FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
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    STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION
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    John L. Winn
    Commissioner of Education
    F. PHILIP HANDY,
    Chairman
    T. WILLARD FAIR,
    Vice Chairman
    Members
    DONNA G. CALLAWAY
    JULIA L. JOHNSON
    ROBERTO MARTÍNEZ
    PHOEBE RAULERSON
    LINDA K. TAYLOR
    M E M O R A N D U M
    TO:
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    District School Superintendents
    FROM:
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    Mary Laura Openshaw, Director, Just Read, Florida!
    Jim Warford, K-12 Chancellor
    DATE:
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    February 3, 2005
    RE:
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    Just Read, Florida! Reading Endorsement Professional Development On-line Course for
    Competency One
    In our continued efforts to provide your teachers with high quality reading endorsement professional
    development at little or no cost, the Just Read, Florida! office is pleased to announce the availability of an
    on-line reading endorsement course for competency one entitled
    Teaching Content Reading in Middle
    and High Schools.
    This free on-line course will be coordinated by Florida State University’s (FSU)
    College of Education. Please note that this course fully satisfies competency one, which is one of six
    competencies required to earn the reading endorsement.
    The on-line course provides an excellent reading foundation for educators, but has limited space
    available. We will enroll applicants on a first-come-first-serve basis beginning on February 14, 2005. All
    secondary teachers who need or want the endorsement, secondary reading coaches, and secondary school
    team registrations
    will be given registration priority
    . Elementary teachers and coaches may sign up for
    this course only if spaces are available after secondary teachers and coaches are enrolled.
    We are encouraging interested high school and middle school teams to register as a group. That group
    could consist of the coach and four other content area teachers that may include English, reading, social
    studies, science, and math, for example. We will accept a team of three, but hope that schools will
    implement the five-member team model. We think that there is great collegial benefit in having a cadre
    from a school participate. Clearly, math, science and social studies teachers do not need the reading
    endorsement, but they would benefit highly from this course entitled
    Teaching Content Reading in
    Middle and High Schools.
    In order to register as a team, please select a team name and enter it into the
    325 W. GAINES STREET • SUITE 1514 • TALLAHASSEE, FL 32399-0400 • (850) 245-0505 • www.fldoe.org
    Memo to District School Superintendents
    Page 2
    designated field upon registration. Then, each applicant can reference that team name when they register.
    We are allocating only 250 spaces for middle and high school teams, so please form your teams and
    register as soon as possible.
    Please do not delay in communicating information about this opportunity to your teachers. FSU will
    coordinate approximately 29 sections (35 participants per section) throughout the 2005 school year,
    serving up to 1,000 teachers. Each section will be delivered by a highly-qualified university professor
    over the course of a ten-week semester. (Multiple sections, dependent upon demand, will be occurring
    during the same dates.) Course dates are as follows:
    Section 1
    February 27, 2005
    May 7, 2005
    Section 2
    March 13, 2005
    May 21, 2005
    Section 3
    March 27, 2005
    June 4, 2005
    Section 4
    April 10, 2005
    June 18, 2005
    Section 5
    April 17, 2005
    June 25, 2005
    The course can be taken for graduate credit or for a completion certificate; either one fully satisfies
    competency one of the reading endorsement. Students choosing the completion option will receive the
    certificate when they successfully finish the course. The competency one certificate option is offered to
    participants at no cost. Students choosing the three-hour graduate credit option will be required to
    personally cover the cost of tuition which will be $654.53.
    Please print the attached informational brochure and disseminate it to the teachers and reading related
    professionals in your district. Program information and registration information can be found at
    http://justreadflorida.coe.fsu.edu .
    We are very excited about this opportunity for your teachers and coaches. Please contact FSU’s Center
    for Educational Research and Policy Studies at (850)644-3419, if you have further questions about the
    On-line Reading Endorsement Professional Development Course.
    MLO/JW

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