Master Reading Teacher Certificate Program Description
The Master Reading Teacher certificate program at UTPA is for pre-K through grade 12 educators who want to learn more about the practical aspects of reading and literacy leadership. People enrolled in the program gain a thorough understanding of the reading process, how children learn to read, how to work with struggling readers, how bilingual/ESL issues affect learning to read and how to be a literacy leader.
Students in the program:
become more knowledgeable, confident, and competent teachers of reading.
explore literacy questions that directly relate to their teaching.
become literacy leaders in their schools, districts, and communities.
make connections with reading teachers from across the Rio Grande Valley.
The Master Reading Teacher Certificate is part of the Texas Reading Initiative to ensure that all Texas students are reading on grade level by the end of the third grade and that their reading knowledge and skills grow throughout their public school careers. A Master Reading Teacher is an individual who holds a Master Reading Teacher Certificate and whose primary duties are to teach reading and to serve as a reading mentor to other teachers.
In the state of Texas, teachers become certified as MRTs in one of two ways:
A teacher who has a valid Texas teaching certificate and at least three years teaching experience satisfactorily completes the required 12 hours of graduate coursework through a program such as the UTPA MRT certificate program. Upon completion of the coursework, this person must pass the MRT certification exam.
A teacher who completes the Reading Specialist Option of the Reading and Literacy Master’s degree, takes the Reading Specialist TExES exam, and obtains a Reading Specialist certificate automatically qualifies for MRT certification. In this case the person is not required to take the MRT certification exam.
