Leading the Way in Teaching and Innovating Literacy Instruction

Faculty in the NC State College of Education are engaged in literacy research, teaching and outreach activities that help translate scientific evidence into high-quality teacher preparation and reading, writing, and English language arts instruction for children in grades K-12.

Meet Our Faculty

Chandra Alston

Title: Assistant Professor
Ph.D.: Stanford University
Chandra L. Alston, Ph.D., focuses on pedagogies, instructional practices and educational policies that support secondary English Language Arts teachers’ disciplinary, equity-oriented literacy practices, with an emphasis on writing, discussion, and informational text use.

Meet Dr. Alston 

Sarah Cannon

Title: Assistant Teaching Professor
Ph.D.: NC State University
Sarah Cannon, Ph.D., is interested in how to best support teacher candidates during a standardized performance-based assessment, the intersection of the standards movement with the critical need for multicultural education, and writing instruction as a tool for social justice.

Meet Dr. Cannon 

Maria Coady

Title: Goodnight Distinguished Professor in Educational Equity
Ph.D.: University of Colorado, Boulder
Maria Coady, Ph.D., focuses on rural multilingual (ML) students and the preparation of educators who work with them.

Meet Dr. Coady 

Dennis Davis

Title: Associate Professor
Ph.D.: Vanderbilt University
Dennis Davis, Ph.D., focuses on upper-elementary literacy instruction with an emphasis on reading comprehension, assessment and intervention support for students when they have difficulties in reading.

Meet Dr. Davis 

Michelle Falter

Title: Associate Professor
Ph.D.: University of Georgia
Michelle Falter, Ph.D.,  has deep commitment to diversity and social justice, helping English language arts and literacy educators’ co-construct knowledge with their students using critical, feminist and dialogical teaching practice.

Meet Dr. Falter 

Jill Grifenhagen

Title: Associate Professor
Ph.D.: Vanderbilt University
Jill Grifenhagen, Ph.D., focuses on academic language and literacy learning in early childhood classrooms (PreK-3rd grade) and teacher development and supports increasing teacher efficacy in these areas.

Meet Dr. Grifenhagen 

Jill Jones

Title: Assistant Teaching Professor
Ph.D.: NC State University
Jill Jones, Ph.D., focuses on teacher scaffolding in small-group reading instruction, intervention for students needing more support in reading, and effective literacy instruction in elementary classrooms.

Meet Dr. Jones 

Crystal Chen Lee

Title: Assistant Professor
Ed.D.: Columbia University
Crystal Chen Lee, Ed.D., focuses on literacy, teacher education, community engagement and marginalized youth. She examines how literacy, especially critical literacy, can lead to increased youth advocacy, leadership and community engagement for marginalized youth.

Meet Dr. Lee 

Jackie Relyea

Title: Assistant Professor
Ph.D.: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Jackie Relyea, Ph.D., focuses on literacy development of K-6 multilingual students and literacy intervention that emphasizes academic vocabulary and content knowledge development and reading engagement.

Meet Dr. Relyea 

Hiller Spires

Title: Professor Emerita
Ph.D.: University of South Carolina
Hiller Spires, Ph.D., focuses on digital literacies and related theories and practices that are being prompted by emerging technologies, including project-based inquiry, game-based learning, video as textual production and teacher education.

Meet Dr. Spires 

Angela Wiseman

Title: Associate Professor
Ph.D.: University of Pennsylvania
Angela Wiseman, Ph.D., focuses on children’s literature and family literacy, with a specific focus on the use of picturebooks and trauma-informed literacy.

Meet Dr. Wiseman 

Carl Young

Title: Associate Professor
Ph.D.: University of Virginia
Carl Young, Ph.D., focuses on new literacies and related theories and practices that are motivated by emerging digital technologies including social media as a tool for enhancing ELA content knowledge and digital video as narrative text and project-based inquiry.

Meet Dr. Young 

How the College of Education Became Literacy Leaders

NC State’s College of Education aligns coursework and field experiences to prepare effective elementary education teachers equipped to address early literacy needs.

Learn more  

Resources for Educators and Practitioners

Faculty with a focus on literacy and English language arts have produced a variety of online resources that are available for educators and parents to use at school and at home.

Read Our Published Work

Browse Recent Publications 

Literacy Research

Our faculty are engaging in literacy research that aims to transform literacy education and create more equitable opportunities for learners. Below are examples of some of our most recent grant-funded projects.

The Literacy Community Initiative 
Yadkin-Wolfpack Literacy Partnership 
Disciplinary, Equity-Oriented Use of Informational Text in Middle School English Language Arts 
iWolfpack Readers: Online Afterschool Literacy Tutoring Program 
Wolfpack WORKS 
Building Knowledge and Language Through Inquiry (KLI) 
Co-development of Reading Ability and Science Content Knowledge for Elementary Grade English Learners: The Role of Language Instruction Educational Program (LIEP) 
Trauma Informed Practice Support (TIPS) in Schools and Communities: Collaboration Between Education and Social Work 

Literacy News

More Stories

College of Education to Establish Goodnight Distinguished Professorship in Early Literacy 

‘When Two Languages Interact, You Create a Different Kind of Human Being:’ Kathy Escamilla Shares Advice for Teaching Literacy to Multilingual Learners During First Lecture of Linguistic Diversity Speaker Series 

Associate Professor Angela Wiseman Selected to Join 2023-24 Class of Provost’s Faculty Fellows 

Literacy Courses

Our faculty offer innovative courses for pre-service and in-service teachers and emerging researchers across several program areas.

Browse Our Courses