Literacy is an essential goal of quality educational programs, and teachers who want to help students to learn this invaluable skill obtain reading specialist credentials.
The ability to read and comprehend written text is used in nearly every aspect of one’s personal and professional life, and most people believe that improving literacy among school age children is an even higher priority than promoting highly sought after skills in mathematics and science. In fact, students who struggle with reading and comprehension have a hard time grasping other subjects, and they can quickly fall behind in their studies if they do not receive appropriate help from reading teachers.
Reading specialists monitor students’ reading performance and work with them to make improvements using customized plans and industry standard techniques. While the specific requirements to become a reading teacher varies by state, here are several common paths that educators take to become specialists in the area of literacy.
Education
Educators who know early in their careers that they want to become reading teachers can earn Bachelor of Science in Education degrees with specialization options in reading instruction or literacy. Many teachers decide that they want to become reading specialists after they have earned their undergraduate degrees and worked as classroom instructors. These teachers often obtain Master of Education in Reading degrees that allow them to become qualified as reading instructors.
Some universities also offer doctorate degrees in reading instruction, and teachers who want to eventually become education professors at the college and university level may opt to enroll in these types of Ph.D. programs. Some course topics that these reading teacher candidates can expect to take during university programs are fundamentals of literacy coaching, literacy evaluation and instruction and using emerging technology in literacy programs.
Work Experience
All public school teachers must acquire a certain amount of classroom instruction time before they can receive their license to teach. The work experience required to teach the reading specialization is significantly more than that needed for regular classroom instruction. Some states require that educators have at least two years of classroom teaching experience to qualify to earn the special reading instruction endorsement that is associated with their teaching licenses.
License and Certification
While some states allow teaching candidates to receive their teaching licenses with reading instructor endorsements simultaneously, most states require that reading teachers first gain their regular licenses and then pursue reading instruction endorsements. Veteran teachers can also gain the reading instructor endorsement by taking state approved certificate programs that include targeted course work in literacy. The courses in these programs are designed to supplement the academic offerings that teaching candidates would encounter in advanced degree programs in education.
Many states require that reading teacher candidates pass comprehensive exams on literacy instruction prior to gaining reading teacher endorsements, and a teacher who opts to gain national certification for reading instruction through the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards must have a degree and three years of classroom teaching experience.
Conclusion
Joining professional associations is an optional step for reading teachers that offers them a built in network of supportive colleagues, education policy makers and other education advocates. The resources found within organizations like the National Reading Conference and the International Literacy Association include career assistance, continuing education materials and access to the latest research and findings that can help a reading specialist achieve success with even the toughest cases of illiteracy.
