNC Charlotte students as tutors with 1850 K-12 learners in the greater Charlotte region. America Reads is accepting UNC Charlotte Work Study student applicants for tutoring positions for the 2012-2013 school year. For more information go to the America Reads page.

• Literacy for Democracy works in economically disadvantaged communities to improve children and adolescents’ literacy and academic achievement through service learning with university pre-service and in-service teachers. Partners include Charlotte Mecklenburg, Cabarrus County and Kannapolis City Schools as well as Freedom School Partners, Inc.

Research & Scholarship

• The Center has lead a two-year effort to evaluate the reading program component of Charlotte-area Children's Defense Fund© Freedom Schools. An initial pilot study conducted during the summer 2009 showed positive benefits to youth in this summer program. During the summers of 2010 and 2011, the Center worked with Freedom School Partners, Inc. of Charlotte to conduct a larger evaluation of the Freedom Schools in Charlotte, N.C. The Center also led an evaluation of the CDF Bennettsville, S.C. Freedom School in 2009. Follow this link to download copies of these reports.

• The Metamorphosis Project is an initiative of the Center for Adolescent Literacies at UNC Charlotte to work in collaborative partnership with students, teachers and researchers to identify effective literacy and learning practices in K-12 classrooms. The Metamorphosis Project seeks to document these practices including their impact on learning and share them with other stakeholders in education (students, teachers, administrators, policymakers and educational researchers) to promote effective, engaging and inclusive educational environments.

   

Professional Development & Classroom Support Programs

• Advancing Literacy: Teaching & Learning in the 21st Century Professional Development Series. The Advancing Literacy series provides professional development opportunities to help teachers meet the needs of diverse students with 21st Century tools.

• The Multiliteracies Wiki has a wealth of resources and ideas for integrating digital technologies into teaching.  Developed by teachers, the focus of this resource is on the meaningful application of technology in teaching and learning.

• The Center is a partner in the First 3 Beginning Teacher Support Program developed by the Omicron Pi chapter of Kappa Delta Pi at UNC Charlotte. This program provides professional development and mentoring to teachers during their first three years of teaching.

Who we are...

Follow this link for information about the Center, its faculty team, and to download copies of our annual reports and newsletters.