Gilbert's Chaparral Elementary earns leadership certification

Chaparral Elementary School in Higley Unified School District is now certified as a " Leader in Me" Lighthouse School by FranklinCovey Education.

This recognition is evidence that the school has produced outstanding results in school and student outcomes, and because of the extraordinary impact the school is having on staff, students, parents, and the greater community.

Chaparral Elementary is the second HUSD school to earn this prestigious title, with San Tan Elementary holding the Lighthouse designation as well.

Leader in Me is an evidence-based prekindergarten-12 model, developed in partnership with educators, designed to build resilience and leadership in students, create a high-trust culture, and help improve academic achievement. The model equips students, educators, and families with the leadership and life skills needed to thrive, adapt, and contribute in a dynamic world.

Leader in Me unites 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 environment. With Leader in Me, s tudents learn to become self-aware, interdependent, take initiative, plan ahead, set and track goals, do their homework, prioritize their time, be considerate of others, communicate effectively, resolve conflicts, find creative solutions, value differences, live a balanced life, and contribute to society.

Lighthouse Certification is earned by schools that demonstrate the following:

• The principal, school administration, and staff engage in ongoing learning and develop as leaders, while championing leadership for the school.
• Leadership principles are effectively taught to all students through direct lessons, integrated approaches, and staff modeling. Students are able to think critically about, and apply, leadership principles.
• Families and the school partner together in learning about The 7 Habits and leadership principles through effective communication and mutual respect.
• The school community is able to see leadership in the physical environment, hear leadership through a common language, and feel leadership through a culture of caring, relationships, and affirmation.
• Leadership is shared with students through a variety of leadership roles. Student voice leads to innovations within the school.
• Schoolwide, classroom, family, and community leadership events provide authentic environments to celebrate leadership, build culture, and allow students to practice leadership skills.
• The school utilizes the 4DX® process ( The 4 Disciplines of Execution ) to identify and track progress toward Wildly Important Goals® (WIGs) for the school, classroom, and staff.
• Students lead their own learning with the skills to assess their needs, set appropriate goals, and carry out action plans. They track progress toward goals in Leadership Notebooks and share these notebooks with adults in Student-Led Conferences.
• Teacher planning and reflection, trusting relationships, and student-led learning combine to create environments for highly engaged learning.

Chaparral Elementary will maintain its Lighthouse Certification for two years and will continue to foster its growth and proficiency in exemplifying a leadership culture and principles.

At the end of the two years the school will recertify its Lighthouse Certification through a virtual self-assessment, describing and celebrating its growth and accomplishments since its original Lighthouse designation.

“We are honored to have been certified as a Leader in Me Lighthouse School," Chaparral Elementary Principal Kristine Hanson said in a release, "We have seen amazing results from implementing the Leader in Me model at our school, including increases in positive behavior and leadership initiative, as well as problem-solving and creative thinking.

"One example is a student who was new to the school and very shy. He is now part of our Lighthouse club. He presented leadership principles in front of the whole school with confidence. This model has not only had a significant impact on this student, but on all students.”

Schools typically apply for this certification three to five years after a school begins the Leader in Me model.

FranklinCovey Education has designed the Lighthouse Rubric to establish high standards for quality and, ultimately, school outcomes, according to the release. Schools use the Lighthouse Rubric to measure outcomes in three areas: teaching leadership principles, creating a leadership culture, and aligning academic systems.

Schools also measure their success as it relates to their unique school.

“We are thrilled to recognize Chaparral Elementary School as a Leader in Me Lighthouse School," Sean Covey, president of FranklinCovey Education, said in the release, "Schools who achieve this Lighthouse Certification are great examples of a strong leadership model, and of what it means to be a Leader in Me school .

"This school has experienced incredible results by implementing the principles and practices related to Leader in Me . And we are so pleased and honored to be their partner and to celebrate the success they are experiencing.”

Leader in Me training includes establishing vision for the school or district, goal setting, personal-accountability systems and is aligned with commonly held best in class educational research, content and best practices.

At the core of the Leader in Me model is the belief that every child possesses unique strengths and has the ability to be a leader. The foundation of Leader in Me is its PK-12 framework, the  See-Do-Get model, and the Student Leadership Portrait competencies.

Leader in Me is implemented through an educator professional development model. Teachers and staff learn key concepts and integrate them into existing systems.

FranklinCovey has implementation support to ensure success for individual schools, district-wide, distance learning, and online delivery of content. Coaching supports implementation excellence and sustained achievement across all implementation modalities.

Those interested in learning learn more about the impact the model is having can see the following research highlights : ( www.leaderinme.org/research-highlights-academics/ ).

Those interested in getting more information on the model that has been implemented in more than 7,000 schools and in more than 70 countries can visit www.leaderinme.org .