Tamra Creighton’s kids love books. “After school, we do a little bit of reading and then before bed,” said Creighton, a mom to seven children ranging in age from 10 years to 10 months. “During the summer we’re on trips, we read in the car to and from or inside[Read More…]
Reading Scholarship
Almost 5,000 struggling Florida readers reaped benefits of Reading Scholarship program in 2020-21
Nearly $2.5 million in Reading Scholarships were awarded to 4,961 Florida students during the 2020-21 school year according to a report prepared by the state-approved scholarship funding organization that helps administer the scholarship. Step Up For Students, which hosts this blog, disclosed that families spent about 82%, or $1.5 million,[Read More…]
Florida lawmakers pass largest budget in state history
The 2022 Florida legislative session drew to a close Monday with lawmakers passing a record $112.1 billion budget for the fiscal year that will start July 1. Many education-related items were included in bills tied to the budget, including changes related to state school choice scholarship programs: Removal of the[Read More…]
Reading grades improve with help from Florida’s Reading Scholarship
Editor’s note: This feature appeared recently on Step Up For Students’ marketing blog. Lindsey Pawlishen was so confident she would pass her love of reading to her daughter that she asked for and received children’s books instead of traditional gifts at the baby shower. She began reading to Samantha when[Read More…]
Florida Reading Scholarship program helps twins stay on pace and excel in middle school
Since they were babies, Darnell Taylor’s identical twin daughters, Janae, and Sasha, have loved books. First, picture books, then chapter books. Now, the 12-year-olds are finding novels on BookTok, the bookish community on TikTok, where people post videos recommending books, make pithy observations about reading, and share their love of[Read More…]
Best of the week on reimaginED
In this charter school, Black families find understanding, trust JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Dorian Smith wanted a more academically challenging environment for his daughter, D’Yani, so after third grade he moved her from her struggling neighborhood school to a magnet school. Because of staff churn, though, that school[Read More…]
New Worlds Reading Initiative to begin distributing books to eligible Florida families in December
When Laura Negroni needed help boosting her daughter Natalia’s state reading test scores a few years ago, she turned to the Florida Reading Scholarship Account, which provided her with $500 she could spend on devices and tutoring services. (The Reading Scholarship Account program is administered by Step Up For Students,[Read More…]
Newly approved Louisiana literacy program modeled on Florida’s Reading Scholarship Program
Help is on the way for struggling young readers in the Pelican State, thanks to some inspiration from the Sunshine State. Lawmakers in Louisiana recently approved HB 85, which established a statewide reading scholarship program named for the late state Rep. Steve Carter, a former Louisiana House education chairman who[Read More…]