In 2017 the Cedar Ridge Elementary School adopted the Leader in Me program to address social and emotional needs in our students. The Leader in Me is based on the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey. The Leader in Me program has helped us to create well-rounded learners by developing the whole-person and preparing our students to become life-ready leaders. The Leader in Me has united our students, staff, and families around a common goal to prepare students with college, career, and life-readiness skills that are necessary to thrive in today’s ever-changing, fast-paced environment. The Leader in Me addresses and strengthens the following skill sets:
Critical Thinking
Creativity
Self-Discipline
Vision
Initiative
Communication
Relationship Building
Goal Achievement
Public Speaking
Global Awareness
Social and Emotional Awareness
Teamwork
Listening Skills
Time Management
Leading Projects
Self-Directed Learning
Valuing Diversity
Problem Solving
The Cedar Ridge Elementary staff has completed rigorous training since the program was implemented in 2017. This training has helped us to customize the Leader in Me program to our specific demographic needs of our students. Our students receive 30 minutes of Leader in Me instruction a day, in addition to their core curriculum. Each student has created their own Leadership Notebook, where they plan and set their own personal educational goals.
To facilitate the day to day operations of the Leader in Me program, a Teacher Lighthouse committee, consisting of ten staff members was created. This Lighthouse committee helps facilitate Leader in Me topics during professional learning community time, they carry out the interview process for the Student Lighthouse team, and act as a positive influence and support system for the entire staff.
One of the strongest assets of the program has been the development of our Family Time program. Each teacher has a student family consisting of students from each grade level, meeting weekly for thirty minutes.This gives the students an opportunity to establish a “true” school family that could act as an additional support system for every child.
In order to make this program a community movement, the student lighthouse program was created as student-led representative group. To be on the student lighthouse team, children are required to complete an application, and participate in rigorous interview process. These students act as:
Tour guides
Greeters and assistants during special events
Guest speak on public radio
Conduct student led Leadership Days for the Community
Our Community Leadership Days are designed to bring community leaders into our school to experience the progress our students here at Cedar Ridge Elementary are accomplishing. A Leadership Day consists of student led activities that demonstrate the Seven Habits.
Since the implementation of the Leader in Me program at Cedar Ridge Elementary, our school has experienced strong academic growth which has helped us improve our ESSA score substantially. The program has improved school culture and strengthened a sense of student educational ownership within our district. The greatest measure of success of this program is that we feel that we are producing more caring and well rounded leaders. This is an on-going program in which hopefully we will see the fruits of our labors in our community for years to come.