As with most educational initiatives, a successful Scholastic Reading Counts!® program is the result of the work of not just a few administrators and staff, but rather the collaboration and dedication of many. With the end of the year upon us, let’s take a look back on our most impressive success stories and recognize those schools whose SRC! achievements were thanks to the involvement of the entire community.

Take El Rancho Elementary School in Chino, California, where 80% of its K-6 population are ELL students whose parents speak only Spanish. With its Spanish-language quizzes and Parent-to-Home letters, SRC! proved instrumental in both student success – the school’s API went up 45 points since the program’s inception – as well as increased parent involvement.

Yet school librarian Cathy Reyes noted that these successes at El Rancho would not be possible without the involvement of the local community. At the end of the school year, El Rancho holds a carnival for all the students who have participated in SRC! and achieved certain goals. Area businesses sponsor this event and donate gift certificates and prizes, letting students know that the community believes in them and what they are trying to accomplish.

A similar story of reading achievement and community involvement is found at Leonora Fillmore Elementary in Lompac, California. This K-5 elementary school began using SRC! to improve their motivational reading program.

Initially, point goals for each grade were determined after receiving a tremendous amount of support from the community. Local businesses and organizations were willing to donate prizes in order to reward the students for their reading efforts. Each year since, point goals have been determined by considering the previous year’s performance, and increasing them accordingly. The result has been terrific – the school-wide reading goal has doubled over four years, proving reading is the number one priority at Fillmore!

Administrators and staff at South Range Elementary in North Lima, Ohio, were looking for a program to help with reading comprehension when they decided upon SRC! When funding for the program was needed, the school’s PTO sponsored and paid for most of the program in its first year, and the school continues to rely on parents and local organizations for support.

These investments have certainly paid off. When using SRC! as a resource to assess their state’s content standards, students performed well on state tests. In fact, South Range was graded by Ohio as an “Effective” school for six straight years!

While reaching out to local businesses and organizations to get them involved in your school’s SRC! program can be consuming, the summer months can provide the valuable time needed to do so. And, as seen in the above stories, getting the community involved in your reading program is time well spent!

If you’d like to share your school’s SRC! success, please let us know!