Note: In a session at Impact Florida’s 2019 Summit, Dr. David Steiner talked about the importance of building knowledge in the teaching of literacy. Below, he expands on his thoughts about what is needed to improve student success in reading. Policymakers in the United States often focus on the achievement gap in reading competencies between […]

At the 2019 Impact Florida Summit, Kurt Browning discussed how he and Pasco County educators created a shared vision that puts students at the center of their work and gives teachers and leaders clarity about what great teaching means. In Pasco County, we’re on a journey to be an “A” rated school district and, more […]

Note: Tequilla was a speaker at Impact Florida’s 2019 Summit where she spoke about upending The Opportunity Myth. Four years ago, TNTP partnered with five school districts to try to answer this essential question: How can so many students graduate from high school and yet not be ready to meet their goals for college and […]

Note: In a session at Impact Florida’s 2019 Summit, Robin McClellan described her efforts to transform literacy instruction in public schools in Sullivan County, Tennessee. Here, she reflects on that process, and the Professional Learning Network that helped her along the way. “Together We Are Better.” At one of our district’s elementary schools, the teachers […]

New Initiative in Partnership with Florida Association of District School Superintendents Aims to Help Districts Share Promising Instructional Practices Across Districts TALLAHASSEE — Impact Florida, in partnership with the Florida Association of District School Superintendents (FADSS), today announced the launch of Districts for Impact, an initiative focused on sharing and promoting promising instructional practices across […]

At the 2019 Impact Florida Summit, Sonja Santelises spoke about leading her district through a review of the materials, practices, and opportunities it provides to students and determining whether the district is providing those resources in an equitable way.  In her speech and this blog post, she describes how looking at and combating this “educational […]

Ahead of my senior year at Florida State University, this summer I have been gaining professional experience for my Family and Child Sciences practicum by working at Impact Florida. I was drawn to Impact Florida’s devotion to the type of education all students deserve and the organization’s commitment to enhancing experiences between students and teachers. […]

Everyone loves a great teacher. This is an indisputable maxim of our culture. Each school year, we seek them out for our children and shower them with ceramic apples, gift cards, and more mugs than they can count.  Very rarely, though, do we as a culture invest in what teachers do to become great at […]

In his book Leverage Leadership, Paul Bambrick-Santoyo notes, “Exceptional school leaders succeed because of how they use their time: what they do, and how and when they do it.” Summer is a great time to take a step back to reflect on your successes from the past school year and plan with intention for the […]

By Suzanne Beck, Guest Author While teaching is rewarding and worth every minute of it, being an educator is hard. As a classroom teacher, there were many days that I questioned if I’d done enough, if I’d met the rigor of the standard, if I’d pushed my students too much, or not enough. In looking […]

Today marks the opening day of Florida’s 60-day legislative session. You can almost feel the education world holding its breath and crossing fingers that any bills that pass (of the many filed) will improve, and not make more difficult, the ability to deliver a great K-12 education to the millions of students we serve in […]

With a focus on improving the quality of teaching across all Florida classrooms, the new organization Impact Florida this week launched its efforts to empower education leaders to recognize, support, and scale excellent teaching practices so all children can realize success in life. Impact Florida is marking its launch by hosting an education summit, “Bridging […]

In the research that led to the founding of Impact Florida, we traveled the state, speaking with district and school leaders to better understand what the key factors were in strengthening student outcomes — or student success. Along the way, we were fortunate to visit Quail Hollow Elementary School in Pasco County, which had shown […]