Reading Specialist & Reading Teacher

Reading Specialist

  1. Meet the licensure requirements for early childhood education, elementary education, special education, or a secondary education area*; and

  2. Have three years of effective teaching or clinical experience; and

  3. Complete three semester hours of special education coursework; and

  4. Meet one of the following options:

    1. Option I

      Hold a master’s degree and complete a Maryland-approved program leading to licensure as a reading specialist.

    2. Option II

      Hold a master’s degree and complete a program leading to licensure as a reading specialist in another state.

    3. Option III

      Hold a master’s degree or the equivalent of 33 post-baccalaureate credits in reading and related areas to include:

      1. 15 semester hours of reading coursework with at least one course in each of the following areas:

        1. Foundation or survey course

        2. Diagnosis and correction of reading difficulties

        3. Clinical or laboratory practicum

        4. Assessment or evaluation, or both

        5. Methods of teaching reading to English language learners

      2. Additional coursework selected from at least four of the following areas:

        1. Emergent literacy

        2. Literacy leadership

        3. Content area literacy

        4. Writing

        5. Effective use of technology in the literacy classroom

        6. Early childhood, elementary, or adolescent literacy

        7. Literacy research

        8. Linguistics


Reading Teacher

To qualify for this area, you must:

  1. Meet the licensure requirements for early childhood education, elementary education, special education, or a secondary education area*; and

  2. Have two years of effective teaching experience; and

  3. Complete three semester hours of special education coursework; and

  4. Complete 12 semester hours of post-baccalaureate graduate credit in reading to include a foundation or survey course and a course in diagnosis and correction of reading difficulties.

*Applicants who meet the requirements for a teaching license in secondary education (i.e., 4-9 and 7-12 grade bands) must also demonstrate proficiency in the knowledge and practices of scientific reading instruction by submitting a passing score (159) on the Praxis 5205 Teaching Reading Elementary licensure assessment.