Michelle Cefaratti joined Medaille in 2005 bringing with her a decade of experience in P-12. Michelle serves as the Director of the Literacy Program and of the Medaille College Reading Center. With 25+ years of teaching experience in both higher ed and elementary education, she specializes in Early Literacy Instruction concentrating her teaching in Practica, Assessment and Word Study courses. Michelle has spent her 15 years at Medaille as Director of the Reading Center, affording her opportunities to support her graduate students as they work with school-aged children at the culmination of their program. With the integration of sound teaching practices; assessment driven instruction, research-based best practice and prescriptive instruction meeting their distinct needs, the children who participate in the tutoring program make marked progress each semester! They also learn to have more self-confidence and motivation due to their new-found success and are on their way to becoming life-long readers. This experience is gratifying for both the teachers and students involved! 

Michelle has presented research related to Word Study Instruction at the Association of Teacher Educators National Conference, Teaching Academic Success Skills Conferences and published research relating to the effectiveness of a college-based reading center. She also regularly provides professional development seminars in schools throughout Western New York training teachers to use Word Study instruction as part of English Language Arts curriculum.