We believe that strong literacy skills—reading, writing, speaking, and listening—are necessities for all people and that all people can learn literacy skills. Thus, we choose to adopt a structured and explicit approach to teaching literacy skills, while taking into account the developmental continuum on which students learn. Our graduate students recognize how access to services and equity issues play a critical role in reading achievement.

Read our Vision & Mission Statements

What we offer

Sacramento State’s Master of Arts in Language and Literacy is a 30-unit graduate program designed for administrators, classroom teachers, or specialist teachers of language and literacy for pre-kindergarten through adults. You will receive field experience and a venue to research your own literacy, as well as find answers to many of the literacy questions that plague all effective reading teachers. Coursework includes clinical experience with extreme reading difficulties.

The program is offered in a hybrid setting with 70% and 100% online options.

Who we are

We are literacy specialists.

We are Professors who have done their graduate work in the field of literacy.

We serve in many capacities:

• Teach the courses in the program and
• Research within a literacy specialization
• Guide coursework and thesis/projects
• Advisors to the students in the program
• Including academic advising, student disposition evaluations, skill performance evaluations, etc.

Faculty	Role	Specialty	Email
Dr. Porfirio Loeza	Co-Director, Professor	Reading Comprehension	loeza@csus.edu
Dr. Marcy Merrill	Co-Director, Professor	Literacy Clinic Coordinator	merrills@skymail.csus.edu
Dr. Chris Boosalis	Professor	Speech Impetiment	chris.boosalis@csus.edu
Dr. Mat Espinoza	Professor	Literacy Research	espinosa@csus.edu
Dr. Rachael Gonzales	Professor		rgonzales@csus.edu
Dr. Rochelle Perez	Professor		rochelleperez@csus.edu

Program Benefits

• Develop research-based skills and knowledge related to the teaching of reading and writing to learners of diverse backgrounds
• Apply knowledge about the role of academic language, motivation, background knowledge, concept information, and vocabulary development in reading and writing
• Use initial and ongoing assessment as the basis of reading instruction
• Demonstrate proficiency in understanding literacy-related research
• Understand the context for global literacy discourse as we examine multi-literacies to enhance learning
• Know how to apply literacy strategies to instruction, assess learning, and share this knowledge with practitioners

Career Paths

Earning a Master’s Degree in Language and Literacy Education will provide you with opportunities to make a greater difference in the field of literacy.
As an educator, this degree will provide you with opportunity to read and do scholarly research in the field, and it will help you understand more about students and the practice of teaching literacy. This degree can positively impact your salary, your potential marketability, and may open doors in the field of literacy you may not have expected.

You will leave ready to assume such roles as:

• Literacy coach
• Teacher
• Administrator
• Professional developer
• Instructional designer
• Leadership roles in national, state, and county language arts, education, literacy
• Community literacy worker
• Reading diagnostician

Course Sequence

The Master's of Arts in Language & Literacy is a 30-unit graduate program designed for administrators, classroom teachers, or specialist teachers of language and literacy for pre-kindergarten through adults.

Each semester has a max of 2 required classes, making it easier for working professionals to complete.

Year	Fall	Spring	Summer
1	200 | Practicum in Decoding & Fluency	205 | Psychology & Sociology of Literacy Instruction	203 | Teaching & Assessing Writing
1	201 | Practicum in Comprehension	207 | Advance Practicum in Reading Difficulties	250 | Educational Research
2	202 | Language & Literacy Development in Multicultural Settings	209 | Literature for the Diverse K-12 Classroom – Models & Strategies
2	206 | Leadership in Literacy	503 | Culminating Experience (Thesis/ Project)

Language & Literacy Clinic

The Language and Literacy clinic is a core component of the Master's Degree program at Sacramento State. The clinic is run through the Center for Counseling and Diagnostic services on the fourth floor of Eureka hall.

Not only does this clinic provide services to the community in the area of literacy assessments, but it also serves as a hub for the fieldwork in the Master's Degree program. Students in the program work with trained faculty in the clinic setting to provide assessments of pre-kindergarten children, school-age children, and adults. Teachers at the center will provide families/clients with findings from the assessments in the area of reading, spelling, and writing including a written report and recommendations for their next steps.

Many parents ask for options following diagnostic testing or, even without testing, want to have reading support, assessments, or interventions for their children. The Sacramento State Language and Literacy Clinic offers a literacy clinic in the fall and spring each year.

The Sacramento State Language and Literacy Center is affiliated with the CSUS Master’s program. The clinic hours work within the fall/spring class schedule. Generally, evaluation and tutoring appointments are Tuesday and Thursday evenings during the academic semester. Literacy clinic will occur twice per week from 6-6:45 PM on the fourth floor of Eureka Hall room 421.

More about the Language & Literacy Clinic

More about the Center for Counseling and Diagnostic Services (CCDS)

Information Session Calendar

You can view all College of Education Calendar events here.

2022–2023 Information Session Calendar

Day	Date	Time	Register Link
Wednesday	November 2	7–8 pm	Register
Thursday	November 17	7–8 pm	Register
Friday	December 2	12-1 pm	Register
Tuesday	December 13	5–6 pm	Register
Thursday	January 19	7-8 pm	Register
Saturday	January 21	2–3 pm	Register
Wednesday	January 25	5–6 pm	Register
Thursday	February 2	7–8 pm	Register
Friday	February 17	12–1 pm	Register

How to Apply

To find out more about the application process and the requirements, visit the College of Education's application instructions page to familiarize yourself with the steps.

Speak with a counselor in the Student Success Center to review your eligibility and for help with the application process.

Student Success Center » Drop in Advising

Hours: Mon-Fri, 9 a.m.–12 noon & 1–3 p.m.
Schedule an appointment