Certificate of Achievement in Proofreading

The Court Reporting Program at College of Marin offers four stackable certificates designed for students interested in acquiring the skills necessary to secure employment as a verbatim reporter in our courts of law, pre-trial depositions, senate and congressional hearings, closed captioning and educational captioning.

The new certificates are as follows; Certificate of Achievement for Proofreading, Certificate of Achievement for Scopist, Certificate of Achievement for Communication Access Realtime Translation(C.A.R.T.) and Certificate of Achievement for CSR exam preparation.

Upon successful completion of the Proofreading Certificate of Achievement, students will be able to:

• Appropriately and professionally apply the court reporting process in the workplace.
• Demonstrate proficiency in basic English, grammar and punctuation, as well as legal terminology, court structure, basic legal procedures, basic civil law, basic criminal law, official court reporting procedures, deposition court reporting procedures, and court reporting ethics.
• Demonstrate proficiency in basic medical terminology, including terms relating to anatomy, physiology, and pharmaceutical drugs.

Students in the Court Reporting program will also earn transferable units if they opt to transfer to a four-year program to complete a bachelor’s degree in the field of their choice.

College of Marin projects 10-15 students will complete this certificate annually.

The new program in Court Reporting will offer four new stackable Certificates of Achievement in addition to an A.S. degree in Court Reporting. The new certificates are as follows; Certificate of Achievement for Proofreading, Certificate of Achievement for Scopist, Certificate of Achievement for Communication Access Realtime Translation (C.A.R.T.) and Certificate of Achievement for CSR exam preparation.

Students in the Court Reporting program will also earn transferable units if they opt to transfer to a four-year program to complete a bachelor’s degree in the field of their choice.

The Proofreading Certificate is the first in the series of stackable certificates that will prepare students for successful completion of the CSR exam and the A.S. Degree in Court Reporting. Please refer to the additional information section.

Successful completion of the Proofreading Certificate will boost enrollment, and create certificates that strategically prepare students for the CSR exam through a series of certificates for Court Reporting,

1.      Students in this new certificate program will learn current industry standards for Proofreading skills.

2.      Students that successfully complete the Proofreading Certificate will have completed foundational skills such as familiarity with legal and medical terminology while working towards the C.S.R. Certificate, which prepares students to take the CSR Exam.

3.  Students that successfully compete the Proofreading Certificate will be better prepared for the CSR exam through the new stackable certificates with better course stepping to develop steno speed-writing skills, a primary goal of the certificates.

4.    Students that successfully complete of the proofreading certificate will be able to seek employment working directly with deposition and court reporters.

5.     Create a one-semester certificate that provides students with necessary skills that are directly related to job-market needs.

Certificate Objectives -

 The objectives for the Proofreading certificate are listed below:

•    provide a basic training that introduces students to the theory of court reporting

•    competency with editing spoken-text punctuation, grammar

•    familiarity with medical, legal and pharmaceutical vocabulary

The Certificate of Achievement, Proofreading prepares students for entry-level occupations in the legal industry. There are no prerequisites to enter this program.  The following courses are the requirements which will help a student build upon to earn subsequent certificates including Scopist, CART and CSR exam preparation, if the student chooses to proceed further in the Court Reporting sector. 

Course	Title	Units	Year/Semester (Y1 or S1)
COUR 110A	Theory Machine Shorthand 1	6	S1
COUR 167	Ethics for Court Report	1	S1
COUR 168A	Spelling and Vocabulary	1	S1
COUR 168B	Grammar for Court Reporting	2	S1
MEDA 165	Medical Terminology 1	2	S1
	Total	12

The College of Marin will offer four Certificates of Achievement and one A.S. in Court Reporting. Each Certificate of Achievement includes noncredit options for additional practice time for speed skill development and online, hybrid and in-person courses. Our Certificates of Achievement and our A.S. in Court Reporting include noncredit mirrored courses for speed levels, giving students opportunity to develop speed skills as they progress through the certificate at no additional cost. There are seven public schools in California that offer courses in court reporting but only West Valley is within 100 miles of the College of Marin. West Valley in Saratoga, Ca is currently noncredit and does not offer Certificates of Achievement or an A.S. Degree in Court Reporting. We do not believe there are similar certificate offerings in our area. There is one private school in the area, Humphreys in Stockton. Charles A. Jones School of Court Reporting is a public school and has not historically offered online courses pre-COVID, and fees are $9305 a year for court reporting courses with an additional $500 for book costs. College of Marin fees are $46 per unit or $1,104 a year for 24 units with a materials fee of $114 per semester that covers Realtime Coach, an online speed-building practice program.

There are no Court Reporting programs which will impacted by this certificate. There are seven public schools in California that offer courses in court reporting but only West Valley is within 100 miles of the College of Marin.