Policy on transferring in core courses

A student who has demonstrated to the satisfaction of the Reading Department that he/she has already mastered the content of a core, required reading course that involves a mandatory practicum component may request the Department to waive that course. However, the practicum hours in that course cannot be waived. The practicum requirement can be met through additional practicum hours in another practicum course. Thus, a student might request a waiver of ERDG500 because he/she already knows the content of that course and provides compelling evidence (e.g., National Board Certification, Reading Recovery Training). Instead of completing 13 hours of practicum experiences in ERDG500, this student would add 13 hours to ERDG600 or ERDG620. Similarly, a student could request a waiver of ERDG505, and transfer the practicum requirement to ERDG605 or ERDG623. A student requesting such a waiver must provide evidence to support the request. This request will be reviewed by the advisor and the faculty member who teaches the core reading courses to be waived. Their recommendation must be approved by the Department chair. This approval will be noted in the student's official folder, along with the course(s) earmarked for additional practicum hours.

Note: although a course may be waived, the number of courses required to be taken in the MS program remains the same. The waived course may be replaced by an additional course from within the program options, or through transfer credit.

Policy on number of courses that can be taken in the Summer (updated: 4/29/09)

A three credit course in the 6-week summer session has the equivalent amount of readings, meeting times, and assignments as the regular semester 15-week courses. We do not reduce the course content for summer session offerings that last four or six weeks. Therefore, six credits during main six-week summer sessions is the equivalent coursework to 12 credits in a regular semester (full-time study). The department allows you to take only 2 three-credit courses during one summer session. If you must take more than 6 credits during summer for financial aid purposes, please plan on taking the remaining credits in a different summer session (e.g., May/June).

However, occasionally Departments offer 12-week summer courses, and since that's the length of a Fall or Spring course, we've modified the policy to accommodate this. It's complicated, so we've laid out a chart that can be used to determine how many courses can be taken in the summer. Note that the policy hasn't changed if you are taking only four-week or six-week courses.

Use the Summer Sessions Planning Schedule in combination with the Reading Department Summer Schedule and Department Policy to determine how many courses can be taken in the summer.