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. Thirteen schools in the
North East Florida Educational Consortium (NEFEC) member districts
began the FRI in year one, with twenty-seven additional NEFEC schools
joining in year two of the Initiative.
This K-12 Initiative promotes teacher inquiry, collegial conversation and professional development. The focus is on improving reading instruction by fostering teacher development. This project acknowledges the importance and expertise of those who work daily with children and promotes turning the instructional decision making largely over to the teachers. Research indicates that attitude changes are essential to successful school reform efforts. Those attitude changes can only occur within a total school environment of support and networking. Adding the requirement for principal involvement at each school is the glue that cements the entire reform. Thus, the Florida Reading Initiative promotes a change in teacher attitudes, skills and practices that will positively impact student achievement at all levels.
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 intervention. On-going faculty meetings are held during the two-week Academy. Discussions focus on individual student and school data. These conversations lead to identifying struggling readers and the development of school-wide intervention plans to address their needs.
- 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. Principals meet throughout the year in order to share concerns and insights, study issues and develop ways to support teachers. Reading coaches meet monthly in order to receive support and guidance from each other. Meetings are focused upon reviewing case studies of struggling readers and developing plans for intervention. In addition both FRI staff and University personnel make school visitations. During these visits strategies are demonstrated, assessment and diagnosis is discussed, problems addressed, and discussions with the principal and the reading coach occur.
- 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 will be 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.
