Welcome to The Principal’s Handbook, your go-to resource for principals looking to revamp their leadership approach and prioritize self-care. I’m Barb Flowers, a certified life coach with eight years of experience as an elementary principal. Tune in each week as we delve into strategies for boosting mental resilience, managing time effectively, and nurturing overall wellness.

From tackling daily challenges to maintaining a healthy work-life balance, we’ll navigate the complexities of school leadership together. Join me in fostering your sense of purpose as a principal and reigniting your passion for the job. Welcome to a podcast where your wellbeing is the top priority.

Welcome everyone to the podcast today! I’m excited to have a guest with us—Leah Galeon. She’s here talking about her tutoring company, Peak Literacy. I’m so excited for her to share her background. Leah is incredibly knowledgeable about literacy, interventions, and helping kids learn to read. I think this is such an important topic for principals.

Leah, welcome! It’s great to have you.

Thank you so much, Barb! I’m so excited to be here.

If you could start by telling us about your background in education and how you started your tutoring company, that would be great.

Absolutely! I’m a mama of five, and I started out homeschooling my kids. We’ve done every form of schooling possible—homeschooling, private school, public school, online school—you name it. I come from a long history of educators and am a University of Florida graduate.

I kind of view myself more as a community organizer, which led me into literacy from the “back door,” so to speak. My company is a nonprofit called Peak Literacy, which stands for Providing Equitable Access for Kids.

It started because in our county in Florida—which is home to the University of Florida—we have the highest racial disparity gap in the state. We also have a world-class hospital, so there are kids from doctors’ families doing really well, which helps make our district an “A” district. But we have to ask, “An A for whom?”

There’s a large gap. I was given a small grant and recruited from a different position to work with 15 kids and start something.

Not having a formal background in literacy but being very connected, I began interviewing people—Dr. Holly Lane at the University of Florida, principals, superintendents in my network—and asked, “How would you do this? What would you do if you were me?”

Within three months, I created a program and began working with students in January 2020. Six weeks later, everything shut down due to COVID.

The program we used was Great Leaps, a well-known intervention used sporadically in our county with great success, though difficult for schools to implement because it’s a one-on-one intervention.

But the results have been fantastic. We started working with this program and realized we could do it digitally using volunteers from the community. I could train volunteers in a couple of hours to deliver literacy lessons. It’s not all a student needs, but it provides that lift to help them engage more in the classroom.

When COVID shut everything down, we moved to online tutors using Zoom. I realized this approach is really scalable. We all know tutoring costs a lot and is often a stretch even for middle-class families.

So, we created a model where community volunteers use an evidence-based tool to help children improve fluency and comprehension. We started seeing results in test scores.

Like any good principal, that caught attention. I’d get calls saying, “We’ve never seen scores like this—what are you doing?” I’d say, “I’m using Great Leaps.” Then they’d ask, “Can you help our kid?”

Since then, the model has grown. We’ve implemented it in different cities, adapting to each community’s resources. Around here, many volunteers are college students from the University of Florida. Other communities might use church groups.

We’re providing a large-scale way to give kids crucial help so teachers can focus on classroom instruction—something that requires advanced certification.

It’s been exciting to help people figure out how to do this in their contexts, using community resources to get kids what they need.

That was a long answer!

No, it was great! What I love, Leah, is that Great Leaps is aligned with the science of reading. In my district as a principal, we used UFLY, which is systematic phonics instruction that’s easy for teachers to follow and research-based. It’s inexpensive and has shown huge results.

UFLY started as an intervention, but in Ohio it was approved as tier one instruction. Your program is based on something similar, right?

Yes! Dr. Holly Lane was involved in the initial study with Dr. Cecil Mercer at the University of Florida about 30 years ago. Great Leaps grew into international success from that research.

They’ve trained special education teachers at UF to use Great Leaps. Our schools use UFLY with some fidelity and also pull students for Great Leaps in small groups, so kids get both.

That’s fantastic because those interventions must be high-dose and explicit.

When I started as a principal, teachers often brought “interventions” that weren’t really interventions—just worksheets. I reminded them that interventions are reteaching, explicit teaching—not just worksheets.

UFLY is a great intervention, and your digital program is what you use?

Yes. Great Leaps was traditionally a book program, but now there’s a digital version.

The digital program lets me see data on 175 kids instantly. I can monitor fidelity and see how tutors are doing compared to decades of historical data.

For a nonprofit relying on grants, showing impact is critical, so digital is what we use.

