Why?
Concerned about stagnant growth on the 2019 National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), Florida adopted the Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking (B.E.S.T.) Standards with an aggressive three-year timeline for full implementation in the 2022-2023 school year. Recognizing that the standards are student-centered expectations from which all curriculum, instruction, and assessments are based, the Florida Department of Education (FDOE) partnered with Region 7 Comprehensive Center (R7CC) to focus on strengthening instruction through evidence-based practices that would support the implementation of the B.E.S.T. Standards.
What?
Since 2019, R7CC and FDOE have partnered with a strong focus on evidence-based Tier 1 instruction to develop effective state management and implementation teams that have guided the process of identifying and clearly defining evidence-based instructional practices for high-quality Tier 1 instruction through the development of practice profiles. Together, we first supported a Literacy Implementation Zone of five districts and one educational consortium as a learning zone. Each participating organization identified management and implementation teams and were trained in implementation principles and practices, which they used to lead the effort in selected schools. These teams developed teaming structures and communication/dissemination plans to ensure two-way communication with stakeholders, trained teachers and school leaders in the evidence-based practices for high-quality Tier 1 instruction, conducted regular walkthrough observations in classrooms to check for fidelity of implementation of practices, and used the resulting data to adjust and refine professional learning and coaching to support implementation. As participating organizations were ready, these teams also led the scaling of the work to other schools and grade levels. The Just Read, Florida! staff has provided training on the Grades K-5 and Grades 6-12 Literacy Instruction Practice Profiles through their annual Summer Literacy Institute and other professional learning opportunities. Additionally, they continue to support districts in planning for and implementing the evidence-based instructional practices defined in the profiles.
In the last year, R7CC and the math team in the Bureau of Standards and Instructional Support have partnered with a statewide team of expert math teachers to identify and define evidence-based instructional practices for mathematics to support the B.E.S.T. Standards for Mathematics, developing a practice profile to operationalize the teaching moves that define each practice. Currently, we are partnering with the state’s three educational consortia and four districts served by these consortia in a Math Implementation Zone to test and refine the identified practices and to develop the professional learning and coaching systems necessary to support teachers in using these practices with fidelity. While this work continues, we anticipate that each of the participating consortia and districts will be ready to begin scaling this work to other districts, schools, and/or grade levels in the 2024-2025 school year.
Impact?
Through this work, Florida and the participating consortia and districts have developed an understanding of implementation research and principles. Additionally, they have developed and used processes and procedures to support initial implementation of the evidence-based instructional practices to support the B.E.S.T. Standards, including teaming and communication structures, professional learning, coaching, and data use systems. With continuing use of these processes and procedures, as well as learning modules developed through the implementation zones, they will be able to scale the use of these practices to additional districts and schools.