Karen Stevens

Background

About Karen Stevens

I am co-founder and co-director of the Mountain Communities Literacy Council (MCLC) which is located in Yancey County, NC. Mountain Communities Literacy Council seeks to address the literacy needs of the residents of Yancey County, NC. Through outreach activities, we provide information, resources, and support to the families of our communities. The council is in the early stages of development, and we hope to see it affiliated with the North Carolina Reading Association in the near future. In addition to developing and growing MCLC, I teach sixth-grade math and social studies classes in rural Western North Carolina. I graduated summa cum laude from Mars Hill University with a BA in Special Education. Once I was in the classroom, I added the middle school language arts, middle school math, middle school social studies, and K-6 elementary education certifications to my license. After seeing the need for more specialized reading instruction among the exceptional children population, I decided to seek my MAEd in Reading Education through East Carolina University. I graduated in May 2016 with an M-level reading specialist license. As a result of my coursework through ECU, I have been able to apply practical, research-based instructional practices in my classroom to improve student learning. Most recently, I attained the School Principal licensure through a post-graduate program at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.