Administrators in UALR’s College of Education signed a memorandum of understanding Monday with colleagues from the University of Northern Iowa to engage in collaborative research and consultation in their respective centers on literacy.

Dr. Angela M. Sewall, dean of the College of Education, and Dr. Dwight C. Watson, dean of the UNI education college, signed the agreement Friday in Little Rock.

The document calls for both institutions to engage in collaborative research and collaborative assessment and evaluation data collection on literacy initiatives.

UALR’s Center for Literacy created the Partnerships in Comprehensive Literacy (PCL) in 1998 to prepare literacy coaches with specialized knowledge and experience to implement comprehensive literacy changes at the school level. The PCL provides training and ongoing support for partner universities.

UNI’s Jacobson Center for Comprehensive Literacy (JCCL) works with Iowa schools to improve literacy for all Iowa students by overseeing three literacy-related projects. They include a PCL model within the state of Iowa, its Reading Recovery Center, and the Literacy Education Professional Development School.