Honda Foundation Update Lincoln Elementary & Fred Becker Elementary February 2014

Leader Valley is the educational arm of the Greater Cedar Valley Alliance and Chamber, located in two communities- Waterloo and Cedar Falls, Iowa. In cooperation with foundations like the Honda Foundation and local businesses, Leader Valley proudly provides financial and administrative support to Leader in Me schools in three districts- Waterloo Community Schools, Cedar Falls Community Schools, and Cedar Valley Catholic. Leader in Me is currently being implemented in 14 schools- 10 elementary schools, 3 middle schools, and 1 K-8 building. All of our Leader in Me schools strive to embed the 7 Habits, identify the gifts and talents of all students and staff, and provide authentic and meaningful leadership roles and opportunities to learn about leadership to students. Seven other schools are in the pre-work phase of determining if Leader in Me is the right work for their school! The goal is that by the 2018-2019 school year, all 33 K-12 schools in the three districts implementing Leader in Me. To learn more about Leader Valley, visit this link for a promotional videoLeader Valley FINAL 11-22-13.mov

It is my pleasure to give an update on the progress of two Leader in Me schools in the Leader Valley that the Honda Foundation has provided support to!

Lincoln Elementary Cedar Falls, Iowa

Lincoln Overview- Lincoln Elementary is in the heart of the downtown Cedar Falls district and serves 580 (and growing) students. Lincoln possesses the type of school culture that most educators, parents, and students dream of. They are truly a family and have an amazing climate and culture- a true breeding ground for Leader in Me. Lincoln has a highly respected and beloved principal, Deb Beving, who has nurtured this wonderful culture. Lincoln has committed staff that on the whole, goes above and beyond for students- they take an All hands on deck approach. As a result, Lincoln has highly engaged families and thriving students. Lincoln Elementary entered its first phase of Leader in Me training during summer 2012. In fact, during the summer training, the principal, Deb Beving, found out they would be inheriting 80+ new students as a result of a neighbor school closing and housing development expansion in their district. During that time, staff remained centered on how to infuse all of these new students into their very established Lincoln family. During the actual training itself, not only were classrooms being moved, more student enrolling, additional teachers being hired, and temporary classrooms needing to be established, the Lincoln staff was all-in with their Leader In Me training. 1

Since completing their Vision training, 7 Habits training, Implementation training, and Lighthouse Team training, we have seen tremendous momentum with their school in terms of creating an even stronger culture geared at empowering students. They created a professional development schedule for staff to infuse the 7 Habits into conversation regularly, created a teaching schedule for introducing/re-introducing the 7 Habits this fall, and followed up with the 7 Habits accountability challenge for staff! They are working to transform their environment in creative ways A few examples of leadership environment at Lincoln

Synergy Session- Lincoln also graciously hosted the first ever Leader Valley Synergy Session, in which 80+ educators from 13 schools and the University of Northern Iowa came to share ideas specific to student leadership roles, student lighthouse teams, and enhancing school environments. Student leadership played a big part in the event.

Respectively from left to right: Music Leaders welcoming educators; Registration Leaders checking in educators; Speaker Leader introducing keynote speaker.

Respectively from left to right: Session Leaders and Tour Guides; Announcer Leader waiting to do his job; Principal Deb Beving and Speaker Leader. (Please note in the first and third pictures the Lincoln Leadership TShirts that ALL students and staff have!) Staff reflection- In talking with staff at Lincoln, they said these things about the Leader in Me Students are more goal oriented- classroom teacher Leader in me just feels good. It has brought more joy back to education- principal We are all talking, modeling, and reflecting the same language - classroom teacher It is spurring the adults to be in leadership roles that they havent done before - special education teacher Parents tell us it is coming home with students and they are applying the concepts at home- classroom teacher Kids own it. Im just blown away at how students apply the 7 Habits and leadership language here (this is only my 1st year in the building)- classroom teacher By empowering our students, we as adults have so much more time because they take ownership for thingsclassroom teacher

