{"id":70568,"date":"2026-06-12T20:13:53","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T00:13:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=70568"},"modified":"2026-06-12T20:14:03","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T00:14:03","slug":"school-of-education-earns-national-recognition-for-preparing-future-elementary-teachers-in-the-science-of-reading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/06\/12\/school-of-education-earns-national-recognition-for-preparing-future-elementary-teachers-in-the-science-of-reading\/","title":{"rendered":"School of Education Earns National Recognition for Preparing Future Elementary Teachers In The Science of Reading"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Florida Southern College has earned national recognition from the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ), receiving an A rating for its undergraduate Elementary Education program’s preparation of future teachers in the science of reading. The distinction places Florida Southern among a select group of teacher preparation programs nationwide recognized for equipping aspiring educators with research-based instructional methods proven to help children become successful readers.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The report, \u201cTeacher Prep Review: Decoding Progress in Reading Preparation,\u201d recognizes Florida Southern College for meeting literacy experts\u2019 standards for evidence-based reading instruction. The College\u2019s Elementary Education program prepares future teachers, specifically in all five components of the science of reading, including phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary, while avoiding many instructional practices shown to be ineffective in helping children learn to read. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Florida Southern College is part of a growing group of programs nationwide helping transform how future teachers are trained to teach reading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis recognition from the National Council on Teacher Quality affirms Florida Southern College\u2019s commitment to preparing highly effective teachers grounded in the science of reading. We are proud that our Elementary Education program equips future educators with the knowledge and practical skills needed to help all children become confident, successful readers,\u201d said Dr. Lori Rakes, Dean of the School of Education at Florida Southern College. \u201cOur faculty remain deeply committed to evidence-based instruction and meaningful clinical experiences that prepare graduates to make an immediate impact in classrooms and communities.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Florida Southern College\u2019s Elementary Education program emphasizes evidence-based instructional practices, extensive clinical experiences, and strong school-community partnerships to prepare future teachers for today\u2019s classrooms. Students engage in hands-on field experiences beginning early in the program and work directly with children in diverse educational settings, including the College\u2019s on-campus Roberts Academy, a nationally recognized academy focused on students with dyslexia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to rigorous coursework, Florida Southern\u2019s School of Education maintains strong partnerships with local schools and districts, providing students with meaningful mentorship opportunities and real-world classroom experience. Graduates of the program are highly sought after by school districts throughout Florida and beyond for their strong preparation, professionalism, and readiness to positively impact student learning from their first day in the classroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery child deserves a teacher who has been well prepared to teach reading, and every teacher deserves the opportunity to enter the classroom ready to help students succeed,\u201d said NCTQ President Heather Peske. \u201cAcross the country, many teacher preparation programs still do not fully align with the science of reading, but Florida Southern College is demonstrating what strong preparation can look like.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NCTQ\u2019s methodology is informed by a panel of reading experts, teacher preparation faculty, reading advocates, and measurement experts. To evaluate the quality of preparation being provided, a team of experts at NCTQ analyzed syllabi, including lecture schedules and topics, background reading materials, class assessments, assignments, and opportunities to practice instruction in required literacy courses for elementary teacher candidates at Florida Southern College.\u202f<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To earn an \u201cA,\u201d programs needed to demonstrate that coursework for future elementary teachers includes all five core components of scientifically based reading instruction and avoid teaching more than three instructional methods that are unsupported by the research on effective reading instruction.\u202f<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis recognition from the National Council on Teacher Quality affirms the strength of our School of Education program and our unwavering commitment to advancing student success through high-quality teacher preparation,\u201d said Dr. Tracey D. Tedder, Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost at Florida Southern College.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See NCTQ\u2019s report, \u201cTeacher Prep Review: Decoding Progress in Reading Preparation\u201d for more information about Florida Southern College\u2019s coverage of the science of reading and to see how Florida Southern College compares to other programs in Florida or across the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Florida Southern College has earned national recognition from the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ), receiving an A rating for its undergraduate Elementary Education program’s preparation of future teachers in… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":70569,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDZcL1JlYy1sZy1waG90by1lbGVtZW50cnktZWQud2VicD9maXQ9MTAyNCUyQzY0MCZzc2w9MSIsInR4dCI6IlNjaG9vbCBvZiBFZHVjYXRpb24gRWFybnMgTmF0aW9uYWwgUmVjb2duaXRpb24gZm9yIFByZXBhcmluZyBGdXR1cmUgRWxlbWVudGFyeSBUZWFjaGVycyBJbiBUaGUgU2NpZW5jZSBvZiBSZWFkaW5nIiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJkb2lzIiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE2MzA0MDY2MX0.aYganfmbiN3MaUooRNTPjtokRlTcTPSubHBwhDFLh2sMQ"},"version":2,"media_source":"sig","attached_media":[{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/jetpack.com\/redirect\/?source=sigenerate&query=t%3DeyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDZcL1JlYy1sZy1waG90by1lbGVtZW50cnktZWQud2VicD9maXQ9MTAyNCUyQzY0MCZzc2w9MSIsInR4dCI6IlNjaG9vbCBvZiBFZHVjYXRpb24gRWFybnMgTmF0aW9uYWwgUmVjb2duaXRpb24gZm9yIFByZXBhcmluZyBGdXR1cmUgRWxlbWVudGFyeSBUZWFjaGVycyBJbiBUaGUgU2NpZW5jZSBvZiBSZWFkaW5nIiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJkb2lzIiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE2MzA0MDY2MX0.aYganfmbiN3MaUooRNTPjtokRlTcTPSubHBwhDFLh2sMQ","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[34],"tags":[14844],"class_list":["post-70568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fsc-news","tag-school-of-education-earns-national-recognition-for-preparing-future-elementary-teachers-in-the-science-of-reading"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70568"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70568\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70570,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70568\/revisions\/70570"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}