Ohio Dyslexia Support Law Professional Development
Are you looking to complete a professional development course that meets the Ohio Dyslexia Support Laws requirements for all K-3 teachers, and teachers providing special education instruction to children in K-12? The Keys to Beginning Reading course is accredited by the International Dyslexia Association and on Ohio’s approved list of approved professional development programs!
About the Keys to Beginning Reading Course 
This practical course provides the background knowledge needed to teach all the components of beginning reading instruction, as well as the identifying characteristics of dyslexia and pedagogy for dyslexia instruction. The instructional practices are designed to easily transfer to classroom lessons and can be integrated with any reading curriculum or published reading program. The course is tightly aligned with state literacy standards, and the content outline recommended by the Ohio Dyslexia Committee.
The course is organized into 11 modules covering topics that include: reading basics, oral language, phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, sentence structure, text structure, comprehension, students with reading difficulties and dyslexia, and reading assessment. A 460-page training manual is included. Visit our Keys to Beginning Reading home page.
Two Options for Taking the Course
Option 1: Live Onsite or Virtual Course
Participants attend live training delivered by Keys to Literacy trainers onsite at a school district, OR live-virtual training using Zoom software. The full course takes 36 hours to complete. We will develop a customized professional development plan for a school district to provide training following a flexible schedule that can be spread out over any number of months or years.
Option 2: Facilitated Online Course
This option combines completion of the Keys to Beginning Reading online course with participation in live debrief sessions facilitated by a Keys to Literacy trainer. The online course is organized into 11 modules that cover the same content as live training. It is an asynchronous course, which means users can log on and off multiple times to complete the course assignments at their own pace. The live debrief sessions provide a collaborative opportunity to debrief activities completed during the online course, share ideas for connecting course content to classroom instruction, and have the facilitator answer questions and clarify online course content. The online course modules take approximately 36 hours to complete, and there are 12 hours of debrief meetings. Keys to Literacy will develop a customized professional development plan for a school district to schedule the debrief meetings following a schedule that meets the needs of the participants. If your school district, SST, or ESC is interested in providing the facilitated online course, consider our Train-the-Facilitator option, described at the bottom of this page.
Click here for guidelines about the two options for training delivered by Keys to Literacy trainers.
What if our school district has already started or completed Keys to Beginning Reading training?
The Ohio Department of Education notes, “Any professional development previously completed by a teacher that is included on the list of approved courses counts toward the required 18 hours in approved professional development.” Over the last several years, Keys to Literacy has been working with Ohio school districts to provide professional development to educators using our various PreK-12 courses. If we have provided training for some or all of the Keys to Beginning Reading course modules, these should count towards meeting the requirements of the Dyslexia Support Laws. Please contact us to learn more about previously provided training or to develop a plan for completing training for all modules.
I am an individual educator. How can I access the Keys to Beginning Reading course?
This approved course for the Ohio Dyslexia Support Laws requirement is only available via training provided by Keys to Literacy to school districts, OR from trainings sponsored by State Support Teams or Educational Service Centers using their trainers who have completed our Train-the-Facilitator training to become certified, licensed Keys to Beginning Reading facilitators. Check with your local SST or ESC to find out if our course will be offered through these organizations.
Train-the-Facilitator Option
Keys to Literacy offers a Level I Train-the-Facilitator option for Ohio SST or ESC agencies and school districts that would like to develop in-house facilitators for the facilitated online Keys to Beginning Reading course. Click here for information about this option. Click here for guidelines for Ohio Level I training. A virtual-live TTF session that is open to the public is being offered May 22-25, 2023. Click here for more information or to register.