Is there ever an exception made to the bachelor’s degree requirement for Classroom Educator, Associate, and Certified levels?

No. The Academy’s standard is an applicant must have a bachelor’s degree to apply to the Academy at the Classroom Educator, Associate, and Certified levels. The minimum requirement for teachers in the United States is a bachelor’s degree.  A bachelor’s degree puts immense focus on critical thinking, writing, and other academic skills, all of which lay a good foundation for learning how to teach phonics and morphology and how to work with students.  The Academy feels that having a bachelor’s degree as a requirement for certification, to teach dyslexic students, adds credibility to our certification.  There is no rule to prevent a person without a bachelor’s degree from taking coursework and practicum, this is at the discretion of the Fellow; however, the participants who do not have a bachelor’s degree must understand that they will not be qualified to apply to the Academy until they have a BA.