December 2021

Greetings from the REL Southeast,

This December marks the last year of our five-year REL Southeast contract period. As such, I’d like to take the opportunity to reflect on our time serving the region.

Though the pandemic presented challenges none of us had experienced, the committed staff of the REL Southeast managed to pivot and produce relevant, evidence-informed materials parents could use at home with their students. Similarly, the work of our Blended and Online Learning alliance became a critical resource for many educators who were wading into digital waters for the first time. All the while, our longitudinal studies, reports, and coaching activities diligently continued to take shape in the background. All this amazing work would not be possible without the determination and resiliency of our talented staff and research partners. To them, I say thank you.

Below you will find a selection of highlighted products produced by REL Southeast over the past five years. We encourage you to share these resources with colleagues and continue visiting for regular updates. The REL Southeast team looks forward to serving you in the future as we continue the critical work of improving outcomes for all students.

With gratitude,

Dr. John Hughes
Director, REL Southeast

Integrating Reading Foundations: A Tool for College Instructors of Pre-service Teachers

This resource complements and extends the practice guide, Foundational Skills to Support Reading for Understanding in Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade, by providing lessons to assist college instructors in building pre-service teachers' knowledge of evidence-based strategies for helping students in kindergarten through grade 3 acquire the language and literacy skills to succeed academically.

Development of Mathematical Reasoning

Developing mathematical reasoning is a process of constructing mental relationships and connections in increasingly sophisticated ways. This infographic provides an overview of the five major components of mathematical reasoning: counting strategies, additive thinking, multiplicative reasoning, proportional reasoning, and functional reasoning.

Exploring Teachers’ Influence on Student Success in an Online Biology Course

This study of an online high school biology course offered by Florida Virtual School examined the amount of variation in course completion, students’ final exam scores, and time to completion that is attributable to the influence of teachers.

Preparing a Career-Ready Student

This infographic presents four practices that were selected by REL Southeast Florida Career Readiness Research Alliance members after reviewing and discussing a literature review on effective career counseling practices.

Preparing a School-Ready Child

This infographic discusses the four dimensions that must be considered when preparing a child for school and links to valuable additional resources for early educators.

Impact of the Developing Mathematical Ideas Professional Development Program on Grade 4 Students’ and Teachers’ Understanding of Fractions

The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of the Developing Mathematical Ideas (DMI) professional development program on grade 4 teachers' in-depth knowledge of fractions as well as their students' understanding and proficiency with fractions.

Systematic review of the literature on the effectiveness of early childhood education curricula and instructional practices on language and literacy development

This study reviews 20 years of research on early literacy interventions aimed at improving language, phonological awareness, print knowledge, decoding, and early writing skills for preschool students. Using a process modeled after the WWC methodology, REL Southeast identified 109 studies, representing 132 interventions, conducted from 1997 to 2017 that it determined were high-quality experimental or quasi-experimental studies.

Professional Learning Community: Improving Mathematical Problem Solving for Students in Grades 4 Through 8 Facilitator’s Guide

REL Southeast developed this facilitator’s guide on the topic of mathematical problem solving for use in professional learning community (PLC) settings. The facilitator’s guide is a set of professional development materials designed to supplement the What Works Clearinghouse practice guide, Improving Mathematical Problem Solving in Grades 4 Through 8 (Woodward et al., 2012). The practice guide provides research-based recommendations for teachers to incorporate into their classroom practice. The facilitator’s guide is designed to complement and extend the practice guide by providing teachers in a PLC setting with additional, step-by-step guidance for the best ways to implement some of these evidence-based recommendations.

Professional Learning Community: Emergent Literacy

The goal of emergent literacy instruction is to teach the building blocks that will, in later grades, provide children the foundation needed to become proficient readers, writers, and communicators. Emergent literacy building blocks, or skills, include print knowledge, phonological awareness, vocabulary, and oral language. Preschoolers who learn these skills are less likely to develop future reading problems and more likely to read with ease, understand what they read, and succeed in school.

Supporting Your Child's Reading at Home

The videos and activities on this website provide families with information about how to support children as they practice foundational reading skills at home.