Florida Senate Bill 1898 - Student Literacy Summary

• Establishes the Reading Achievement Initiative for Scholastic Excellence (RAISE) Program with at least 20 regional literacy support teams to provide instructional support for evidence-based reading instruction in schools with low reading achievement.

• Requires implementation of a statewide coordinated screening and progress monitoring system for prekindergarten through grade 8 beginning in the 2022-2023 school year to assess literacy skills and identify students with reading deficiencies.

• Mandates that school district instructional personnel and supervisors of teacher preparation students in kindergarten through grade 3 obtain reading certification or endorsement beginning in the 2022-2023 school year.

• Requires competency-based reading endorsement pathways with microcredentials by the 2022-2023 school year, prohibiting teachers from earning a reading endorsement solely by passing a certification exam after July 1, 2024.

• Renames the "research-based reading instruction allocation" to the "evidence-based reading instruction allocation" and expands its use to provide comprehensive reading instruction to prekindergarten students exhibiting literacy deficiencies and creates a high school student tutoring program for kindergarten through grade 3 students in struggling schools.