Florence, SC

Read to Lead

Delmae Heights is a school where children read, read, read!  They also are guided to build personal qualities to take responsibility for learning and to persevere in advancing reading skills. Read to Lead encouraged students’ reading skills and character development. Students at each grade level who completed their reading logs each week had their names placed in a lottery.  One “reading leader” was randomly selected at each grade level and awarded Delmae Dollars, which could be spent in the school store.

 At the end of the month, one student’s name was drawn as “Principal for the Day.”  This student conducted several tasks to understand the principal’s job and build leadership skills. The Student-Principal conducted a morning show, observed a lesson in a classroom,  created a “student rule for the day,” and had lunch with the principal and the other grade-level reading leaders.  At the end of the day, the Student-Principal debriefed all students about what was learned about leadership during this unusual day, and debriefed the principal about what the experience revealed about leading the school.

 Parents were contacted by e-mail, texts, and letters to understand the goals of Read to Lead and to encourage their child’s reading at home. The activity motivated more students to read six books over one month. This challenge seemed to increase students’ stamina—grit—character and school spirit.

See more about Read to Lead in Promising Partnership Practices 2020.