At the University of Arizona Tucson, a reading specialist certificate is part of the K-12 education program, encouraging students to add it to their Bachelor's Degree for additional expertise. Courses offered to students include literacy, language acquisition, and bi-literacy. University of Arizona requires these students to take at least four courses, but are encouraged to take four additional courses and six credit-hours of on-site workshop, for a total of 30 credit hours.
The focus for hopeful reading specialists at Pima Community College is field-intensive and standards-based coursework. The school requires a student to have received a Bachelor's Degree in education prior to trying for an endorsement. As a student in this program, you must complete six credit-hours of required coursework (a reading practicum and Foundations of Reading Instruction) and nine credit-hours of elective coursework.
Located in Mesa, just over 100 miles from Tucson, Maricopa Community College's local branch provides a reading specialist endorsement to interested students. The program at Maricopa emphasizes decoding, diagnosis, and remediation of reading, and students are required to have an off-site practicum during their schooling. The total amount of credit hours required for certification is 15.
The University of Phoenix (UoP), an online degree program headquartered about 100 miles from Tucson, offers a reading specialist endorsement. University of Phoenix requires students to have a teaching certificate prior to the start of coursework. Enrollees must complete a minimum of 15 credit-hours of classes with UoP, which include decoding, diagnosis, remediation, and methods of reading skills.