Just Read, Florida! Office.

There is created in the Department of Education the Just Read, Florida! Office. The office is fully accountable to the Commissioner of Education and shall:

(1) Provide training to reading coaches and school administrators on the evidence-based strategies identified pursuant to subsection (7) for purposes of implementation, modeling, and classroom observations to support professional growth and inform performance evaluations of instructional personnel.

(2) Create multiple designations of effective reading instruction, with accompanying credentials, to enable all teachers to integrate reading instruction into their content areas.

(3) Work with the Lastinger Center for Learning at the University of Florida to develop training for K-12 teachers, reading coaches, and school administrators on effective content-area-specific reading strategies; the coordinated integration of content-rich curriculum from other core subject areas into reading instruction, with an emphasis on civic literacy; and evidence-based reading strategies identified pursuant to subsection (7) to improve student reading performance. For secondary teachers, emphasis shall be on technical text. These strategies must be developed for all content areas in the K-12 curriculum.

(4) Develop and provide access to an online repository of digital science of reading and science of reading instructional resources, sequenced, content-rich curriculum programming, instructional practices, and other resources that help elementary schools use state-adopted instructional materials to increase students’ background knowledge and literacy skills, including student attainment of the state standards for social studies, science, and the arts. The office shall, as part of the adoption cycle for English Language Arts instructional materials, assist in evaluating elementary grades instructional materials submitted for adoption consideration in order to identify those materials that are closely aligned to the content and evidence-based strategies identified pursuant to subsection (7) and incorporate professional learning to implement such strategies.

(5) Provide parents with information and evidence-based strategies for assisting their children in reading, including reading in content areas.

(6) Provide technical assistance to school districts in the development and implementation of district plans required under s. 1003.4201 and annually review and approve such plans.

(7) Work with the Florida Center for Reading Research to identify scientifically researched and evidence-based reading instructional and intervention programs grounded in the science of reading which incorporate explicit, systematic, and sequential approaches to teaching phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and text comprehension and incorporate decodable or phonetic text instructional strategies. Reading intervention includes evidence-based strategies frequently used to remediate reading deficiencies and includes, but is not limited to, individual instruction, multisensory approaches, tutoring, mentoring, or the use of technology that targets specific reading skills and abilities. The primary instructional strategy for teaching word reading is phonics instruction for decoding and encoding. The identified reading instructional and intervention programs for foundational skills may not include strategies that employ the three-cueing system model of reading or visual memory as a basis for teaching word reading. Such programs may include visual information and strategies that improve background and experiential knowledge, add context, and increase oral language and vocabulary to support comprehension, but may not be used to teach word reading.

(8) Periodically review the state academic standards for English Language Arts to determine their appropriateness at each grade level.

(9) Periodically review teacher certification requirements and examinations, including alternative certification requirements and examinations, to ascertain whether the examinations measure the skills needed for evidence-based reading instruction and instructional strategies for teaching reading, including reading in content areas.

(10) Work with teacher preparation programs approved pursuant to ss. 1004.04 and 1004.85 to integrate effective, evidence-based reading instructional and intervention strategies, including explicit, systematic, and sequential reading strategies, multisensory intervention strategies, and reading in content area instructional strategies into teacher preparation programs.

(11) Administer grants and perform other functions as necessary to help students read at their highest potential.