Effective reading instruction is essential for all students, and especially students with disabilities; however, studies have indicated that both pre-service and in-service teachers lack an adequate knowledge of reading. To ensure adequate teacher knowledge, teacher preparation reform advocates suggest purposeful alignment of teacher preparation curricula, candidate competency standards, and teaching licensure requirements. Instructors in the participating special education program have followed this recommendation by aligning the curriculum of a required developmental reading course to the state's teaching competencies for reading, and assessing the teaching and learning of these competencies through the administration of the Common Assessment of Special Education Teachers-Reading (CAST-R) across all course sections. Findings of this study show that teacher candidate performance on the CAST-R is an accurate predictor of performance on the state test of reading instruction knowledge required for teaching licensure in special education. Implications are discussed.