We have recently made a change to the content area reading requirement for Secondary teachers, where it now does not have to be taken for college credit. We also now have an ACSI Content Area Reading Checklist that can also be used to meet this requirement!
Below you will find some college and non-college options for completing this requirement.
We do have two universities and several organizations that we recommend for teachers needing the content area reading course to renew. For universities, we recommend Fresno Pacific University and Grand Canyon University because they have reasonable rates for courses outside of a degree program. You can choose any regionally accredited university of your choice though.
Many teachers also use Learner’s Edge (www.learnersedgeinc.com) or Advancement Courses (https://www.advancementcourses.com). If using Learner's Edge or Advancement Courses, ACSI will accept the non-credit option, you do not have to pay for the graduate level credit option. We will also accept an appropriate reading course taken from Virtual Education Software, also not taken for graduate level credit: http://www.virtualeduc.com/courses.php
Non-college credit options:
- ACSI’s Content Area Reading checklist: You can now fulfill this requirement by completing ACSI’s Content Area Reading Checklist! The fee to use this checklist is $25, which can be paid using the renewal application when you are ready to apply for your next certificate.
- Learner’s Edge: applicable grade level and content area literacy courses (can be taken for credit or not)
- VESi Courses: applicable courses within the “Reading” tab (can be taken for graduate or PLU/CEU credit)
- PBS TeacherLine™: RDLA 340 – Teaching Reading in the Content Areas
- CE Credits Online™: applicable grade level and content area literacy courses (can be taken for credit or not)
- Advancement Courses™: applicable grade level and content area literacy courses (can be for credit or not)
- CERI (Center for Effective Reading Instruction): Passing score on the exam, or any tier of CERI Certification
- Content Area Reading courses counting toward Maryland State Department of Education credits
College credit options:
- Fresno Pacific University: https://www.fresno.edu/ (Fresno's pre-approved course list: https://ce.fresno.edu/sharedmedia/cpd/ACSI.pdf ) -See section Secondary Content Area Reading
- Grand Canyon University: https://www.gcu.edu/individual-courses/continuing-education (Scroll down until you see the search engine, then search by course category) -Search in Reading Programs
What we look for in the course description is one of three things:
- methods in increasing student reading literacy
- methods in increasing student reading fluency
- methods in increasing student reading comprehension
It is recommended that you email the course title, description, and place you plan on taking it from to certification@acsi.org to gain pre-approval before spending money to take the course.