With the ultimate goal of improving student literacy, UFLI’s programs and resources aim to strengthen the knowledge and skills of practicing educators and build capacity in schools and school districts. Our work resides at the intersection of teacher development and reader development, guided by our belief that all children can learn to read, and that strong teachers build strong readers.

Since the center’s inception more than two decades ago, UFLI faculty have conducted innovative research on effective reading instruction and intervention, and developed nationally ranked graduate programs in special education with a focus on dyslexia. The creation, piloting, and launch of UFLI Foundations is the culmination of all of this work that came before it. Up to now, UFLI has offered fee-based in-person and virtual synchronous professional development to schools, school districts, state education agencies, community organizations, and more. Our implementation team facilitates sessions on elements of effective reading instruction generally, and in-depth sessions on implementing UFLI Foundations specifically. We also support instructional coaches and school leaders.

As a center within the University of Florida, UFLI is committed toUF’s core value of leaving the state of Florida, and the world,better than we found it.Our recent work has focused on the development, testing, and dissemination of UFLI Foundations, an evidence-based phonics program designed for all students in grades K through 2 and for intervention with older students.

UFLI Foundations has proven to be a remarkably effective program for teaching foundational reading skills, and its widespread use is thanks to the teachers who discovered it, tried it, saw their students’ reading proficiency soar, and shared their success with others. The spread was entirely through word of mouth, from educator to educator. Without a sales team, without an ounce of advertising, UFLI Foundations is currently used in more than a half million classrooms in North America alone.

A key element of UFLI Foundations is its educative nature.In other words, by following the program and implementing the lessons, the teacher will, in the process, become a more effective reading teacher. And by becoming a more competent, confident teacher, their students in turn will become competent, confident readers. The impact a single teacher can have on students over the course of their career is exponential.

UFLI offers fee-based in-person and virtual synchronous professional development to schools, school districts, state education agencies, community organizations, and more. Our implementation team facilitates sessions on elements of effective reading instruction generally, and in-depth sessions on implementing UFLI Foundations specifically. We also support instructional coaches and school leaders.

We are extremely excited to introduce a new professional learning model that will allow more educators to experience this type of PD from UFLI faculty and staff and improve their practice to impact countless students!