National Center on Improving Literacy Joins BU Wheelock
National Center on Improving Literacy Joins BU Wheelock
This fall, BU Wheelock welcomed the National Center on Improving Literacy (NCIL), a partnership among literacy experts, university researchers, and technical assistance providers to support students with literacy-related disabilities. NCIL is funded by the U.S. Department of Education and was formerly housed at the University of Oregon.
“I’m thrilled to be able to collaborate with faculty across BU Wheelock and Boston University toward improving outcomes for marginalized and vulnerable children and communities,” says NCIL Director Hank Fien, whose work focuses on developing tools and technologies to support teachers to provide effective reading instruction for diverse learners in the school setting.
Fien joins BU Wheelock as a professor in the Teaching & Learning department. In addition, four other NCIL faculty members have joined BU Wheelock, including Lana Edwards Santoro, Nancy J. Nelson, Marissa Pilger Suhr, and Scott Baker.
“We’re thrilled to welcome the whole NCIL team to BU Wheelock,” says Dean David Chard. “Their work is critical in supporting students with literacy-related disabilities and I know they will be an incredible asset to the BU Wheelock community.”
NCIL’s work focuses on topics such as evidence-based reading assessment and instruction, family literacy, and screening, identification, and treatment for dyslexia. The center develops resources for parents and families, schools and districts, and state agencies.
“NCIL’s work to ensure that students with literacy-related disabilities have the opportunity to benefit from evidence-based practices and science of reading-centered instruction is a continual guidepost that focuses our work on helping students become proficient readers and writers,” explains Santoro, a research professor.