NEFEC
The Florida Reading Initiative: Overview
The Florida Reading Initiative (FRI) is a research-based school wide reform effort committed to providing the professional development and follow up support necessary for schools to achieve just that—100% literacy! Teachers are given the background knowledge, skills and strategies needed to teach all students. A total of 74 schools, primarily from the North East Florida Educational Consortium (NEFEC) member districts are Florida Reading Initiative Schools. The expansion and success of the initiative is through the continued funding and support from Just Read, Florida!
There are several key elements that comprise the Florida Reading Initiative:
- Whole School Approach: The Florida Reading Initiative requires a whole-school approach that focuses on extensive training of school faculties in reading instruction. If we agree that true school reform is dependent upon support from principals, peers and district level staff, then it is imperative that schools approach this challenge as a community. Therefore, 85% of the faculty must pledge to actively participate in order to take part in the Initiative.
- Professional Development: A two-week Summer Reading Academy for K-12 teachers provides in-depth training on the complete reading process. The major components are: phonemic awareness, reading and writing connections, language development, content area reading, assessment and differentiated instruction.
- Continuous Assessment: Teachers learn to utilize both formal and informal assessments as a tool for monitoring student progress. Continuous assessment of students allows teachers to diagnose, prescribe and identify interventions for struggling readers.
- Follow-up Support: Each FRI school receives follow-up support in a variety of ways. On-going professional development is provided to meet the specific needs of each school. Professional development continues after the academy through training with school leadership teams, school support colleague services, learning communities, and other professional development training specific to school and teacher needs.
- Evaluation: A third party evaluator addresses both qualitative and quantitative data. Both the instructional design as well as each of the supporting elements contributes to a strong assessment of the overall results. Each year evaluation results are utilized to assess the effectiveness of the program.
In summary, the Florida Reading Initiative is a process that fosters teacher development and a belief that we can achieve 100% literacy. Through intensive research, professional development, use of quality literature and strong follow-up and support, the Florida Reading Initiative can provide teachers and schools with the tools necessary to reach even our lowest achieving students.
