The Science of Reading has identified features of effective instruction that work in combination and are the basis of high-quality reading instruction for all students. This PDF provides an overview and characteristics of each feature of effective reading instruction, including a scope and sequence, systematic instruction, explicit, scaffolded, and differentiated instruction. These evidence-based features work together to form the essentials of reading success.

The VPK Learning Center Activities included with this guide are aligned with the Language, Communication and Emergent Literacy Domain within the Florida Early Learning and Developmental Standards for Four-Year-Olds (2011). These standards and associated benchmarks were themselves developed based on the best available research evidence about the important skills that preschool children should know and be able to demonstrate to be ready for kindergarten by the end of the preschool period.