AMERICAN FORK — Cindy Chilcoat's master's degree was in math. As she began taking courses for her doctorate degree, she became passionate about reading.

For the past 10 years, Chilcoat has been one of the Alpine School District's foremost reading teachers. She teaches other teachers in the district and at her school, Forbes Elementary in American Fork, effective reading instruction.

"All children can learn if they have the right instruction and the right kind of support," said Chilcoat, a 30-year teacher who is known to work long hours. "And I think they need that support from their teachers and from their parents, and sometimes, they need additional help from volunteers, depending on their needs."

Principal Larry Dean rattles off Chilcoat's accomplishments: She mentors teachers, organized a grade-level library, analyzes the standardized test scores and coordinates volunteers to teach reading to small groups of students.

He credits Chilcoat's ability to read and understand standardized test scores as a main reason why the school's overall scores on the No Child Left Behind test were up 8.5 percent this spring from last.

"That's incredible when you think 1 to 2 percent is statistically significant," Dean said. "Some of (the grades) went up as much as 15 percent in math and language arts."