The Promise

When Lampasas ISD curriculum team members, librarians and district leaders launched “Read On Lampasas” in 2016, the goal wasn’t just to improve a student’s reading performance. “Our team members realized that to improve reading performance, you must first foster a student’s love of reading,” said superintendent Chane Rascoe.

“The Promise,” by Nicola Davies and Laura Carlin, was selected as the foundational book to start the initiative. The book’s storyline addresses the need to plant seeds within other people to help them later in life. To foster a love of reading in students, the district reached out to the entire Lampasas community and asked business owners, community leaders, and school staff to participate by reading “The Promise,” volunteering to read to students during the school day, and pledging to plant reading seeds in others. A partnership between the Lampasas community and school libraries and local Boys and Girls Club provided mentors to help students read. District leaders also worked with liaisons at Fort Hood to identify military-connected students reading below grade level and worked with base leaders to provide resources for parents to help their children at home.

Lampasas ISD is expanding its efforts this coming school year by setting improvement goals, working with campus curriculum specialists and implementing the research-based lesson cycle approach called “Daily Five” to focus on the fundamental components of effective reading instruction each day. But Rascoe can already see the campaign’s success with students after just one year. “I recently had the pleasure of listening to a student read,” he said. “Last year, he couldn't read very well, and he was discouraged and frustrated. After the support he received from Read On Lampasas, his progress was amazing. He was confident and excited – one of the best memories of my career!” #IAmTXEd Lampasas ISD