Orton-Gillingham for Intervention: Associate Level Course & Practicum 2025-2026

Course description

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT HOURS: 76 hours

This cumulative 76-hour course and 100-lesson practicum meet the Orton-Gillingham Academy’s Associate Level training requirements. Participants can earn Orton-Gillingham (OG) certification at the Associate Level to successfully teach the OG Approach, either in-person or online, to struggling readers. Anyone interested in this comprehensive training must first complete a brief application and interview to be accepted into the Associate Level summer 2025 training program. In addition to coursework, participants will be able to access an online library of video clips about the OG lesson plan, digital teaching resources, and office hours with the course instructors.

Participants will learn how to:

• Design and teach an OG lesson
• Administer an informal diagnostic assessment to inform instruction
• Understand the reading brain and dyslexia
• Assess and systematically teach phonemic awareness, phonics, and morphology
• Teach syllable types and syllable division patterns
• Write a decodable text
• Use a comprehensive Scope and Sequence to teach the Orton-Gillingham Approach to struggling students in grades K–12

Course Expectations:

All participants (including those taking the class for graduate credit) will be asked to:

• Attend the full duration of all class meetings live online.
• Download and print the required course binder.
• Purchase the required materials for this course (see list of required materials below)
• Complete pre-coursework (six hours), which counts toward the total number of hours before the course begins to gain an overview of:
  • The Orton-Gillingham Approach
  • The Science of Reading
  • Dyslexia and the reading brain
  • The history and structure of the English language
• Complete asynchronous and homework assignments between classes.
• Take a brief final exam.

Practicum:

Teachers accepted into the OG Associate Level training will complete a 100-session practicum during the 2025–26 school year, which is required for OG Associate Level certification. The practicum includes being assigned an OG Fellow or mentor for the school year, ten observations, and three additional days of classes throughout the school year. If you wish to pursue this practicum, you are required to take the summer course and practicum within the same year.

• The Associate Level practicum is also available for three graduate credits from Vermont State University for an additional $630.
• Please find more information about OGAL practicum requirements here. (This four-page document is required reading for the course and practicum application.)

Practicum Class Dates:

Three days of additional coursework (18 hours) will be held  from 8:30 AM–3:30 PM EST via Zoom. The dates will be finalized in late spring once most Vermont schools publish their 2025-26 calendar. The dates will be a Friday in November, January, and April.

You can contact the Director of the Orton-Gillingham Institute Peggy Price with questions.

Please review  this document, which is required for the course and practicum application.

Application Information:

• All educators interested in taking this course and practicum must first apply with the Stern Center’s Orton-Gillingham Institute. The application involves a writing sample and a brief interview.

You will need a Word document or PDF ready to upload:

1. Brief written application. Please write approximately one page that includes the following information:

• • Please tell us a little about yourself to explain why you are interested in enrolling in the OGAL course & practicum.
  • Please include your name, role, school, and district in your writing sample.
  • Please use professional writing and proofread your writing sample.

You are required to read the following information about the Orton-Gillingham Associate Level (OGAL) course and practicum. We recommend the following order:

1. Information about course details, including costs (the webpage you’re reading right now)
2. Information about OGAL practicum requirements (4-page document)
3. Frequently asked questions about the course & practicum (4-page document)

Required Materials:

1. Course binder: All participants will be sent a link to the course binder, which they are required to print before the start of class. The binder will be sent in June.
2. Materials to purchase on your own: All participants will also need to purchase the following materials:
   1. Basic and Advanced sound deck | $25 | Order from wvced.com*
   2. Equipped for Reading Success | $60 | Order from equippedforreadingsuccess.com 
   3. The Gillingham Manual, 8th edition | Approximately $60-95 | You can find this book anywhere books are sold including: Cheapest Textbooks, Booksrun, here, and here.

*Bulk discounts for required materials may be available for participants attending this training with a group of educators from the same school. Please see the website for details.

Payment policy:

Registrations received without payment, or a completed purchase order will not hold a spot for you in the course.

Find our withdrawal policy and other terms and conditions here.

Cancellation date:

The Stern Center reserves the right to cancel any scheduled workshop due to low enrollment ten days prior to each course or workshop.