St. Lucie expands University of Florida literacy program across K–2 after pilot showed early gains

St. Lucie Public Schools officials on Aug. 26 described a districtwide rollout of the University of Florida Literacy Institute, known as UFLI, saying the phonics-based program produced measurable early gains after a February pilot and a first full year of implementation in the 2024–25 school year.

Denise Rodriguez, executive director of Teaching, Learning and Leading for St. Lucie Public Schools, told the school board that UFLI moved from pilots in February 2024 to a districtwide program in 2024–25 and that the district is continuing supports for teachers and administrators. "Today, we are going to be really talking about the implementation of the University of Florida Literacy Institute, which we commonly refer to as UFLI," Rodriguez said.

The presentation emphasized why the district chose UFLI and how it is being implemented at scale. Heather Bellefoe, director of elementary curriculum, framed the program within the “science of reading,” saying systematic phonics instruction targets the word-recognition strand of reading and is designed to make decoding automatic so students can focus on comprehension. "Seventy percent of students who have reading difficulties, the difficulty lives squarely in that word recognition component," Bellefoe said.

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