READ Act Teacher Designation Requirements
Beyond the Colorado minimum. The Thompson School District (TSD) requires the following educators to have the "READ Act- Teacher" designation on their license as a condition of employment:
- Early Childhood Teachers (EC) (45 Hours)
- K-5 Classroom Teachers (45 hours)
- Learning Center Teachers (EC/Elem.) (45 Hours)
- Elementary ELD teachers (45 Hours)
- EC-12 Reading Interventionists (45 Hours)
- And Elementary Instructional Coaches (45 Hours)
Teachers needing to obtain the "READ Act- Teacher" designation are required to complete training that:
- Is approved by the Colorado Department of Education;
- Consists of a minimum of 45 hours;
- Addresses the content of the educator preparation literacy standards referenced in the state board's Rules for the Administration of Educator License Endorsements, 1 CCR 301-10(PDF), section 4.02(5) through 4.02(12(PDF) (effective May 30, 2019); and
- Includes an end-of-course assessment that teachers can use to provide evidence of completion.
The Colorado Department of Education (CDE) offers free training to meet this requirement:
CDE's training, "Building a Strong Foundation for Life Long Literacy Success" is organized into six asynchronous modules:
- Module 1: Introduction to the Science of Reading
- Module 2: Oral Language and Phonology
- Module 3: Phonics and Word Study
- Module 4: Creating Fluent Readers
- Module 5: Developing Vocabulary
- Module 6: Increasing Reading Comprehension
A certificate of completion will be awarded upon successful completion of the CDE training.
Learn more about other options to fulfill Colorado's READ Act requirements for teachers.
To add the READ Act Designation to your License, Certificates of Completion must be uploaded to the Colorado Online Licensing system (COOL).
To upload your certificate of completion to COOL:
- Make sure that you have the documents that you wish to upload saved to your computer.
- Login to COOL
- Click the button that corresponds to the action you wish to complete: (i.e. "add designation")
- Follow the prompts on your computer to select the relevant document(s) to upload.
Please contact Professional Development if you have questions or to check on your status.