The Florida Center for Reading Research at Florida State University is part of a $9.9 million project to expand literacy instruction and boost student achievement in rural and high-need schools throughout Florida.
The five-year project, called Rural Connect Florida, will be done in partnership with North East Florida Educational Consortium (NEFEC). The initiative will enable a multiyear expansion of evidence-based professional learning rooted in the Science of Reading, impacting more than 1,500 teachers and 31,000 students across 36 local education agencies. Rural Connect Florida leverages an innovative regional model, connecting educators across district lines through collaborative professional development, coaching and embedded support.
“Teachers don’t operate in silos, they operate within a system,” said FCRR Senior Research Associate Sarah Herrera. “Any support that can be provided to multiple layers in that system helps to ensure uptake and accurate implementation and fidelity and hopefully results in a change to student performance. The goal is to build a system in which everyone feels supported and can then work together to improve outcomes for students.”
FCRR will receive $550,000 to support its portion of the work. In addition to the NEFEC and FCRR, the initiative includes the Panhandle Area Educational Consortium as well as the Heartland Educational Consortium.
Key Components of Rural Connect Florida
- Summer Connect Academies: Intensive cross-district professional learning for educators.
- Regional Professional Learning Communities: Focused on literacy-embedded instruction across all content areas.
- School Leader and Instructional Coach Development: Building capacity for effective leadership and coaching.
- Practice-Connected, Job-Embedded Support: Aligned with Florida’s B.E.S.T. Standards for continuous improvement.
“Having five years to really dig into the materials, to adapt things, to study those changes over time will really give us an opportunity to learn and to inform the field and inform scale up and sustainability of this initiative,” Herrera said.
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