CDE K-3 Teacher Training Requirement

What is the K-3 Teacher Training in Evidence-Based Reading?

Legislators update READ Act to emphasize evidence-based reading instruction

In 2019, the legislature made several changes to the READ Act to help educators support reading success among our state's youngest learners. Not all of Colorado's educators have had the opportunity to learn the science of teaching reading in their teacher training programs, so one of the changes to the READ Act requires training on the latest evidence-based reading instruction strategies for all K-3 teachers. By the 2024-2025 school year K-12 Reading Interventionists and K-12 ESS teachers who serve students that have READ plans need to complete READ Act Teacher Training.

All teachers that the READ Act requires must complete the teacher training by August 1st of the current school year. This is a one-time requirement for teachers. Districts, BOCES, and charters that do not meet the requirements will be ineligible for READ Act funds for the school year. Each year going forward, districts will need to make sure newly hired teachers have met this requirement.

The training must:

Consist of a minimum of 45 hours;
Address the content of the educator preparation literacy standards (PDF); and
Include an end-of-course assessment that teachers can provide evidence of passing

Learn more about Colorado READ Act.

Who must take READ Act training?

All teachers who provide literacy instruction to students in grades K-3, K-12 ESS teachers who serve students that have READ plans, and reading interventionists K-12 must complete evidenced-based training in teaching reading. Below are the definitions of teacher and reading interventionist in READ Act Rule.

Reading Interventionist: An individual employed to teach students and whose primary job duties include providing reading intervention to students on READ Act Plans during regular school hours to supplement core academic instruction and who is employed in any of grades K-12.
Teacher: The professional responsible for the literacy instruction of the student(s) and may include the main instructor for a class, an instructional coach, Reading Interventionist (in grades K-3), special education teacher, Title I teacher or other personnel who are identified as effective in the teaching of reading and who has been employed to teach kindergarten or any of grades one through three.

How Can Teachers Meet the Requirement?

There are a number of pathways for teachers to show they meet this requirement. Please view the options below, but you will find detailed information about each option on the CDE Teacher Information Page.

Option 1: Teachers who have a Colorado Reading Teacher or Reading Specialist endorsement meet the training requirement.
Option 2: Teachers must engage in a minimum of 45 hours of training and can take and pass a reading content assessment authorized by the State Board to meet the training requirement to replace an end-of-course assessment. The Praxis Teaching Reading: Elementary 5205 exam with a passing score of 159 was approved by the state board in April 2020.
Option 3: Teachers may submit evidence of successfully completing an undergraduate or graduate course in teaching reading for the CDE to review to determine whether it meets the statutory requirements. CDE is working on a process to review submissions by teachers who want to verify if they have the correct coursework or a degree to satisfy the requirement. Please note that the coursework must include an end-of-course assessment in order to meet the requirements.
Option 4: Teachers may submit evidence of successfully completing a course in teaching reading appropriate for license renewal for the CDE to review to determine whether it meets the statutory requirements.
Option 5: Teachers will have the option to successfully complete a CDE-provided training at no cost to the teacher. CDE’s online option is completely self-paced and can be completed asynchronously at any time that works best for a teacher, and the face-to-face option is being changed into synchronous virtual options where teachers would join at specific times.
Option 6: Teachers will have the option to successfully complete a district- or BOCES-provided training approved by the CDE. At this time, APS has not developed district-level training.
Option 7: Teachers can successfully complete a training program included on the CDE Advisory List of Professional Development that has been designed to meet this requirement.

What If I Don't Currently Meet the Requirement?

APS is responsible for ensuring all of their K-3 teachers have engaged in the training by August 1st of the current school year, and have the READ Act Designation added to their license by August 15th of the current school year, in order to receive READ Act per-pupil intervention funds for the current school year. It is imperative that all K-3 teachers, special education teachers, and interventionists who provide direct literacy instruction to students meet this requirement by the deadline. If you don't meet the requirement, it could impact staffing decisions at your school site. For example, if a K-3rd grade, ESS, or Reading Interventionist does not complete the READ Act training requirements by the deadlines, they may be placed into another position (i.e.4th or 5th-grade) that does not require READ Act training. If your role will include delivering instruction to K-3 students, you must work to complete this requirement by the August 1st deadline.

READ Act K-3 Reading Coursework Requirements: Attention Elementary School Leaders and Teachers

The deadline for completion of the K-3 reading teacher coursework requirements as outlined in the 2019 revision of the READ Act has been changed to August 1st of the current school year. Colorado teachers in K-3 must also have the READ Act Designation added to their license by August 15th of the current school year. In order to support teachers on the completion of this requirement, the APS Department of Professional Learning has partnered with Keys to Beginning Reading in order to provide the same CDE-offered training modules in APS. Cohorts are being offered in APS so please review the Professional Learning catalog or search for Keys to Beginning Reading on Power School and register for an option that best meets your needs.

Please read this APS FAQ thoroughly as many of your questions will be answered about the logistics of this training requirement.

Information for Submitting Documentation to CDE

The Colorado Online Licensing (COOL) system has been updated and is able to accept documentation from teachers demonstrating that they have met the READ Act teacher training requirements. The COOL system can be accessed directly on the CDE webpage using this link or on the Educator Talent Licensing webpage linked here.

If a teacher completed the CDE online training “Building a Strong Foundation: Developing Early Literacy Skills” through Pepper, they will want to follow the directions below to link their account in Pepper to their account in COOL, so their certificate of completion will be sent from the Pepper system over to COOL.

Log in to their COOL account.
Select “My Profile”.
Select “Designations” in the Credential section of their profile.
Select the “Link My Pepper Account” link and follow the instructions.

1. The link will take them to Pepper.
2. Log in using their Pepper account credentials.

Upon successful completion of this process, a confirmation statement will appear in the green bar beneath the “Link to Pepper” instructions.

If a teacher is submitting documentation for all other pathway options, they will want to follow the directions below.

Log in to their COOL account.
Select “My Profile”.
Select “Designations” in the Credential section of their profile.
Select “Add Designation”.
Click “Yes, Confirm”.
Click “Yes” under “Do you wish to be evaluated for the READ Act designation”.
Complete a short application and upload their certificate of completion.

Log in to their COOL account.
Select + Designation to add the READ Act designation (under “Actions”)
Click “Yes, Confirm”.
Click “Yes” under “Do you wish to be evaluated for the READ Act designation”.
Complete a short application and upload their certificate of completion.

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