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Educator
Dr. Christopher Blair developed a customizable approach to support schools based on their unique needs.
A Love Story:
Literacy and Reading
As a former secondary English teacher, Dr. Blair has always sought opportunities to lead literacy. In 2021, Dr. Blair pushed Bullock County Schools to become the first Alabama public school district to integrate the Children’s Defense Fund Freedom School to increase reading comprehension and love of reading among our prekindergarten through second-grade students.
The culturally relevant, summer reading program incorporates daily singing, chatting, dancing, and clapping to rhythmic phrases and statements with the reading curriculum that affirms them as individuals and increases grade-level reading ability.
In July, Dr. Blair told al.com “Students see books with people that look like them that talked about becoming an astronaut that talked about becoming a vice president or building a garden for the community or building a shelter to help the homeless or being great in a sport,” he said. “And it then says, I can do it.”
The love of literacy did not stop there. Dr. Blair and the Bullock County team spread the love of literacy to the rest of the family, creating Alabama’s first public school course for parents to learn children's early literacy skills from birth to 3.
Grit and Access to Rigorous Curriculum
One of the most rewarding experiences of Dr. Blair’s education career is creating equitable access to rigorous curriculum for underrepresented, rural middle and high school students. In 2018, all middle and high school core course content in Bullock County Schools was updated to A+CR. The A+CR curriculum challenged Bullock County middle school students with high expectations and prepared them and provided access to high school advanced placement courses. The number of students in AP course went from none to 117 in three years, and the percentage of students taking dual enrollment courses increased 1,1120%.
Leading for improved student achievement is Dr. Blair’s passion and he believes the key to success is empowering and guiding educational leaders in their leadership capacities. The district has dual enrollment and advance placement agreements with four Alabama colleges and universities: Auburn University at Montgomery, Wallace Community College, South University, and Trenholm Community College.
BUILDING LEADERSHIP CAPACITY
The mark of a successful leader is to develop the leadership capacity of others. Dr. Blair believes in and implements strategic work to “duplicate oneself” in others in terms of empowering others to demonstrate leadership skills. Guided by strategic plan critical initiative and active learning strategies, Dr. Blair provided whole-group and individual evidence-based learning experiences and coaching to leaders in the central office and schools. For example, a protocol Dr. Blair developed and implemented challenges leaders to create a work process perspective before initiating and implementing a collaborative work project.
Using the work process tool, based on the Baldrige Framework for Excellence empowers leaders to think strategically and plan effectively to engage others to ensure the intended outcome(s) are met. The Process Tool creates high reliability among leaders to be more resourceful and efficient. In the Bullock County School District, increased operational efficiency decreased expenditures for the district and schools. The tool also led to an increased fund balance reserves as well as expansion of equitable programs and services such as the implementation of system-wide energy conservation projected that saved the district over one hundred forty thousand dollars in energy costs, bus transportation costs, deferred maintenance expenditures and improved the climate in schools and central office building with improved heating, cooling, and lighting in all classrooms, common areas, and offices.
As well, work in the Bullock County School District to build leadership capacity to improve operational efficiency resulted in the International Center for Leadership in Education designating Union Springs Elementary School as a 2020 Model School.
