WEST PLAINS, Mo. – Area residents interested in taking courses toward the Master of Science in Education-Literacy degree from Missouri State University are invited to attend one of two informational sessions set for Monday, Nov. 5, and Wednesday, Nov. 14, in West Plains, Mountain Grove and Lebanon.

The free sessions will begin at 5:30 p.m. in Lybyer Technology Center Room 101 on the Missouri State-West Plains campus, Faurot Hall Room 205 at the Missouri State University-Mountain Grove Fruit Station, and at Missouri State’s Nelson Education Center at 535 W. Bland St. in Lebanon.  Faculty members involved in the program will be available at each site to offer an overview of the degree program and discuss admission requirements.  Refreshments also will be served.

Officials in the College of Education’s Department of Reading, Foundations and Technology plan to start a cohort for the degree at all three locations beginning with the spring semester, according to Deanna Smith, coordinator of Missouri State’s Outreach office in West Plains.  Classes will be offered on site, online and via interactive television, allowing students to complete the degree in two years, she said.

Once successfully completed, graduates can obtain the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s (DESE) Special Reading Teacher Certification for K-12, which will allow them to become Title I teachers or literacy coaches.  It also will help them be a more effective teacher of reading in the regular classroom, according to information posted on a website for the degree, http://education.missouristate.edu/literacy/ReadingCert.asp.

“Area school administrators have been requesting for a long time that we offer an additional master’s degree to allow teachers to get a certification that leads to a Special Reading Teacher Certification,” said Dr. Don Hamby, coordinator of the Missouri State University Teacher Education Completion Program at Missouri State-West Plains.  “This is the first time we have been able to offer a degree in specialized reading to West Plains and the surrounding areas that will meet a need for schools in this region.”

“I am excited to see this new program offered in the West Plains, Mountain Grove and Lebanon campus sites,” Smith added.  “This will be a great opportunity for area teachers to earn a master’s degree and earn a certification in reading.”

For more information about the upcoming sessions, West Plains and Mountain Grove area residents can contact Smith at 417-255-7777, and Lebanon area residents can call Outreach Coordinator Kermit Clay at 417-532-0518.