DAPHNE, Ala. — Daphne Elementary School Principal Jan Palmer has been in her position for 14 years and a county educator for 34 years, and she has brought unique reading programs to DES to promote students reading.

The hard work did not go to naught; Palmer was honored with the 2010 Outstanding Administrator in Reading Award Nov. 4 at the 42nd annual Alabama Reading Association Conference in Birmingham.

“To me personally, it means we are doing something right on our campus that promotes student learning,” Palmer said. “It kind of validates what we’re doing.”

The award is a statewide recognition, and there are councils across the state that propose a representative from their area. Palmer was the representative from the Baldwin County Reading Council. There are around nine or 10 councils statewide, Palmer said, adding that any current or retired educator on any school level can be considered as a council member.

Earlier in the school year, educators received an application, and several DES teachers completed theirs and sent them to the Baldwin County council, which then chose Palmer and sent the nod to the association.

“We talked about the things we support at the school and things I support, which is Family Reading Night, Embedded Staff Development, our summer reading program and the ins-and-outs of what goes on everyday on our campus,” Palmer said.

Family Reading Night is done twice in the fall when teachers, classroom volunteers and parents are divided into groups and sent to stations. According to Palmer, the parents learn how to work with students in reading at home.

“We have a game room, and the parents see what type of games will support the reading, and the parents can learn how to play those games with the students to promote the reading,” Palmer said.

The Embedded Staff Development allows teachers to be instructed by a reading coach and use “active participation” and “explicit language,” Palmer said.

The summer reading program — titled “Camp Read-a-Lot” — received grant money from SEEDS’ Classroom Enrichment Grants last week. The program will have second- and third-graders come to the camp once a week, check out books and then take accelerated reading quizzes.

 “We have to write grants to fund (the summer reading program),” Palmer said. “It’s for rising second-graders and third-graders to participate, since they are really starting to read at that age.”

Palmer did not mention any additional reading programs the school may usher in, but the school community wants to better the current programs to promote reading to the students in the best possible way.

“The main thing that we do right now is evaluate how successful they are each year and tweak that and make it even better the next year,” Palmer said. “This is the second year that we did the Family Reading Night and this is our third summer that we will do the summer reading program.”