What can happen when a small rural school makes literacy a priority? A whole community focuses on reading - and the evidence is everywhere! Burr Oak Community Schools, a small, rural district in southwest Michigan serving approximately 300 students, joined the HIL project a year ago—and what a difference a year makes!

Students in this little school are surrounded by teachers and administrators who do whatever it takes to provide the learners with the best they have to offer. As you might imagine, finances and teachers are stretched pretty thin in a school this size, but with everyone working together, Burr Oak Community Schools is a warm and welcoming place where students feel loved and cared for.

The staff and community at Burr Oak have embraced the HIL project and made it not only a focus for their elementary students, but for the entire K-12 organization. It’s literacy, literacy everywhere at BOCS.

Books have flooded classrooms, filling shelves and student’s hands, allowing teachers to focus on individualized instruction and readers to explore the world through literature. A mere eight months ago the school was in need of classroom libraries and professional learning to support best practices in reading instruction. Today, the school is flush with books and a culture of literacy is visible in every nook and cranny.

As a result, students are showing gains in reading as more learners are brought to grade level and beyond. Burr Oak is celebrating literacy in every way possible—reading corners, tee-shirts, book challenges, extended literacy blocks, instructional coaching, and a staff who shares their passion for reading with their students. If you want to see the high impact of High Impact Leadership, come and visit a little school that cares - about reading improvement for EVERY child.