Gwinnett superintendent wins Reading Recovery award

J. Alvin Wilbanks, Gwinnett County school superintendent, is this year's recipient of the Excellence in Literacy Leadership Award presented by Reading Recovery Teacher Leaders. The award is given to people not trained in Reading Recovery who have displayed a strong commitment to expanding and maintaining its standards and implementing it beyond the local level. Wilbanks is the longest serving school superintendent in a large, urban district in the United States, and under his leadership the Gwinnett district has earned a reputation as one of the most successful in the country. "Unlike some literacy programs that do not live up to their advance billing, Reading Recovery delivers the promised results," Wilbanks said. "The research-based strategies have proven to be effective not only in teaching struggling youngsters to read, but in equipping them with reading skills that last over the years.