Grand Challenges: Maryland Initiative for Literacy & Equity (MILE)

Grant Type: Institutional Grant
Topics: Education & Social Justice
Colleges Represented: EDUC, ARHU, BSOS, INFO, SPP

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) will harness 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.

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Team Members:

PI: Donald Bolger (EDUC), Associate Professor, Human Development and Quantitative Methodology	Simone Gibson, Director, Responsive Literacy, School of Education and Urban Studies, Morgan State University	Colin Phillips (ARHU), Professor, Distinguished Scholar-Teacher, Linguistics, Director, Language Science Center	Jade Wexler (EDUC), Associate Professor, Special Education	Ebony Terrell Shockley (EDUC), Associate Clinical Professor, Executive Director
Jennifer Turner (EDUC), Associate Professor, Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership	José Ortiz (BSOS), Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences	Maggie Peterson (EDUC), Assistant Clinical Professor, Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership	Elizabeth Bonsignore (INFO), Assistant Research Scientist, Information Studies	Rochelle Newman (BSOS), Professor and Chair, Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences
Juan Uriagereka (ARHU), Professor, School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, Dept. of Linguistics	Kira Gor (ARHU), Professor, School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures	Jennifer Littlefield (SPP), Lecturer, Director of Undergraduate Studies, Public Policy	Shanna Pearson (SPP), Professor and Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs, Public Policy	Brandi Slaughter (SPP), Associate Clinical Professor, Public Policy
Melinda Martin-Beltran (EDUC), Associate Professor, Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership	Drew Fagan (EDUC), Associate Clinical Professor, Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership	Eliza Thompson (BSOS), Assistant Clinical Professor, Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences	Ayanna Baccus (EDUC), Associate Clinical Professor, Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership	Nan Bernstein Ratner (BSOS), Professor, Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Director of Graduate Studies, Neuroscience and Cognitive Science Program
Christy Tirrell-Corbin (EDUC), Clinical Professor, Human Development and Quantitative Methodology	Susan De La Paz (EDUC), Professor, Special Education	Jason Chow (EDUC), Associate Professor, Special Education	Jeff MacSwan (EDUC), Professor, Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership	Kellie Rolstad (EDUC), Associate Professor, Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership
Rachel Romeo (EDUC), Assistant Professor, Human Development and Quantitative Methodology	Ana Taboada Barber (EDUC), Professor and Associate Dean for Research, Innovation and Partnerships	Veronica Kang (EDUC), Associate Professor, Counseling, Higher Education, and Special Education	Shevaun Lewis (ARHU), Assistant Research Professor and Assistant Director, Language Science Center