Reading, PA – On August 20, 2019, Reading Area Community College (RACC) President Dr. Susan Looney and Kutztown University of Pennsylvania President Dr. Kenneth Hawkinson signed an agreement for Kutztown University (KU) to teach a Bachelor of Science in Education (BSED) with Prek-4 Teacher Certification program at Reading Area Community College’s (RACC) campus starting fall 2020.  

The agreement frames a teacher certification pathway through leveraging Berks County public institutions, Reading Area Community College, Kutztown University, Reading Muhlenberg Career and Technology Centers, and Berks Career and Technology Center and addresses workforce projections for qualified early childhood teachers in the region.
Students will be able to begin taking college courses this fall at the Career Technology Centers (CTC) through the Teacher Academy, a college-credit bearing career pathway in CTC Early Childhood Education taught at both CTC’s. Students will be able to complete their AAS in Early Childhood Teaching in a year after graduating from high school before transitioning to Kutztown University’s BSED (PreK-4 Certification) program offered at RACC’s campus. At the center of these agreements, which creates a seamless pathway from the CTC’s to Kutztown University, are the students who graduate from RACC’s AAS Early Childhood Teaching program and need an accessible and affordable pathway to better employment opportunities through earning a  Bachelor of Science in Education in the community where they live, work, and raise their families. 

“The BSED at RACC’s campus will help our students achieve their career goals and help our community with well-trained early childhood teachers. These students want to stay in Berks County and teach our very youngest students in Berks County. To partner with the Career Technology Centers so high school students can begin their career programs with college credit helps accelerated the pathway to completion,” says Dr. Susan Looney. 

For more information about KU – BSED Cohort starting fall 2020 at RACC’s campus, please contact Jim Garraway, KU’s Assistant Director of Transfer Admissions, 610.683.4787. For more information about the Teacher Academy contact Jodi Corbett, director of academic partnerships/special assistant to the president, 610.607.6219.