Reading Initiative Trains 325 Teachers

SEBRING - Highlands County teachers are learning a new way to teach reading.
About 325 teachers are picking up new strategies at Hill-Gustat Middle School this week.

The Florida Reading Initiative is "providing us not just philosophy and theory, but taking us through the steps of actually instructing quality reading," said District Director of Elementary Programs Joyce McClelland.

"It's incredible; I cannot wait to implement everything that we've learned in my classroom," Park Elementary fourth-grade teacher Scott King said.

Kim Ervin, Highlands County District reading specialist, said everyone seems to be pleased with the strategies that they are learning and the quality of the trainers from the North East Florida Educational Consortium.

The training sessions involve teachers from the following schools: Avon, Park, Memorial and Sun 'N Lake elementary schools, Hill-Gustat and Avon Park middle schools and Avon Park High School.

The teachers will have follow-up days prior to the start of the school year to plan how to use what they learned this week.

The initiative began with 74 schools primarily in north east Florida. The expansion and success of the initiative is through the continued funding and support from Just Read, Florida!, which is a comprehensive and coordinated reading initiative that then Gov. Bush signed by executive order on Sept. 7, 2001.

This year the reading initiative was expanded to three additional districts - Highlands, Monroe and Hillsborough.