Cox Campus, the online learning community of the Rollins Center for Language & Literacy at the Atlanta Speech School, has been selected by the Ohio Department of Education (DOE) to create a customized early learning credential to transform teaching practices and child literacy outcomes throughout Ohio.
“Our partnership with the Ohio Department of Education is a significant step toward providing early learning educators with free evidenced-based courses and resources that will help the teachers build a language-centered and culturally responsive foundation for every child,” said Dr. Ryan Lee-James, Chief Academic Officer of the Rollins Center. “Early learning teachers are among the first to plant the seed of literacy with our young children. This credential builds the knowledge, skills and agency each teacher needs to build relationships of care that make way for deep reading brain construction, paving the path to opportunity and a life of self-determination.”
Cox Campus will provide three levels of credentials for Ohio teachers: emergent literacy aware (5 hours), emergent literacy informed (10 hours) and emergent literacy competent (15 hours).
Dr. Nadia Jones, Director of Partnerships at the Rollins Center, is enthusiastic about what the Ohio model represents for the nation: “The partnership between Ohio and the Rollins Center for Language and Literacy and its free online Cox Campus represents the best of public-private collaboration. Ohio DOE has leveraged our grant-funded learning community that is internationally accredited and open to all educators, delivering best-in-class professional development while being responsible stewards of public dollars.”
Explicit and systematic instruction puts reading within reach for all children, and language-centered classrooms are the first critical step. The Rollins Center, through its online Cox Campus, is providing the support every educator needs in the implementation of healthy brain development, language acquisition and early literacy instruction. Because their teachers can access this best-in-class training through a free platform, states and districts have the opportunity to strategically reallocate public funding into teacher stipends, instructional coaching and classroom materials.
“Learning to read is a skill that is built on a continuum,” said Lee-James. “Science tells us that beginning in the third trimester before birth, the adults in a child’s life help construct language pathways that allow for the formation of the foundation for learning to read. It is critical that our early learning educators have access to the resources that improve reading outcomes for all children.”
To learn more about Cox Campus and the comprehensive, free literacy resources available, visit www.coxcampus.org.
