This department offers a 21-credit Advanced Certificate in Literacy B-6 or 5-12 leading to professional certification as a Literacy Specialist. To be eligible for the Advanced Certificate in Literacy, you must have completed a Master’s Degree in Education possessing initial teaching certification.
The coursework will provide you with the core Literacy courses offered in the Master’s program.
Please note that the full degree cannot be taken at the Long Island Graduate Center and at least one course must be taken at our Queens campus.
Career Outcomes
The literacy programs enable teachers to develop a repertoire of literacy strategies that enhance teaching and learning in general education, special education, resource room, and English-language learning environments. If you already have a master’s degree in these areas, the literacy strategies you learn will improve your ability to teach a diverse population of students.
Career Opportunities
- Reading specialist and diagnostician
- Private practice as a multisensory instructor
- Resource room teacher
- Conference presenter
- Literacy coach or supervisor
- University or college professor with Ph.D.
- Curriculum/staff developer
Partnership/Placement
Literacy students conduct their practicum sessions in after-school settings where they are able to work with children from many schools. St. John’s has built partnerships with local schools to increase placement opportunities for our students after graduation.
Our program is unique in that it allows students to develop skills to teach diverse learners beyond the school setting by providing the background to establish a private practice as a diagnostician and tutor.
Students have the opportunity to work with leaders in the field instructors who work directly with children in our city schools and who network with schools to assist with placement. Any of the literacy options can lead students to a Ph.D. program in literacy.