Florida's Performance
Strong
Why does this matter?
Standards, whether established by state boards or state education agencies, are one of the best opportunities for states to provide direction to teacher prep programs on exactly what aspiring teachers should learn and be able to do when it comes to teaching scientifically based reading instruction. Without explicit standards, states cannot hold programs accountable. State standards should not only include descriptions of the five core components of reading (phonemic awareness and phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension) but also provide specific details about what teachers should know and be able to teach for each of the core components aligned to the research. Standards should also identify the knowledge and skills teachers need to support English Learners and struggling readers, including students with dyslexia, in learning how to read.
Why does Florida stand out?
Florida sets specific, detailed standards for teacher prep programs aligned to the science of reading. These standards include how to teach English Learners and struggling readers, including those with dyslexia.
Florida’s reading endorsement competencies, approved in 2022, include specific attention to English Learners (including performance indicators related to building oral language and phonemic awareness, using ELs’ home language as a foundation for developing phonics skills, and attending to academic vocabulary). The competencies also address how to support students who speak different dialects, something that few states’ standards include. These competencies also specifically address how teachers should understand and differentiate instruction for students with reading difficulties and dyslexia in each competency. Following publication of these competences, prep programs were required to submit a matrix mapping how their coursework addressed these competencies (including course name and number, related readings and assignments, and summative assessments
What are the key actions Florida
should take?
See what these exemplars are doing in this policy area:
Key Resources
Teacher Prep Review: Reading Foundations
Learn more about how over 700 elementary teacher preparation programs are preparing educators to teach reading.
State Reading Policy Action Guide
Discover how states can implement and sustain strong reading instruction.
References
- Also known as the structure/meaning/visual system (SMV), three-cueing describes the support for early word recognition that “[relies] on a combination of of semantic, syntactic, and graphophonic cues simultaneously to formulate an intelligent hypothesis about a word’s identity.” Petscher, Y., Cabell, S. Q., Catts, H. W., Compton, D. L., Foorman, B. R., Hart, S. A., … Wagner, R. K. (2020). How the science of reading informs 21st century education. Reading Research Quarterly, 55, S267-S282.
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U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2023). Table 204.20. English learner (EL) students enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools, by state: Selected years, fall 2000 through fall 2021. Digest of Education Statistics. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d23/tables/dt23_204.20.asp
- U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2021). Table 204.20. English learner (EL) students enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools, by state: Selected years, fall 2000 through fall 2019. Digest of Education Statistics. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d21/tables/dt21_204.20.asp
- Data on prep programs’ coverage of how to teach ELs to read is drawn from: Ellis, C., Holston, S., Drake, G., Putman, H., Swisher, A., & Peske, H. (2023). Teacher Prep Review: Strengthening elementary reading instruction. Washington, DC: National Council on Teacher Quality.