Foundation’s flagship ‘Head of Class’ program expands to middle school

March 11, 2025

SANFORD — Back in 2010, when the then-7-year-old Lee County Education Foundation launched its “Head of Class” program, the focus was squarely on Lee County’s elementary schools.

The research-based rationale: building a strong academic foundation in elementary-aged students was the best way to help guarantee later academic successes. That Head of Class award, a unique teacher incentive which included a $50,000 cash prize for the winning school, has since been awarded 11 times, most recently on Jan. 29 — to J. Glenn Edwards Elementary.

All the while, though, LCEF has had its eye on somehow growing the program to include middle schools as well.

 “We are always looking for ways to make a measurable positive impact in our schools,” said Dennis Wicker, who led the formation of the Foundation in 2003. “We know that Head of Class has made a difference; principals at our middle schools have repeatedly told us that. And we’ve also always had a desire to find a way to expand it in our middle schools, to have two Head of Class prizes.”

That opportunity has come.

LCEF, in partnership with the McSwain Worthy Lands Trust, has earmarked up to $50,000 tobegin annually bestowing “Head of Class” honors to one of Lee County’s three middle schools — West Lee, East Lee or SanLee Middle School.

“It’s a big step for us, a big commitment, and we couldn’t be more excited to finally be able to makethis announcement,” Wicker said.

The inaugural Ernest and Ruby McSwain Middle School Head of Class prize will be announced inthe coming weeks, says LCEF Chairperson Susan Keller.

"The LCEF believes that expanding our Head of Class to the middle school level will not only recognize exemplary teacher and student performance, but also show teachers that the business community respects and supports their efforts, and sees the pivotal role they play in larger community success,” she said. “The Foundation has wanted for a long time to expand HOC to the middle school level, and with new reporting methods like EVAAS, we feel we can fairly assess which school is really moving the needle for middle school students."

 LCEF and Lee County Schools utilize EVAAS — the state’s Education Value-AddedAssessment System) software tool — which provides school systems with an array of student performance measurements. Those include growth and proficiency data, which have been used to determine the elementary school Head of Class winner each year; the prize is given to the school with highest year-over-year academic performance improvements. J. Glenn Edwards Elementary was awarded the 2023-24 elementary prize, the 11th given by the Foundation, on Jan. 29. It included a $75,000 gift to be shared by the school’s faculty and staff.

At the middle school level, Keller said, the exact amount of the Head of Class gift will bedetermined by the number of staff at the winning school.

Enrollment at West Lee (525) and East Lee (530) is well under that at SanLee, which has 836 students.

In addition to EVAAS data, other factors including teacher attendance will help rank the middle schools.

Wendy Wicker Phillips, the Education Foundation’s executive director, described the expansion of the Head of Class program as a proud moment for LCEF.

“We recognize middle school offers its own unique set of challenges and we are excited to honor the dedication and achievements of students, teachers, and staff,” said Phillips, who was named to her position in February. “We'd like to express our gratitude to the McSwain Worthy Lands Trust for their invaluable partnership in making this expansion possible.”

There’s no Head of Class program for Lee County’s two high schools, but at that level, LCEF hastwo programs: first, Sloan Scholars, which provides up to

$9,000 per year in college tuition grants to a Lee County student pursuing a teaching degree at a North Carolina college or university. And second, the soon-to-launch LocalLee TeacherAcademy, which will expose interested high school students to curriculum and experiences geared toward a career in education. Each is designed to help develop a pipeline for Lee County students to return as college graduates to teach within the county.

Lee County Schools Superintendent Dr. Chris Dossenbach, who serves as an ex-officio member of the Education Foundation’s board of directors, said the expansion of Head of Class served as another way to honor excellence at LCS.

“We are incredibly grateful for the continued support of the Lee County Education Foundationand their commitment to enhancing educational opportunities for our students,” he said.“Expanding the Head of Class program to our middle schools is a significant step in recognizingthe hard work and achievements of both students and educators. This expansion not only celebrates academic excellence, but also reinforces the Foundation's role in supporting thegrowth and success of our entire school system. We look forward to the continued partnership aswe work together to elevate the quality of education in Lee County.”

Dr. Natalie Kelly, Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum & Instruction, and the LCEF board of directors have agreed on a scoring system to determine the annual winner of the new middle school award. It will emphasize the school’s year-over-year growth score (from EVAAS data) converted on a 100-point scale, plus a “booster” that corresponds with the school’s proficiency score. An “attendance booster” will then be added to that score, rewarding a school when chronic staff absences are under 15%.

 “We are looking forward to announcing the winner of the first Ernest and Ruby McSwain Middle School Head of Class Award in the next couple of weeks,” Keller said. 

ABOUT THE FOUNDATION

The Lee County Education Foundation was formed in 2003 by a group of community leaders to raise money to support innovative, research-based educational programs to help Lee County Schools produce outstanding graduates well prepared for the 21st century workplace and success in life. The Foundation has directly invested more than $1.2 million in a variety of initiatives to serve teachers and students. Those include the flagship “Headof Class” project, which recognizes the district’s top performing elementary school with a cash gift of $75,000 to be shared by the winning school’s faculty and staff. The Foundation partnered with the Earnest and Ruby McSwain Worthy Lands Trust to provide $300,000 in pandemic relief funding for LCS, and also teamed with the Sloan Foundation to create the Temple Sloan Lee County Teaching Fellows Program, a “build-your-own” forgivable loan initiative designed to help develop a pipeline of dedicated and trained individuals who are excited about the teaching profession and ready to become teachers in Lee County.