The Reading First in Virginia professional development office now offers Teacher Reading Academies that can be "attended" from the comfort of your own home! All four grade levels are available (K-3) in fall and spring semesters.

Instructors for the on-line academies also teach summer Teacher Reading Academies; each brings his/her own teaching experiences with children and with colleagues to this venue.

Instruction for the on-line academies is interactive and makes use of the Blackboard platform. Each week, a new lesson is made available to registrants; each week, teachers take part in activities and share them with others in their academy. The on-line academy runs across eight weeks with a week added at the start-up to let people become acquainted with Blackboard.

Teachers wishing to enroll in an on-line academy should register for an account on the Reading First in Virginia website (see Log-In) and watch for the announcement for enrollment to open. All enrollment takes place through the website.

The on-line Teacher Reading Academy is a non-credit experience. To earn an academy certificate, the participant must be active in the class, completing assigned activities weekly. Only full participation will earn a certificate. The academy may also be taken for credit (EDIS 589W Reading First in Virginia: Effective Literacy Instruction in K-3 Classrooms) upon enrollment in the graduate course through the University of Virginia. Completion of the course will entail further web-based activities that will be specified in the course syllabus.

Topics for On-line Academies