Lighthouse Team- Lincoln Elementary has an established Lighthouse Team that is guiding Leader in Me implementation and their work toward their Wildly Important Goals (WIGS). We are eager for them to take their implementation to the next level. Although they will continue doing their great work embedding leadership into their school culture, they are ready for year two Leader in Me trainings and we are working to get those dates coordinated for late summer and early fall 2014. Leadership Day- Lincoln Elementary will be hosting their first leadership day on April 25, 2014! Their primary audience for their first leadership day is actually ALL K-6 students, although they will open the event up to some community members. Students will rotate through student-led leadership activities for each habit. To learn more about Lincoln elementary, visit their webpage- http://www.ln.cfschools.org/

Fred Becker Elementary Waterloo, Iowa

Becker Overview- Fred Becker Elementary started their Leader in Me journey January 2011- at the very same time they opened a brand new building. The unique aspect of the Becker staff is that they are comprised of folks who had been educators in three different buildings. Becker is led by Principal Melissa Steggall and Lead Teacher Sunni Hart. Both are passionate about the leadership work and see a profound tie to academics. Becker is comprised of 565 students and have a 76% free/reduced rate school-wide. One of the challenges they face is engaging parents, as many of their families are identified as poor working class or in poverty and have little involvement with their students education. That 3

said, the Becker educators are creating enthusiasm among students and parents and are starting to come up with unique ways to inform parents about their evolving leadership culture. For example, at spring 2014 conferences, they had students who were hosts welcoming all parents, had a booth for students to share information about Leader in Me and also had another booth sharing information about student leadership roles! Sunni indicated that students were relentless in trying to talk to all parents and make sure that everyone knew more about Leader in Me! ! Lighthouse Team- Becker Elementary has an established Lighthouse Team that is guiding Leader in Me implementation and their work toward their Wildly Important Goals (WIGS). The Lighthouse Team mission is to Lead by Example and they refer to themselves as Team Shine. The have focused heavily on school-wide leadership roles/goal setting, and opportunities for students, leadership binders, and building relationships/cohesiveness among the staff. Goal setting- The Lighthouse Teams first Wildly Important Goal (WIG) related to goal setting &leadership notebooks. 100% of students in every classroom track their academic and personal goals, learning, and progress, which in turn translates to classroom goals. They are continuously working to refine the goal setting process, score-boarding, and contents and use of leadership notebooks. They are passionate about streamlining the individual student goals to classroom to goals to school-wide goals. As a result of these efforts, students are taking more ownership for their learning and are more motivated to be engaged. For more information, see the Leader In Me at Becker Video in which they discuss goal settinghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKnPb-KjPRc

Each student chooses a symbol to represent themselves and then tracks their progress on a classroom goal display. The rubric is a general guide, but the students have more specific information available to them about criteria for each level of growth depending on the specific goal. School-wide Leadership Roles- One of the big areas that students have had leadership opportunities is with school-wide leadership roles. Not only are their opportunities in the classroom, but they have significant opportunities to apply for important leadership roles. To learn more about this, check out the recent news article and video: 4

Recycling Business Partnership Article- http://wcfcourier.com/news/local/education/school-partners-withbusiness-to-recycle-provide-student-leadership-opportunities/article_283f6a91-b9eb-5d5b-8631a400ab0a2657.html Becker Leadership Roles Video- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzS8ebMAQAs

Enhancing the Environment- Because the Becker team jumped right into the academic applications with Leader in Me, they are now focusing on going back and enhancing the environment. They have a subset of their Lighthouse Team working on this with students. This is an area where they will spend much time focusing for the remainder of this school year and summer, in anticipation of an enhanced physical leadership environment.

