When Terri Faulkner of Frontier Academy in Greeley, CO, told us about her school's kick off program, we knew we had found the winner for last month's contest. Frontier Academy has used SRC! school-wide for six years. All 432 first through fifth graders participate in the program.

We selected her kick-off program because it starts as a summer reading program. Her students have a mandatory summer reading list and the school library is open all summer to provide student's access to reading materials. With summer reading as the kick-off, Frontier guides the students into setting goals and managing their own progress. Terri explains:

For the first quarter, we have very few rules. We allow students to test in any Lexile® range (or dot color). They may test over anything they read during the summer, and we know they will try to take tests on books they read last year. We allow them this free quarter to get all that out of their system. We set a grade-wide goal for every student, so they can get in the habit of reading and quizzing.

Toward the end of the first quarter, teachers begin meeting with their students to determine each student's individual goal for the second quarter. That goal is only good for that quarter; each student will set a new goal in the third quarter, and another in the fourth. That way, we continue to meet the students where they are "right now,” not where they were several months ago.

Keeping on top of student participation takes dedication on everyone's part. SRC! is a part of the instructional program - the school's computers are networked to allow for classroom access to SRC! Terri describes the details:

I print out Reading Progress Updates every Monday for each teacher, so we know where each student is regarding their goal. Students must remain in their 150 point Lexile range until they have met their goal; then they are free to quiz on anything. Each of our books has been marked on the spine with one of 15 different colored dots. The students know their color after taking the SRI [Scholastic Reading InventoryTM], and we keep that dot color next to their circulation barcode. Every student must have one book in their Lexile range at all times.

The program's grade-wide goal and students' individual goals are recorded in points. At the end of each quarter, students have the chance to buy items from Frontier's store, which provides baked goods from school families, gift certificates from local businesses, and donated books.

At Frontier, students have the opportunity to showcase their reading achievement. Each year, Frontier's SRC! program features a theme. This year's theme is sailing. Every student has a personalized die-cut sailboat. Six walls in the school library display six continents, and each quarter, as students reach their goals, they are able to move their boats around the globe. Terri adds:

Many teachers have additional displays in their classrooms to mark progress and celebrate goals. We also keep a Reading Counts Wall of Fame with the top 5 record holders for each grade.

Most students see substantial Lexile growth - typically several hundred points - from their fall to spring SRI assessments. Most importantly, Terri says, "The students themselves and their parents love the program."