Professional Reading Specialist (PRS) Certification

Program Description

The Professional Reading Specialist (PRS) Certification is intended to provide K-12 educators with the pedagogical and dispositional knowledge to become professional reading specialists. Candidates will earn a degree in Language and Literacy at the same time as they work towards certification.

Certification is given from the Texas Education Agency (TEA) after candidates have passed the professional reading specialist’s exam (TExES).

Candidates must apply for both admission to the PRS and the Master’s in Language and Literacy. There will be two applications to fill.

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The Master’s Degree in Language and Literacy with a PRS certification requires a total of 36 credit hours including:

Required Classes (18 hours):

• EDLL 5340 Literacy Acquisition Process and Pedagogy (Students will complete a certificate in dyslexia training as part of this course).
• EDLL 5342 Classroom-based Literacy Assessment for Differentiated Instruction (This course includes 40 hours of field experience)
• EDLL 5343 Practicum in Literacy (This course includes 60 hours of field experience)
• EDLL 5393 Internship in Literacy Leadership
• EDLL 5345 Emergent and Early Literacy Development and Pedagogy EDLL 5346 Increasing Reading Proficiency for All Readers Required

Specialization Courses (9 hours)

The courses are not in the PRS certification plan but are required for the master’s in Language and Literacy. These courses contain modules required by TEA that must be included in the PRS certification.

• EDLL 5355 Creating Writing Centered Classrooms
• EDLL 5356 Trends and Issues in Adolescent Literacy
• EDIT 5318 Technology in Educational Settings

Electives (9 hours)

Graduate students must choose three of the following courses. Note: Students have the option to transfer up to 6 credit hours of electives from a previous institution. However, to pursue the PRS, students must take all required courses listed above.

• EDLL 5341 Developing Academic Literacies in the Disciplines for Adolescents
• EDLL 5344 Content Area and Disciplinary Literacies
• EDLL 5350 Developing Traditional and New Literacies in Elementary Settings
• EDLL 5351 Children’s Literature in the School Curriculum
• EDLL 5353 Studies in Gender, Literacies, and Adolescence
• EDBL 5333 Teaching the Multicultural and Multilingual student (Possible study abroad option)
• EDCI 5380 Action Research 1 (Note students must take this course if they are interested in developing a thesis)
• EDLL 6000 Thesis. Students must take 6 hours of EDLL 6000 (two consecutive courses)

Benefits from this program consist of the following:

• All classes are offered online.
• Part of a master’s degree in Language & Literacy
• Leads to Texas Education Agency’s certification as a professional reading specialist.
• Certificate available for dyslexia training (provided by TEA).
• Provides in-depth knowledge of foundational, affective, and cognitive dimensions of reading, writing, listening, and speaking and their sequential processes of development.
• Accelerates student literacy skills to close gaps.
• Aligns with Texas Education Agency's Science of Teaching Reading Standards.
• Complements the Region Service Centers' Texas Reading Academies. 
• Aligns with Texas Education Agency’s Professional Reading Standards.
• Aligns with the International Literacy Association's Standards for the Preparation of Literacy Professionals.

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