Lastinger Listening Tours

Since its establishment in 2002, the UF Lastinger Center has hosted four statewide Listening Tours that provide insights into improving learning outcomes for children, enhancing educator knowledge and skills and supporting educators as they serve our children.

What is a Listening Tour?

A Listening Tour is a series of visits scheduled throughout the state of Florida to connect with and listen to students, families, educators, and school and community leaders.

Associates from the Lastinger Center schedule meetings, interviews, and round-table discussions to connect with hundreds of stakeholders and gather their perspectives on a variety of topics, including educational experiences, systems, content, teaching practice and professional learning. We also survey thousands more stakeholders to engage more perspectives across the state.

Why do a Listening Tour?

Listening Tours are the perfect forum for understanding experiences, perspectives, celebrations and challenges in education throughout the state.

By connecting with education stakeholders, we are better able to advocate for impactful changes in education in Florida and develop courses and programs that meet real education needs. All activities inform the Center’s work, and results are shared as a public service to inform program and policy recommendations across the state.

How does it work?

Listening Tours are made up of a series of events in multiple locations across the state of Florida. They include a variety of ways to hear from stakeholders, from one-on-one and group interviews, to surveys and round table discussions.

Once information gathering is complete, Listening Tour perspectives are analyzed, incorporated into Lastinger Center strategic planning, and shared with educational leaders, policymakers and elected officials to advocate for positive changes to our education system.

Who’s involved?

Serving as part of an ecosystem that supports positive child learning outcomes requires that we incorporate and understand as many perspectives as we can.

Listening Tours are designed to support connections with and gather perspectives from a wide variety of stakeholders including:

students & families
educators, including school & district leaders
education foundations & associations
parent teacher organizations
community & business leaders
non-profit organizations
legislators & elected officials

Past Lastinger Listening Tours

2023 Math Tour

In order to advance the quality of mathematics education in Florida and beyond, the Lastinger Center team traveled from the Panhandle to the Florida Keys over 10 weeks to hear from students, teachers, community members and education and policy leaders, which resulted in key findings and policy recommendations.

2020 Virtual Tour

The COVID-19 pandemic brought rapid and dramatic transformations to education. Using over 5,000 survey responses (in English and Spanish), interviews and policy reviews, the Lastinger Center provided key findings and considerations for educational leaders to support future improvements in a post-pandemic landscape.

Read the 2020 Tour Report

2018 Director’s Tour

Upon being appointed the director of the Lastinger Center, Phil Poekert embarked on a six-week Listening Tour to do a pulse check on the successes and challenges of education – from cradle to career. This Listening Tour covered nearly 3,000 miles and 20 counties in Florida to ensure the Lastinger Center’s work is aligned to the needs and realities of who we serve.

Read the 2018 Tour Report

2002 Inaugural Tour

Founding director of the Lastinger Center, Don Pemberton, established the Lastinger Listening Tour in 2002 to intentionally bridge the gaps between Florida’s university academics, school systems and local community leaders. This tour identified the challenges faced by teachers and students.