The Foundation for Rural Education Excellence, a registered 501 (C)(3) organization, was founded in 1998 to facilitate philanthropic support for rural school districts of the North East Florida Educational Consortium (NEFEC): Baker, Bradford, Columbia, Dixie, Flagler, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Lafayette, Levy, Nassau, Putnam, Suwannee, and Union Counties as well as Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind and PK Yonge Developmental Research School. Working collaboratively, our mission is to enhance academic success and career opportunities for rural students in northeast Florida.

District teams from all 15 NEFEC member districts attended the Progress Monitoring Leadership Conference in Gainesville on January 31st.

Over 140 participants started the day off with an update from Cari Miller and Vince Vergas with the Florida Department of Education.

The morning keynote speaker was Dr. Tessie Bailey from the American Institutes for Research. She presented research around the importance of Tier 1 instruction.

Afternoon concurrent sessions included Using High Leverage Practices with Assessments, Improving Tier 1 Instruction Using the Literacy Practice Profile, Role of Literacy in Progress Monitoring, Improving Student Achievement as Assessed by FAST and the Diagnostic by Utilizing the Power of i-Ready, Statewide K-12 Assessment Update, and Maximizing Student Progress through Instructional High Leverage Practices.

Superintendents worked with their respective teams and activities were facilitated to support district reflection and implementation planning.

The 2^nd Annual NEFEC College and Career Fair attracted over 650 students from eight different districts. The students had the opportunity to interact with vendors from local and far away colleges and universities, apprenticeships, military branches, businesses, STEM supporters, and eSPORTs’ representatives.

The main goal of the event was to provide ample opportunities for students to envision their future educational and career opportunities so they can start paving their path to a bright future.

Over 17 districts and 2 consortia (NEFEC, PAEC) were in attendance on February 15th to learn about new reports and visualizations available to the Collaborative, as well as engage in collegial conversations. Sessions ranged from how Ed-Fi standards and technology have been used for multi-district solutions, from Dr. Molly Stewart of Insite, to how PK Yonge Developmental Research School uses visualizations to support students in college and career readiness, from Christie McElroy of PK Yonge & Kaitlyn Miller of NEFEC. Also, LaQuita Varnado-Extine and Brian Boyd from Leon County Schools shared their experiences and helpful information for new districts. Visualizations for Data Quality from Daniel Hornsby and production-ready visuals to support students were shared by Dr. Shane Jay Fairbairn, both from FLCODE/NEFEC. To learn more about FLCODE and to view resources from past summits, please visit https://www.flcode.org/ .

FREE's annual golf tournament is scheduled for March 24, 2023, at The Palatka Golf Club.

Summer Leadership Conference

NEFEC's Annual Summer Leadership Conference is scheduled for July 10-11, 2023, at the Sawgrass Marriott in