Language & Literacy

Curriculum

Ed.M. Program Requirements

Students in the Language and Literacy program fulfill thirty-two credits.* Sixteen of these credits must be selected from Language and Literacy course offerings. Examples of Language and Literacy courses students may take are the following:

• H700 From Language to Literacy (fall)
• H818 Reading Development and Instruction (fall)
• H821 Literacy Coaching (fall)
• HT820 Introduction to Psychoeducational Assessments (fall)
• H703 Parent-child Interaction in Literacy: Influence and Intervention (spring)
• H804 Writing Development (spring)
• H860 Reading Difficulties (spring)
• H870 Reading Comprehension (spring)
• T510A Authorship and Learning in the Digital Age (spring)
• H810 Modules on children, adolescent, and language minority learners (fall & spring)

A list of all Language and Literacy courses is available as a subset of the HGSE course catalogue. These courses address the relationships among reading, writing, language, cognitive development, reading and writing difficulties, and cultural foundations of literacy in children, adolescents, and adults.
Additionally, eight credits must be selected from courses in Mind, Brain, and Education, Risk and Prevention, Human Development and Psychology, and/or other Language and Literacy courses. A list of these courses can be found on the HGSE course catalogue.

The remaining eight credits are allotted to elective courses, allowing students to take advantage of educational opportunities throughout the school and/or within the wider University and MIT.

Please see "Cross-Registration" below for more details.

*This is the minimal course load needed to fulfill degree requirements. Students may choose to take up to twenty credits per semester without any additional cost. It is strongly recommended that students interested in taking more than a sixteen-credit per semester load discuss their proposed schedules with their academic advisors.

Reading Specialist Licensure with Ed.M.

Within the Language and Literacy program, students who apply to and have been admitted to the licensure strand fulfill requirements established by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for licensure as a Reading Specialist Teacher.

This approved program consists of specific requirements for licensure that are somewhat different from the general Language and Literacy master's program.  

Reading Specialist Licensure Requirements

To be eligible for admittance to the Language and Literacy Reading Specialist licensure strand, a candidate must hold an Initial or Professional teaching license and must have at least one full year of teaching experience (i.e., August 2005 to August 2006) under that license in the subject or area appropriate to that license and in the state of license issuance. Neither Preliminary nor Emergency certificates are eligible in this program. See the Massachusetts Department of Education's Laws and Regulations for further information on prerequisites for reading specialist licensure, or for other information about licensure contact the HGSE Licensure Unit at 617-384-9262, or visit HGSE's Educator Licensure website.

The Reading Specialist licensure program provides a comprehensive program of courses and field-based experiences that align to the Massachusetts’ standards of professional and subject matter knowledge for reading specialist licensure candidates. Similar to the general Language and Literacy program, licensure students fulfill thirty-two credits in the one-year masters program; additionally, these students participate in at least one hundred and fifty hours of field-based experience in local public schools.
The Reading Specialist licensure strand course requirements are as follows:

• H801 Literacy Assessment and Intervention Practicum (fall)
• H818 Reading Development and Instruction (fall)
• HT820 Introduction to Psychoeducational Assessments (fall)
• H800 Reading Specialist Licensure Practicum (spring, 4 credits)
• H860 Reading Difficulties (spring)
• H870 Reading Comprehension (spring)

In addition, Reading Specialist licensure students select four (4) credits from the following course offerings:

• H700 From Language to Literacy (fall)
• H821 Literacy Coaching (fall)
• H703 Parent-child Interaction in Literacy: Influence and Intervention (spring)
• H804 Writing Development (spring)
• T510A Authorship and Learning in the Digital Age (spring)
• H810 Modules on children, adolescent, and language minority learners (fall & spring)

The remaining four (4) of the 32 (32) credits are allotted to elective courses, allowing students to take advantage of educational opportunities throughout the school and/or within the wider University and MIT. Please see "Cross-Registration" below for more details.

Literacy Coach Strand

Within the Language and Literacy program, students who apply to and have been admitted to the Literacy Coach strand fulfill requirements which prepare experienced teachers to assume the instructional leadership roles of the Literacy Coach.

Literacy Coach Strand Requirements

To be eligible for admittance to the Literacy Coach strand of the Language and Literacy program, a candidate must hold an Initial or Professional teaching license and must have had at least three years of experience teaching.

The Literacy Coach strand provides a comprehension program of courses and internship experiences.  The Literacy Coach strand course requirements are as follows:

T006 Adult Development (Spring)
H818 Reading Instruction and Development (Fall)
H821 Literacy Coaching (Fall)
S999 Field Experience Program (Spring)

In addition, Literacy Coach students select four (4) credits from the following course offerings:

H813 Bilingual Learners: Literacy Development and Instruction
H870 Reading Comprehension
H810Y Developing Adolescent Literacy
H810C Literacy and Content Learning in Middle and Secondary Schools

The remaining twelve (12) of the 32 credits are allotted to elective courses, allowing students to take advantage of educational opportunities throughout the school and/or within the wider University and MIT.

Cross-Registration

Many HGSE students choose to take courses at other Harvard graduate schools (aka, cross-registering), including the Harvard Business School (HBS) and the Kennedy School of Government (KSG). Harvard's schools operate on different schedules. Therefore, remain mindful of school's individual calendars and deadlines: start of classes, vacations, and exams.

For more information about cross-registering at other Harvard schools, please visit: https://crossreg.harvard.edu/

HGSE Course Catalog

For more information about HGSE course offerings, view the entire HGSE course catalogue