FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
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STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION
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
September 21, 2005
M E M O R A N D U M
TO:
District School Superintendents
FROM:
Mary Laura Openshaw, Director, Just Read, Florida!
RE:
Reviews of Materials Published by the Florida Center for Reading Research
For the past three years, the Florida Center for Reading Research (FCRR) has been providing
reviews of reading program materials for schools in Florida. They have been doing this at the
request of our office to assist schools and districts in choosing reading curriculum and support
materials that are consistent with scientifically based research in reading. Through the
Reading
First
program, they have provided reviews of comprehensive core reading programs as well as
supplemental and intervention programs
for students in grades K-3. More recently, they have
begun reviewing materials for use with students in grades 4-12. These reviews are available at
http://www.fcrr.org/FCRRReports/contents.htm.
These reviews are provided as a service to schools in Florida; they are not meant to serve as an
“approved list” of materials. The reviews are prepared in response to requests from Florida
school districts and they are usually prepared in the order the requests are received. They are
intended to provide information about the content, scope and sequence, and instructional and
practice routines available in the program materials. They also contain comments about
strengths and weaknesses in these areas. Additionally, they provide a brief summary of research
that is available to support the use of the materials with specific populations of students.
Schools
are free to select materials whether or not they have been reviewed by FCRR
, since reviews are
not available for all potentially useful programs or materials. We encourage schools and school
districts to use these reviews as one source of information to aid their selection of materials that
will support effective instruction by teachers who are skilled in their use. If districts would like
to consider use of a program that has not yet been reviewed, they can request that FCRR review
MARY LAURA OPENSHAW
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DIRECTOR, JUST READ, FLORIDA!
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325 W. GAINES STREET • SUITE 1548 • TALLAHASSEE, FL 32399-0400 • (850) 245-0503 • www.fldoe.org
Memorandum to District School Superintendents
Page 2
the product, or they can conduct their own careful review. They can also request training from
staff at FCRR on how to conduct these reviews.
The time taken to complete each report varies considerably. There are many variables that
influence the time taken to complete a review, such as program components, amount of research
to review and interpret, and responsiveness of publishers. Additionally, producing FCRR
Reports is only one mission of the Center. FCRR has a curriculum and instruction team of
knowledgeable reading educators who do a thorough review of each program. The team has a
variety of other responsibilities at the Center and works as efficiently, without sacrificing quality,
as possible.
Our goal, as always, is to ensure that all students in Florida’s schools receive the most effective
instruction possible in reading.
Thank you for all you do, every day, to help us achieve Governor Bush’s goal that all children
will be reading on grade level or higher by 2012.
MLO/jt
