The characteristics and components of a competency-based teacher education program within which the skills for teaching reading and language arts are developed and implemented are identified in this paper. A four-phase systemic curriculum model developed at the University of North Florida is presented. Twenty-five enabling objectives were written for the specialized competencies component related to reading and language arts and are discussed in the report. Included among these are the following: demonstrate command of key concepts in the field of language arts and reading, demonstrate ability to gain access to recorded knowledge in the field of language arts and reading, identify strategies appropriate for teaching reading and language arts, analyze current reading and language arts curriculum materials, develop a model of your own for teaching reading and language arts, identify appropriate support systems for reading and language arts, know and understand the steps in system analysis as they relate to reading and language arts, and know and understand the basic steps in system evaluation as they apply to reading and language arts. A list of broad general competencies used as part of the four-phase development model are also presented and discussed. (WR)