Assistant Professor of Literacy

Year Joined RCNJ: 2019

Contact Information

• Phone: 201-684-7282
• Email: sleather@ramapo.edu
• Office: E223

Education

• Ed.D., Curriculum Studies, Teachers College, Columbia University
• M.A., Educational Administration, California State University, Los Angeles
• M.Ed., Literacy, William Paterson University
• B.A., Political Science, Rutgers College, Rutgers University
• B.A. Spanish, Rutgers College, Rutgers University

Special Certifications/Licenses

• National Board Certified Teacher
• Supervisory Certification/License
• Middle Grades Mathematics-Science Teacher Education Program Certification
• Standard Elementary School Teacher Certification/License
• District Bilingual Certification

Convening Group

• Teacher Education

Courses Offered 

• Student Literacy Corps
• Literacy Theory and Practice
• Reading and Writing in the Content Areas
• Literacy across the Elementary Curriculum

Teaching Interests

• Literacy Education and New Literacies
• Culturally Relevant and Sustaining Pedagogies
• Racial and Social Justice Pedagogies

Research Interests

• Urban Education
• Literacy Education
• Teacher Education (Emphasis: Early-Career Teachers)
• Diversifying the Teacher Workforce

Recent Publications and Presentations

Publications

• Leathers, L.S. (Under final review). Community-based PLCs: Re-envisioning teacher collaboration, agency, and professionalism in urban education. In S. Jones-Fosu & C. Lewis (Eds.) Economic, Political, and Legal Solutions to Urban Education and the Implications on Teacher Preparation.

Collaborating Author

• American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. (2019). The Black and Hispanic/Latino male teacher Networked Improvement Community: Promising practices to recruit and retain male teachers of color. Washington, DC: AACTE. https://aacte.org/resources/research-reports-and-briefs/the-black-and-hispanic-latino- male-teacher-networked-improvement-community-promising-practices-to-recruit-and-retain-male-teachers-of-color/

Conference Presentation

• Leathers, L.S. (2021, January). Counternarratives of racial literacy within teacher education. Panel Discussion at the 1st Annual Teacher Educator Convening, Institute for Teachers of Color, Virtual presentation. 

Conference Paper Presentations

• Leathers, L.S. (2021, November). Freire, bell hooks, and the persistent problem of freedom. Paper presentation at the Association of Literacy Educators and Researchers (ALER). Paper accepted.
• Leathers, L.S., Cheruvu, R. (2020, December). The racial literacy project: Sustaining and supporting teachers of color within a community of teacher education and K-12 professionals. Paper presentation at the 10th Annual Conference on Education and Social Justice, Virtual presentation.
• Leathers, L.S. (2020, April). From failure to transformational resistance: Counternarratives of teachers of color who leave the classroom. Paper accepted at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA).