Donna Lawson Bledsoe

Cedar Ridge Elementary School
Surry County Schools
Lowgap, North Carolina
bledsoedo@surry.k12.nc.us

Throughout her 15-year career as a school administrator, Donna Lawson Bledsoe has demonstrated that high-performing schools are built on intentional systems that support teachers as professionals and partners in student growth. Guided by the belief that foundational reading proficiency is a civil right, Bledsoe has demonstrated transformative leadership in literacy instruction. At Cedar Ridge Elementary, where she has served as principal for nine years, Bledsoe spearheaded the implementation of a comprehensive, structured, data-driven literacy program to realize this right for all K-5 students. The program has driven increased proficiency for early learners and facilitated learning loss recovery after the pandemic, for which Cedar Ridge earned recognition in 2022 as a North Carolina Lighthouse School, and in 2024 as a NCDPI Promising Practice School. The school has also seen comparable gains in math proficiency during Bledsoe’s tenure, all while embedding SEL and restorative practices in school culture. Bledsoe was the 2023 Wells Fargo NC Principal of the Year, enabling her to serve a two-year term as a policy advisor to the North Carolina State Board of Education, and received the North Carolina Dogwood Award in 2024 from the state’s attorney general for creativity in pursuing community-based solutions to pressing issues in the state. Bledsoe is pursuing an Ed.D. in Leadership from Appalachian State University, from which she holds a M.A. in K-12 Curriculum Specialist and a B.S. in Elementary Education.