Professional Development Leads to Improved Outcomes for Students with Dyslexia at Pinellas County Schools
Dyslexia Intervention, Elementary School Results, Florida, Reading, Seeing Stars, Special Education, Specific Learning Disability, State Dyslexia Mandate, Tier 3
During the 2025-26 school year, Lindamood-Bell partnered with Pinellas County Schools (located in the Tampa Bay area of Florida) to provide extensive job-embedded professional development including initial workshops, asynchronous coursework, and fully interactive support sessions to help teachers build capacity and maintain fidelity. Elisa Nelson Elementary School staff implemented intensive, small group instruction in the Seeing Stars program to address the specific needs of students identified with characteristics of dyslexia. Student gains were measured with a battery of reading assessments.

RESULTS
On average, students made statistically significant growth on every measure, and large standard score changes on 7 of 8 measures. Most critically, they made the largest gains in reading accuracy and fluency, which led to large standard score
growth in reading comprehension. These results illustrate that implementation of Lindamood-Bell’s professional development model can lead to significant improvement in reading, which is essential to achieving success with school
curricula.
