Institutional Grant
Grand Challenges: Maryland Initiative for Literacy & Equity (MILE)
Maryland Initiative for Literacy & Equity (MILE)
News
Grand Challenges: Maryland Initiative for Literacy and Equity
February 19, 2026
MILE Literacy Research Team Shares Recommendations on Teacher Training, Instructional Strategies, Community Engagement
October 4, 2024
Maryland State Board of Education Applauds MILE Leadership’s Efforts to Advance Literacy Instruction
September 25, 2024
Maryland State Board of Education Holds Session with MILE
September 20, 2024
Literacy Group Makes Recommendations Under Blueprint Implementation Plans (Baltimore Sun)
September 5, 2024
Building a Better Future for Maryland’s Students
September 3, 2024
MILE Hosts Dual Language Educator Conference
June 1, 2024
Academia Willing to Help with Blueprint Education Reform Plan (Maryland Matters)
April 11, 2024
MILE Celebrates Day of Giving With Book Drive for Local Students
March 6, 2024
UMD Students Share Child Welfare, Education Policy Priorities at Advocacy Event
February 16, 2024
An Innovative Initiative to Increase Literacy and Equity in Maryland
November 16, 2023
Maryland Schools Taught Reading the Wrong Way for Decades. That’s Starting to Change. (Baltimore Banner)
October 10, 2023
UMD Celebrates Launch of the Maryland Initiative for Literacy and Equity
September 21, 2023
Rising to a Grand Challenge: Childhood Literacy
March 28, 2023
Events
September 27, 2025
Navigating Tomorrow: Embracing AI Across Curriculum
8:00 am - 3:00 pm, Riva Trace Baptist Church or Virtual
The Maryland Initiative for Literacy and Equity (MILE) is proud to promote the Summit School’s upcoming symposium, “Navigating Tomorrow: Embracing AI Across Curriculum,” a one-day symposium exploring the impact of artificial intelligence on education. Featuring expert speakers, interactive sessions, and practical strategies, the event will highlight how AI can support learning, teaching, and future readiness. Attendance can be in person or virtual.
Also see:
MILE Events Calendar
Summary
A large proportion of the students who graduate from our public schools face barriers that prevent them from reading and writing at grade level. Achievement gaps in our schools systematically increase with the number of students living at or below the poverty line, coinciding with increasing segregation by race, ethnicity, and language background. This makes literacy achievement not just an educational issue, but one of equity and civil rights.
In the field of literacy, there is a global chasm between the science of language and literacy acquisition and the practice of teaching children how to read and write. Basic and translational research on language and literacy acquisition often overlooks or minimizes social and cultural contexts, leading to deficit perspectives toward culturally and linguistically diverse students, families, and communities.
The Maryland Initiative for Literacy and Equity (MILE) is harnessing research-to-practice partnerships in the fields of education, speech and language pathology, library sciences, policy, and community stakeholder outreach. These efforts are aimed at driving integrative research, both translational and basic, that is contextualized with respect to marginalized communities across race, culture, ethnicity, and language, as well as neurodiverse populations.
This initiative seeks to transform and integrate practices in education, speech pathology, library sciences, and parent/family engagement through streamlined and cutting-edge models of professional development and community outreach.
PI: Donald Bolger
Director, and Associate Professor, Human Development and Quantitative Methodology
EDUC
Simone Gibson
Director, MILE @ Morgan State, Responsive Literacy, School of Education and Urban Studies, Morgan State University
Maggie Peterson
Executive Director, and Assistant Clinical Professor, Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership
EDUC
Jade Wexler
Associate Director, Research, and Associate Professor, Special Education
EDUC
Melinda Martin-Beltran
Associate Director, Professional Development, Associate Professor, Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership
EDUC
José Ortiz
Associate Director, Community Outreach, and Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences
BSOS
Brandi Slaughter
Associate Clinical Professor, Public Policy
SPP
Jennifer Littlefield
Area Lead, Policy Education, and Lecturer, Director of Undergraduate Studies, Public Policy
SPP
Shanna Pearson
Area Lead, Policy Research, and Professor and Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs, Public Policy
SPP
Kira Gor
Area Lead, Language Diversity, and Professor, School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
ARHU
Courtney Overton
Associate Director, Education, LEAP Preschool Lead, and Assistant Clinical Professor, Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences
BSOS
Elizabeth Gotwalt
Ed Terps Executive Director
EDUC
Drew Fagan
Associate Clinical Professor, Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership
EDUC
Loren Jones
Associate Clinical Professor
EDUCContributors:
Colin Phillips
Professor, Distinguished Scholar-Teacher, Linguistics, Director, Language Science Center
ARHU
Ebony Terrell Shockley
Associate Clinical Professor, Executive Director
EDUC
Jennifer Turner
Associate Professor, Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership
EDUC
Elizabeth Bonsignore
Assistant Research Scientist, Information Studies
INFO
Rochelle Newman
Professor and Chair, Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences
BSOS
Juan Uriagereka
Professor, School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, Dept. of Linguistics
ARHU
Shevaun Lewis
Assistant Research Professor and Assistant Director, Language Science Center
ARHU
Eliza Thompson
Assistant Clinical Professor, Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences
BSOS
Ayanna Baccus
Associate Clinical Professor, Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership
EDUC
Nan Bernstein Ratner
Professor, Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Director of Graduate Studies, Neuroscience and Cognitive Science Program
BSOS
Christy Tirrell-Corbin
Clinical Professor, Human Development and Quantitative Methodology
EDUC
Susan De La Paz
Professor, Special Education
EDUC
Jason Chow
Associate Professor, Special Education
EDUC
Jeff MacSwan
Professor, Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership
EDUC
Kellie Rolstad
Associate Professor, Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership
EDUC
Rachel Romeo
Assistant Professor, Human Development and Quantitative Methodology
EDUC
Ana Taboada Barber
Professor and Associate Dean for Research, Innovation and Partnerships
EDUC
Veronica Kang
Associate Professor, Counseling, Higher Education, and Special Education
EDUCPartnerships:
- Morgan State University
- Prince George’s County Public Schools
- Montgomery County Public Schools
- Howard County Public Schools
- Baltimore City Schools
- Maryland Speech & Hearing Association