Specialized Literacy Professionals

05/18/2026

There’s still time to apply for the 2026 SLP Service Project Grant!
Up to $500 awarded
Deadline: June 1, 2026

We’re looking for innovative, literacy-focused service projects that make a difference in schools and communities.

Eligible projects may include:
✅ Family literacy initiatives
✅ Professional learning opportunities
✅ Equity-focused literacy access
✅ Community-based literacy interventions

Submit proposals to Dr. Bethanie Pletcher
[email protected]
(Subject line: SLP Grant Proposal)

Send a message to learn more

05/14/2026

Interested in serving in a leadership role with Specialized Literacy Professionals?

We are currently accepting nominations for:
✨ President-Elect
✨ Secretary
✨ Two Board Member positions
📅 Deadline: May 15, 2026

This is a great opportunity to help shape the future of SLP and support our professional community.

📧 Submit materials to Dr. Shelly Landreth:
[email protected]
We encourage you to consider serving—or to nominate a colleague!

05/13/2026

📢 Deadline Extended!

We’ve extended the submission deadline for the upcoming Specialized Literacy Professionals (SLP) Newsletter to May 25, 2026!
We would love to highlight the amazing work happening across our SLP community. Please share:

✅ Recent publications and presentations
✅ Community impact (service, outreach, advocacy)
✅ Interest in contributing to a future feature article

Complete the quick survey here and help us celebrate the meaningful work of our members!

It is that time of year again to spotlight your accomplishments for the Newsletter and let others know about your impact on the field of literacy. Please submit by May 8th. THANK YOU!

04/18/2026

Call for Submissions: 2026 SLP Service Project Grant!

Specialized Literacy Professionals (SLP) is now accepting applications for the 2026 Service Project Grant, supporting innovative literacy‑focused service projects in schools, universities, and communities.

✅ Up to $500 per project
✅ Supports family literacy, professional learning, equity and access, and literacy intervention
✅ Open to current SLP members
🗓 Submission deadline: June 1, 2026

If you have a project that supports literacy development and aligns with the SLP mission, we encourage you to apply!

Full guidelines and submission details are available on the SLP Website http://www.literacyprofessional.org/grant-funding.html

Let’s continue making literacy access and engagement possible through meaningful service! 📚✨

Specialized Literacy Professionals Service Project Grant . The goals of this service project grant initiative are to: initiate, extend, or expand existing university-, school- and/or...

12/09/2025

Episode 1 of the Ms. Behaving in Literacy podcast is now live!

This is not your typical literacy podcast. Each month, the hosts of the podcast, Dr. Bethanie Pletcher and Dr. Marilyn Nicol, will explore literacy and literacy education issues through a practical lens and with a little humor here and there to lighten the mood a little.

This first episode was filmed at the Association of Literacy Educators and Researchers (ALER) conference in OKC. During this episode, the hosts asked conference attendees and board members about why they love ALER.

Enjoy and please share with colleagues and on your socials and subscribe to the channel on YouTube!

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

11/18/2025

The Specialized Literacy Professional research group has recently submitted a manuscript that reports on their analysis of 7 publishing companies' decodable texts.

You can find a link to the latest article here: https://www.talejournal.com/index.php/TJLE/issue/view/12/31

In addition, we are excited to begin our next study related to this project. We would like to conduct observations and interviews with first-grade teachers to explore how they select, plan for, and use decodable texts with their students. We would like observations to occur in several geographic locations in the US.

Please email [email protected] if you are interested in collaborating on this research project.

10/10/2025

🎉 Exciting Publication Alert!

Check out the latest article in the Texas Journal of Literacy Education — “Finding Harmony in Times of Discord: Helping Literacy Professionals Unpack the Current Reading Instruction Movement.”

Written by several of our talented board members, this piece offers timely insights into navigating today’s reading instruction debates with balance and collaboration.

Read the full article here! https://www.talejournal.com/index.php/TJLE/issue/view/12/31

08/05/2025

Dear SLP members: please see the attached flyer for a study into elementary teachers and their beliefs about and resources they use to teach writing.

If you are an elementary teacher, please consider participating and please share with any elementary teachers you think might be interested!

07/11/2024

It is not too late to join the Specialized Literacy Professional's Common Reade. The first session is July 18th. Once you sign up, the July 18th book section will be sent.

Amazon Purchase paperback ($32): https://a.co/d/0c9GzDzK

Sign Up: https://forms.gle/aSwp83XWevpKVuY58

Membership SLP: http://www.literacyprofessional.org/

Send a message to learn more

06/27/2024

"New reading programs promising the Science of Reading don’t cover what children need to become good readers. What’s missing are reading comprehension and the incentive to read because it’s fun and interesting."
https://nancyebailey.com/2024/06/24/the-comprehension-problem-with-new-reading-programs-ignoring-the-books-children-like-to-read/