NILD's PCET Program Reaches IDA's Highest Accreditation Level

NILD's PCET Program Reaches IDA's Highest Accreditation Level

Every student with dyslexia deserves instruction built on real expertise. NILD's Professionally Certified Educational Therapist (PCET) program just received the field's clearest signal that its training holds up to that standard: reaccreditation from the International Dyslexia Association at the Accreditation Plus level, the highest distinction IDA awards.

Why This Matters

For NILD's certified Educational Therapists and the candidates coming up behind them, this is more than a line on a resume. Their training was built on the same standards IDA holds up as the national benchmark, standards developed by experts in the science of reading and structured literacy.

Schools and employers get something out of it too. They can trust that the training behind a NILD certified ET has been vetted by outside experts in reading instruction, not just by NILD itself.

Families of students with dyslexia feel it as well, even at a step removed. IDA says accreditation exists to protect the interests of candidates, institutions, and the students those candidates eventually serve. A program held to that standard trains ETs who are actually ready for the kids sitting in front of them.

The Work Behind the Seal

Getting to Accreditation Plus took close to a year of sustained work. NILD's team built out a 100-page application covering curriculum, faculty qualifications, practicum requirements, and outcome data, then handed it to an independent panel of reading experts for review. Alongside the paperwork, the program had to show that Structured Literacy, the systematic, explicit, diagnostic approach behind IDA's Knowledge and Practice Standards (KPS), actually runs through the program day to day, not just in a mission statement somewhere. IDA's KPS give programs a full, standards-based framework for building a reading curriculum, and matching that framework in practice is what the review is really checking for. The accreditation now holds for five years from the date of NILD's decision letter, after which the review process starts again.

In IDA's Own Words

IDA CEO Sonja Banks described what accreditation signals for programs that earn it:

"These programs have demonstrated their commitment to preparing teachers of reading by successfully completing the rigorous, systematic evaluation and refinement of their programs to ensure alignment with IDA's standards for teachers of reading. Programs accredited by IDA promote candidate mastery of the principles and practices of structured literacy, the best preparation teachers can have to teach reading to struggling readers, including those with dyslexia."

What This Means Going Forward

What IDA promises, in its own words, is that every candidate trained through an accredited program has learned a set of skills validated by experts in the field. That is what Accreditation Plus adds up to here: proof that NILD's training holds up against the toughest outside review IDA offers.

Learn more about NILD's Educational Therapy Courses: https://nild.org/find-a-training/courses/educational-therapist. For more on IDA's accreditation process and a full list of accredited programs, visit dyslexiaida.org/knowledge-and-practices.