An alternate route to certification is available for applicants who wish to document that they have completed training and practicum experiences that are equivalent to those required for Structured Literacy/Dyslexia Specialist, but:
- These experiences were not completed under the direction and guidance of an IDA Accredited Partner (institution or organization); or,
- The institution or organization they trained under was IDA Accredited Partner at the time they were undergoing training, but is no longer IDA Accredited Partner; or,
- The organization they trained under is no longer in practice; or,
- They’ve lost their practicum evaluation documentation; or,
- They’ve been practicing as a tutor for students with dyslexia for more than 10 years, with local, state, or national recognition, but have no formal documentation of having completed a supervised practicum experience.
Applicants must:
- Pass the KPEERI (formerly CEERI) exam;
- Prepare an electronic portfolio that includes all necessary components, as documented below;
- Submit a completed electronic Alternate Route application to CERI for evaluation;
- Complete electronic credit card authorization for Alternate Route review.
ALTERNATE ROUTE TO CERTIFICATION PORTFOLIO REVIEW FEES
| Application Process and Fees |
|
| Renewal Process and Fees
|
|
All Alternate Route Portfolios must include:
- Personal statement of 4 to 5 typewritten pages (.PDF format) that addresses your equivalent qualifications, with an emphasis on documenting equivalent knowledge and skill to that of certification candidates prepared through an IDA Accredited Partner.
- Evidence of having earned a passing score on the KPEERI (formerly CEERI).
- Minimum Degree Required: Bachelor’s Degree, demonstrated through either a transcript or copy of a diploma.
- Copy of resume or curriculum vitae (C.V.).
- Two letters of support from appropriate professional colleagues in the field, such as a supervisor, principal, reading specialist, or special educator. Letters must contain the individual’s email and telephone contact information and should speak to (a) your competencies with regard to serving the needs of students from a Structured Literacy perspective, with reference to and alignment with the KPS, as appropriate; and, (b) their knowledge of your demonstrated ability to meaningfully impact student learning outcomes. Letters of support must be both signed and dated and should not be authored by another candidate who is currently also applying for CERI certification.
PLEASE NOTE: This certification requires submitting three case studies involving three students with heterogeneous needs as described in further detail below. Students selected for intervention should have a clear need for intervention; they should not be typically achieving students. Each of these students must have been seen for at least 48 individual tutoring sessions (approximately 45 to 60 minutes per session) over 24 consecutive weeks, for a total of 144 tutoring sessions across all three students. Applications containing case studies that do not meet these requirements will be automatically rejected without further review. Applications may be re-submitted, but only one re-submission is permitted within a given review period.
Academic dishonesty — such as plagiarism, dishonesty about the length of intervention or assessment results, or use of Artificial Intelligence programs to generate alternate route cases — will be cause for immediate denial of applications, without further review and with revocation of the option to revise, and it may make an applicant permanently ineligible for CERI certification in the future.
Structured Literacy/Dyslexia Specialist Alternate Route Portfolios must also include:
- One letter of support from a parent of a student (or the student themselves, if of the age of consent) that:
- describes your relationship to the student;
- describes the frequency and duration of your work with the student;
- speaks to the measurable and observable impact your work had on the student;
- contains both their phone and email contact information; and,
- is signed and dated by the individual.
- Three students, case studies, complete with (for each student):
- background information, including the student’s ages/grades; reasons why the students were referred for intervention (including a summary of the student’s prior educational/intervention histories if available); and any disability diagnoses that have been made;
- approximate dates served indicating the students were each engaged for a minimum of twenty-four (24) weeks and for at least forty-eight (48) individual sessions;
- pre-post assessment data including technically adequate (reliable and valid) measures; also, pre-assessment information should say something about the student’s oral vocabulary/oral comprehension abilities, even if vocabulary and comprehension did not need to be addressed in intervention;
- priority scope and sequence established for the students that considers pre-assessment data and background information;
- description of the intervention, including typical activities for decoding, spelling, text reading, and any other areas in which the students required intervention; also, the description of the intervention should make it clear how the intervention exemplified a Structured Literacy approach;
- discussion of progress/lack of progress, including the specific assessments that you used to monitor progress, whether progress during the course of intervention (not just at the beginning and end) was adequate, and if not, how the intervention was adjusted to increase progress;
- recommendations in response to post-assessment data. Recommendations should consider not only the student’s intervention needs, but also their needs for additional assessment and their ability to function independently in the school setting.
- Case studies should be typewritten and approximately 9 to 10 pages in length. (Case studies of less than 9 pages are usually not adequate to convey the required information.) Please use 12-point font, with clear headings (e.g., Background Information), and with clear charts, tables, and/or graphs for assessment data. Single spacing is acceptable. All case studies should be clearly written, well organized, and free of typos and basic writing errors in spelling, grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and sentence structure.
- Student case studies should not include the student’s real names but rather should refer to them using pseudonyms in order to properly protect the student’s identities.
The Structured Literacy/Dyslexia Specialist certification requires three case studies involving students with heterogeneous needs. “Heterogeneous” means that the students differ in their intervention needs. This requirement is meant to demonstrate that the applicant has the expertise to plan and deliver effective intervention for students with a variety of reading difficulties.
One of the three case studies should involve a student who has basic decoding needs at the one-syllable level. Below are some descriptions of other students who, in conjunction with the first case involving basic one-syllable decoding, could fulfill the heterogeneity requirement:
- A student who can decode at the one-syllable level, but who has intervention needs at the two-syllable/multisyllabic level
- A student whose primary needs involve automaticity and reading fluency rather than accuracy of decoding
- A student who has needs in the area of vocabulary and/or comprehension rather than (or in addition to) decoding
- A student whose primary needs are in the area of spelling and writing rather than reading
Across the three case studies, the interventions should differ to reflect these different intervention needs; the interventions should not simply duplicate each other. Also, assessment data should reflect the needs of each student. For example, for a student with vocabulary/comprehension needs, the case study should include baseline data for vocabulary/comprehension that support a need for intervention in that area, and progress monitoring should assess vocabulary/comprehension as well as any other areas addressed in intervention.
If an Alternate Route application is initially denied…
If an application is denied, applicants have one opportunity to revise the application and re-submit it without additional cost. Summary feedback is given to denied applicants to provide an indication of why the application was rejected; it is very important to attend carefully to the feedback and use it in revising the relevant portfolio documents. To be reviewed, revisions must be submitted within 30 days of the denial decision; after the 30-day window, revisions will not be accepted.
If an application is denied twice, applicants always have the option to re-apply for CERI certification in the future, but they must wait until the next application period opens to submit a new Alternate Route application, for which the usual application fees would be required.
If an Alternate Route application is approved…
Upon approval, the applicant will be informed by email and those applicants who’s applications also included the KPEERI exam will have their information submitted to Meazure Learning in our regularly scheduled information packet. Meazure Learning will then contact the applicant with information regarding the scheduling of an exam appointment. Those applicants who have already taken the KPEERI exam and submitted a KPEERI Score Report with their Alternate Route application will have their new certification issued as soon as possible.