Highlands Elementary Principal, Diane Fannin, is fully committed to having her students reach 90% literacy by 2018, but, as a leader, she is aware that she faces some serious challenges.  "The 90% literacy goal is the goal for our community, district and school! As the visionary of the school, the principal must be the driving force behind creating the urgency among the staff, parents, and community. It is my responsibility as the school leader to set high expectations for all stakeholders and to create a collaborative culture which problem-solves the barriers."

Realizing that schools don't out-perform their leadership, Diane and The Learning Alliance set out across the country to visit several schools with the best literacy education and leadership models. 

First, Diane headed to Maryland to visit three prominent schools for dyslexic children, because the latest literacy research proves that best practices for teaching dyslexic students how to read are also the best ways to teach reading to all students.  While at the Jemicy School, Baltimore Lab School, and Odyssey School in Baltimore, Diane learned the methods by which the incredibly-skilled teachers at these schools were trained to become experts in reading instruction to students facing any learning challenge.

Her second stop was New York City's PS 380 Elementary School, with a population of students similar to those at Highlands: 90-100% free and reduced lunch, up to 20% English as a second language learners and a significant number of students with developmental delay. PS 380 gained notoriety by piloting a literacy program utilizing Fundations, (the same literacy program recently implemented in Indian River County Schools), along with a small-group instruction model that included highly-trained teachers. The results were so incredible that the program was immediately expanded to 29 other New York elementary schools, and PS 380 was honored as a National school of excellence.  During her visit, Diane was able to experience the power of principal leadership along with top-notch modeling on how to build teachers trained to be reading experts, all in a public school setting.

Armed with information and determination, Diane is ready to put all that she has learned into action for the students at Highlands Elementary. If you are interested in jumping on board with the Highlands journey, contact me at jennifer@moonshotmoment.org.