Gina N. Cervetti
Location
Room 4039
610 E. University Ave.
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1259
Gina N. Cervetti is a literacy scholar, researcher, and teacher educator whose work focuses on the intersection of literacy development, world knowledge, and content-area instruction. She is a Professor of Educational Studies at the University of Michigan’s Marsal Family School of Education.
Her research explores how knowledge-enriching contexts—particularly inquiry-based science—can fuel students’ engagement and growth in literacy, with a special emphasis on creating equitable learning opportunities for multilingual learners. She is currently investigating how conceptually coherent reading instruction supports students’ acquisition of vocabulary and their ability to engage in complex reasoning across texts. Her work has been featured in high-impact journals such as Reading Research Quarterly, Contemporary Educational Psychology, and the Journal of Literacy Research. In 2019, she co-authored the book "No More Science Kits or Texts in Isolation: Teaching Science and Literacy Together" with Jacqueline Barber, which outlines a research-based approach for developing integrated instruction.
Cervetti is dedicated to the development of future teachers and literacy scholars. At the University of Michigan, she courses in literacy foundations and methods and educational research.
She has served as an advisor and board member for several organizations, including the Literacy Research Association, ReadWorks, and TextProject. She was a member of the Development and Visioning Panels for the 2026 NAEP Reading Framework. Her research has been supported by the National Science Foundation and the Noyce Foundation, and her insights have been featured in media outlets like Education Week and U.S. News & World Report.
Before joining the University of Michigan in 2011, she was an assistant professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder. She previously served as a postdoctoral scholar and researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, where she led the literacy design team for the Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading program--the foundation for the widely used Amplify Science program. She earned her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from Michigan State University.
Courses
| Number | Course Name | Location | Days | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EDUC 260 | Tutoring Literacy and Language in the Elementary Grades
This course will develop literacy tutors’ skills in working with students in the elementary grades. In this course, participants will learn to develop engaging tutoring sessions and to enact a range of instructional routines for working with students in support of their literacy and language development. |
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| EDUC 582 | Directed Study in Education
Now that you are completing your master's program, you may have identified a project you would like to pursue. You may have a topic you would like to explore further, experiences from your internship that you would like to write about, a course paper that you would like to revise and publish, or ideas for a curriculum that you wish to develop. This directed study course is designed to support you to accomplish these goals. This class will provide an opportunity for participants to undertake a self-selected project in consultation with the course instructor and their class colleagues. Each participant will complete a significant project, such as a substantial research paper on a topic or question of interest, a research proposal, an assessment, a publication, a workshop, or an instructional unit. The project should serve as an opportunity to synthesize learning across the master’s program and to develop an artifact for a professional or academic portfolio. Each week, participants will meet as a group and individually with the course instructor to make progress toward completion. This course is open only to master’s students in the Marsal School. To be considered for the class, please submit a brief description of the project you would like to undertake to Gina Cervetti. |