SCRADER PRINCIPAL STARS AT AWARDS GALA

The students at Alma Schrader Elementary School cheered wildly Thursday at the sight of an unexpected "rock star" -- their principal, Frank Ellis.

Ellis dressed up for an assembly to reward students who achieved their goal of 35,000 points in the Accelerated Reader program.

"You wanted public humiliation for me, and believe me, I am embarrassed," Ellis told the kids.

The Accelerated Reader program encourages students to read by having them take comprehension tests over different books appropriate to their grade level. The more difficult the book, the higher the point value. The more books they read, the more points students acquire.

Rewards such as eating lunch with a friend or the principal were given to the students for achieving certain point levels

First-grade teacher Valerie Williams said the program not only encourages students to read, but it builds their reading comprehension.

"The more you read, the better you become," she said, adding that the students definitely exceeded her expectation by not only achieving their point goal, but surpassing it.

35,000 books read

"When we added up the scores and found that they had read over 35,000 books, I was just astounded," she said.

Fifth-graders earned the most points, scoring 6,804, and Emily Ponder, a sixth-grader, had the most points, 418.

Williams said she thinks the Accelerated Reader program is one of the greatest programs she's ever seen to encourage children to read.

"I have parents whose kids never read before telling me they're reading at home," Williams said.

The standardized reading test scores of the children have also risen two or three levels this year, she said.

Ellis also served ice cream to the students in his costume as part of their celebration and told them they had exceeded his expectations with the program.

"Next year," he said, "I'm going to raise the score, because you read a lot more than what I thought. I don't think there's a teacher in this room who can't tell you how proud they are of you for this accomplishment."

Ellis said that at the beginning of the year when the program was implemented, the school set a goal as part of the criteria for the program, and used a reward method to encourage the students to achieve that goal.

"There were a few selections on what I should do if they reached the goal, and this one was the one that got chosen," he said. "It's all for the kids. I'm very proud that they reached their goal."