Auburn University offers master's and doctoral programs in Reading Education.  Our instruction focuses on evidence-based theory and practice based on scientific studies of reading.  Course curricula are matched to Alabama state standards, which emphasize the objectives of the Alabama Reading Initiative.

A major work of the Reading Education program is to prepare undergraduates to teach reading.  We offer a two-course sequence to Early Childhood Education majors and to Elementary Education majors.  The first course, CTRD 3700, introduces Reading Education and provides field teaching experiences with small groups in local elementary schools.  The second course, CTRD 3710, develops specific strategies for reading acquisition and provides field teaching experiences in which each teacher candidate assesses and tutors a struggling primary-grade reader.

We provide a comprehensive course in Developmental Reading K-12 for Special Education majors, CTRD 5700/6700/6706 as a general introduction to Reading Education. We also provide the course CTRD 5710/6710/6716, Literacy and Inquiry in the Content Areas 6-12, for Secondary Education majors. 

Our master's program in Reading Education prepares Reading Specialists for the challenging work of applying scientific studies of reading to the critical work of helping struggling readers in a state that lags behind the national averages in reading achievement.  AU Reading Education faculty helped develop curricula in beginning reading for the Alabama Reading Initiative (ARI), contributing to this success.  In addition, many of our doctoral and master's students now work for ARI as school, district, and regional literacy coaches.   They teach struggling readers, coach teachers, and in some cases, train coaches.

Graduate students in our doctoral program in Reading Education develop expert knowledge at the frontier of knowledge about literacy.  Students become familiar both with qualitative research methods and with the statistical tools for systematic empiricism.  They learn to design original research with the potential to produce public knowledge about reading processes and effective reading education.  Our doctoral graduates teach in universities, in state literacy initiatives, and as educational leaders in schools.