Garden City Achieve leaders describe ‘Leader in Me’ program, report gains on annual assessments

Lucas Sullivan, principal of Garden City Achieve, and student leaders presented the school’s Leader in Me program to the Board of Education and reported growth across multiple categories on the school’s Measurable Results Assessment (MRA).

Sullivan said the program shifts decision-making to students. “It’s not our school. It’s not the teacher school. It’s their school,” he said, describing how the school’s lighthouse teams help students run community events and lead school initiatives.

The presenters described a mission statement and a year theme of “confidence.” They said last year’s MRA showed growth in all assessed areas the school tracks: empowering teachers (+3 points), empowering learners (+10 points), goal achievement via FastBridge/IXL (+5 points), student leadership (+7 points), staff leadership (+11 points), family and community leadership (+11 points), supportive student environment (+6 points) and supportive staff environment (+17 points). Those numbers were presented by Sullivan and student leaders as the school’s reported year-over-year changes.

Student leaders described activities tied to the lighthouse teams. Shayla, identified as a student leader, said culture and family engagement work has included a homecoming parade presence and multi-age participation across the district. Emilio described mentoring activities and a trunk-or-treat event held for community families. Casey Lieber, a member of the culture action team, described quarterly graduation walks to celebrate students and outreach to families during parent-teacher conferences.

Several students said joining the lighthouse team changed their school engagement. Zuginski, a student leader, said, “I joined Lighthouse team because… I was a troublemaker. When I went to Achieve, I started getting my grades up. This year I decided I’m just gonna change myself forever, and I’m gonna try to help other people do the same thing as I did.” Other students gave similar first-person statements about improved grades and leadership experience.

Sullivan said every new student is placed in an action team—culture, academics or leadership—and receives a Leader in Me elective to learn the program’s seven habits. He said the school has used the MRA to focus teacher, student and parent input and that one way staff increased parent participation in the MRA was to require parents to complete it at parent-teacher conferences in exchange for a meal ticket.

Sullivan said the school is exploring how to expand Leader in Me practices into the district’s therapeutic program and into a virtual academy that uses the method; he described those plans as discussion items and no board action was requested.

The presentation concluded with board members praising the students and staff at Achieve for their engagement and reported gains.