How has your understanding of reading challenges evolved since starting the company?

That’s a great question. I’ve sat with over 300 parents since we started, hearing their frustrations and hearing from teachers too.

The education world is frustrated because we can’t do what we’re trained to do effectively.

One problem is a stalemate: kids with reading disorders need trained professionals for specialized help.

But many students are diagnosed with dyslexia simply because they weren’t taught properly.

They receive a fair diagnosis but haven’t always had the right instruction.

I see kids who jump from grade level 1.1 to 2.7 in 12 weeks—that’s not typical for kids with learning disabilities. It’s a sign they hadn’t received good instruction before.

So, if I can relieve literacy professionals who have to provide intensive interventions by giving those kids proper instruction through volunteers, it helps everyone.

Volunteers can be trained to use proven tier one interventions, freeing professionals to work with students with complex needs.

Exactly. That differentiation is critical.

I’d like to add something about dyslexia and IEPs. Ohio has law language defining dyslexia as a specific reading disability, which complicates things.

Some kids diagnosed with dyslexia pick up reading quickly with good instruction, meaning they may not have a learning disability but simply lacked instruction.

Others have more severe challenges and need ongoing remediation.

I think of it like autism spectrum disorder: some kids are fine with regular instruction, others need specialized support.

Dyslexia works similarly—some kids take off with good instruction, others require sustained intervention.

That’s a great analogy.

It raises the question: does labeling help a child? Regardless, intervention is key.

We know explicit instruction is the best method, but as school leaders, limited funds and staff make it difficult to implement well.

I believe we can’t solve the literacy crisis alone within our current system.

We can fight the system or admit we need help.

Thankfully, people want to help. Volunteers want to get involved.

What we lack is a strategy to place and train volunteers properly.

I was at a county meeting where the NAACP proposed volunteers come have lunch with students for 30 minutes a week as a solution.

I thought, “There are so many people here willing to help, and that’s the plan?”

We need to give them evidence-based, simple tools they can use.

If they can read, I can train a 16-year-old or someone who’s never used Zoom to deliver interventions.

We need widespread, scalable solutions tailored to each community.

Literacy is in crisis, and we know this causes long-term problems.

So let’s leverage the resources we have and implement programs that truly make a difference.

I appreciate that you mentioned how your program empowers volunteers.

At my previous school, our reading coach trained volunteers in evidence-based interventions.

Some volunteers were grandparents or parents of struggling readers, learning to help not only at school but also at home.

That’s empowering for the community.

We’ve trained many people and I say, “Give me a willing person, and I’ll help them use this tool.”

Is it the only tool? No.

UFLY is a great program, and Dr. Lane’s team supports it.

But even with UFLY, questions come up, and implementation can be tough.

We welcome other programs too—if someone has a better tool, I’m happy to explore it.

What matters is having a simple, research-based, data-driven tool that works for diverse learners, including kids with dyslexia, autism, and English language learners.

When you put that tool in the hands of caring volunteers, the possibilities are endless.

Measurement matters.

If a program doesn’t move kids’ progress or improve engagement, then what are we doing?

If I’m not moving kids, I shouldn’t be paid; I should find a new career.

Exactly. Principals aren’t in this for the money—they’re here because they care and want to make a difference.

But I challenge you: you can’t do this with only the resources given.

Engage your community meaningfully.

When volunteers see results, they want to come back more often and stay involved.

That builds sustainable support within schools and communities.

I’ve seen that with volunteers—when they feel their impact, they stay.

If they don’t see results, they drop off.

We have UF interns now who are already seeing kids smile after a few lessons.

I have volunteers who’ve been with me for five years—even med school students who come back for more kids after breaks.

People want to help—it’s intrinsic.

Let’s maximize those resources for long-term volunteer engagement.

Leah, your work is amazing.

How can people find you or partner with you?

Thanks! Visit us at www.peakliteracy.org. You can contact us through the website or email me at Leah@peakliteracy.org.

One of my greatest joys is connecting dots and strategizing how to make things work for schools, nonprofits, and communities.

We also have exciting grant-funded initiatives, like our city’s gun violence prevention grant working in low-income neighborhoods.

I could talk about this all day, so please reach out—we’re happy to help connect you with resources or collaborate.

Absolutely! I’ll put your info in the show notes.

Thank you so much for joining us. This has been a great conversation about the science of reading, tutoring, and supporting students with dyslexia.

Thank you, Barb. I appreciate being here!