Texas Teacher Reading Academies — Now Online with Searchlight!
About the Academies
Developed at the Vaughn Gross Center with funds provided by the Texas Education Agency, the Texas Teacher Reading Academies are scientifically based professional development courses designed to enhance teachers’ knowledge and skills so they can effectively teach young students to read.
Thousands of elementary teachers across Texas—as well as in other states, U.S. territories, and countries—have completed the Academies.
All five grade-level Teacher Reading Academies (TRAs)—Kindergarten, First Grade, Second Grade, Third Grade, and Fourth Grade—include explicit and systematic instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. In addition, the Academies highlight effective instructional practices such as grouping, monitoring student progress to inform instruction, and providing interventions for struggling readers. Each Academy offers engaging activities and videos of real teachers in their classrooms, as well as research articles, reference materials, lesson plans, and classroom masters.
Now Online
In order to provide continued access to these high-quality resources, each of the original Academies has been converted to an online version, or Online Teacher Reading Academy (OTRA). The OTRAs as well as many other valuable scientifically based reading instructional (SBRI) materials can now be accessed (without a CD-ROM) via an innovative Web site, Searchlight. Searchlight allows educators to take online courses for professional education (CPE) credit* through its Go Learn feature. In addition, Searchlight offers users the option to search smaller clusters of information by topic, grade level, or type of material. For example, users can choose to Go Search the database using keywords to isolate content or to browse organized collections of resources via the Go Explore function.
*Note: Ask your state education board whether CPE credits transfer to your state.
More About the Academies
The Academies address a wide range of subjects so teachers can tailor their reading instruction to address the needs of all children who are learning to read, including English language learners, students with learning disabilities, and those at risk for reading difficulties and dyslexia.
| Topics Covered | Grade Level | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alphabetic Understanding, Phonics, and Word Study | K | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Bilingualism and Language Diversity | K | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Comprehension | K | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Features of Effective Instruction | K | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Focus on Math | 4 | ||||
| Grouping for Instruction | K | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Identification of Dyslexia | 1 | 2 | 3 | ||
| Oral Language and Vocabulary Development | K | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Phonemic Awareness | K | 1 | |||
| Reading Fluency | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| Spelling | K | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Writing | K | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
For more information, please see the Frequently Asked Questions.