Adult Relationships- The Leader in Me served as a common language and core focus for the educators coming together. Additionally, the staff recognized for them to be effective at readily identifying and helping students to identify their own gifts and strengths, the staff needed to be able to model that themselves. They realized because they were a new building with a convergence of three teams, that they didnt know each others own strengths and gifts, so they spent a half-day professional development experiencing the Real Colors personality training. Real Colors gave their staff insight into each other, but also provided them another foundational piece for establishing the leadership culture of their building. As a staff, they were modeling the process of identifying colleagues strengths and having an authentic conversation about that! Additionally, the Becker staff is becoming more cohesive by focused on improved culture for the staff. They are creating more social opportunities for the staff to get to know each other and enjoy each other apart from professional activities. They understand the impact of having a great relationship with each other and are taking active steps to improve! Student Led Conferences- Although this has not been a school-wide endeavor, many of the Becker students and staff piloted student led conferences this spring. The plan is to provide support so that all students have the opportunity to lead their own conference next fall. They will utilize the student leadership notebooks as a foundation for this. PBIS & LIM- The Becker LIM Lighthouse team has been instrumental in melding the Leader in Me with Positive Behavior Supports, a key longstanding initiative (they also serve as a great resource for other schools navigating the melding of PBIS and Leader in Me!

Celebrating Student Leadership- While all students are considered Leaders at Becker Elementary, students can be nominated for going above and beyond. These students were celebrated because of their extra efforts academically and personally!

Academic Results- Although Becker has only been implementing since January 2011, they have already started to see positive academic growth. Undoubtedly, their strong data reflection processes and academic strategies contribute to this, yet they certainly believe that the Leader in Me plays a part in this growth. This data reflects one year of growth, from the 2011-2012 school year to the 2012-2013 school year. READING % prof. Spring 2012 53.7% MATH % prof. Spring 2012 55.5% SCIENCE % prof. Spring 2012 58.7%

% prof. Spring 2013 57.6%

Growth

% prof. Spring 2013 59.8%

Growth

% prof. Spring 2013 63.7%

Growth

3.9%

4.3%

5.0%

Year 2 Training- Becker had their Empowerment training on February 7, 2014. This was an awesome opportunity for rejuvenation, as staff revisited the application of the 7 Habits to their own lives personally. They paired up with the accountability partners and are modeling the idea of accountability for students. The Lighthouse Team had their Achieving School-wide Goals training March 4, 2014. Service Projects- Service projects are a huge component of the leadership work at Becker Elementary. This year alone,
students engaged in the following service projects: Decorating Christmas decorations, placemats, and pictures for folks at a nursing home A school-wide drive to collect necessary items for a local women s shelter Providing encouragement and cards to World War II Veterans who get to visit Washington D.C. on an Honor Flight Penny drive for the Cure Starts Now, an organization to support cancer

Leadership Day- Becker Elementary will be hosting their first leadership event on April 3, 2014! They are opening their doors to community members and families in the hopes of showcasing student leadership through presentations, speaking, student-led activities, 1:1 conversations with students about leadership notebooks and student designed displays about service projects.
Practicing the 7 Habits- Becker students find a way to help student apply the 7 Habits on a regular basis. Here are a few photos of students in action!

Sharpening the Saw with Zumba- Becker students dancing!

Student putting first things first in a study group! Fred Becker Media Files (click on these additional articles, videos, and pictures; or copy into a browser): Becker Black History News Article- http://wcfcourier.com/news/opinion/blogs/extra_credit/fred-beckerelementary-school-holds-black-history-soul-food-dinner/article_cf083b4a-5349-11e1-b84c-001871e3ce6c.html Becker Leadership Picasa Folder (pictures)https://plus.google.com/photos/105547821305920414703/albums/5876449166859926513?banner=pwa Becker February 2014 Newsletter- Great communication about Leader in Me! https://www.waterloo.k12.ia.us/schoolsites/becker/wp-content/blogs.dir/5/files/2012/02/February-Newsletter2014.pdf To learn more about Fred Becker elementary, please visit this linkhttp://www.waterloo.k12.ia.us/schoolsites/becker/