The First Annual
Summer Literacy Institute
LITERACY ASSESSMENT AND INSTRUCTION
June 28 - June 30, 2005
University at Albany Uptown Campus
The School of Education at the University at Albany is a leader in preparing and sustaining thousands of teachers and administrators in the Capital Region and throughout New York State. Through its degree programs as well as its faculty members’ expert contributions to regional and national workshops, seminars and consulting, the School has helped define and support excellence in teaching,
learning, and leadership. Among its many areas of expertise is literacy teaching and learning. In response to requests and in light of the state’s new professional development requirements, the School of Education is very happy to announce the debut of an annual Summer Literacy Institute. This year’s theme, Literacy Assessment and Instruction, was chosen specifically to address the demands put on schools by the federal No Child Left Behind legislation and to provide teachers and administrators with effective ways to meet current demands.
WHY LITERACY ASSESSMENT?
No matter what the subject, students need to learn from texts, whether those texts are printed, symbolic, visual, or aural. All require using language to learn from and make meaning of the material. In addition, high stakes assessments in every subject now include more reading and writing, so students need to become literate in each of their subject areas – to understand the literacy of that subject. Content area teachers in subjects other than English language arts have thus been thrust into a new role and can benefit from gaining a deeper understanding of literacy in general as well as in their own subject areas and from learning instructional strategies that help students learn content through reading, writing, and discussion.
This year’s institute will offer teachers and other school leaders three days of intensive exploration of literacy assessment issues and techniques, including an examination of the new standards-based testing system for grades 3-8. The institute will feature University at Albany faculty and other Capital Region literacy experts in daily keynote addresses, follow-up break out sessions, and focused workshops.
