UC Irvine Extension Obtains State Approval for Reading Certificate Program

UC Irvine Extension Dovetails Program to Address Politicians’ Literacy and Language Arts Concerns

IRVINE, Calif. – February 24, 2005 – UC Irvine Extension announced that its newly developed Reading Certificate Program was approved by the State of California’s Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CCTC) Committee on Accreditation. Created to address the President and Governor’s current priorities on visual language arts and literacy issues, the Reading Certificate Program is designed to help credentialed teachers meet local, state and federal requirements; and to ensure all pupils have fair access to high-quality education with a foundation in reading.

“UC Irvine Extension is pleased to have approval from the state’s licensing agency to move forward with this program which emphasizes innovation, best practices and assessment,” Morgan Appel, director of Education Programs for UC Irvine Extension, said. “We took great care in developing the program and related courses, as it was important for UC Irvine Extension to gain insight into standards and best practices for teaching reading and building institutional capacity. We wanted to ensure that these issues were addressed, going so far as to align our curricula with standards from the International Reading Association.”    

While other universities have similar programs, UC Irvine Extension’s program will be unique in that it will be offered to school districts onsite, specifically tailored to their unique circumstances and needs. UC Irvine Extension’s goal is to meet the needs of individual districts, making it user-defined and custom tailored to each party. It will also be made available to national and international audiences online.  

The UC Irvine Extension program represents the first half of the courses required to obtain the CCTC-approved Reading and Language Arts Specialist Credential. Scheduled to launch this summer, the 180-hour Reading Certificate Program is comprised of five three-unit courses and a three-unit practicum course. The research-based Reading Certificate prepares the holder to: 

• Assess pupils’ reading skills and provide appropriate instruction/intervention
• Develop, implement and adapt reading content
• Serve as district/site specialists or teacher leaders in reading
• Provide professional development or in-services to peers

As the continuing education arm of the prestigious university, UC Irvine Extension is dedicated to providing a transforming learning experience for students, offering thousands of exciting courses and programs to local, regional, and global constituencies. UC Irvine Extension offers a rich array of academic and community programs to support a diverse audience from a wide selection of academic programs to numerous campus activities.  UC Irvine Extension continues to provide a university-level learning experience to all students.  

For more information about UC Irvine Extension visit them on the Web at www.extension.uci.edu.