Meadow Heights, Scott City schools in second year of character development program

In Scott City and Meadow Heights schools, a common language is forming.

Meadow Heights Elementary principal Donna Bristow said that throughout the day, the staff are hearing students use the phrases of that language, even without a teacher being present.

"They all know what 'being proactive' or 'win-win' or 'begin with the end in mind' mean," she said.

The language comes from The Leader in Me, a character development program being blended into the curriculum at Meadow Heights Elementary and Scott City's middle and elementary schools.

The schools are in the second year of the program, which the Southeast Missouri P-20 Council helped to start with funds through the state's P-20 council, a grant through the U.S. Department of Labor's Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development, or WIRED Initiative, and other grants.

"Over the course of the past 10 years, it doesn't matter who comes in and does a survey with businesses, the first thing the businesses say is they cannot find people who have soft skills or work ethic that can both pass a drug test and have a high school diploma," said John McGowan, community impact director of the United Way of Southeast Missouri and secretary of the Southeast Missouri P-20 Council.

The P-20 Council is a group of businesspeople and educators that addresses educational issues in an effort to create a skilled workforce.

The Leader in Me is based on skills from a well-known book, "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People," rewritten into an application for school improvement with a second book, "The Leader in Me." The program promises decreased discipline referrals, character and leadership development, greater academic achievement and higher levels of accountability and engagement among parents and staff.

The council selected the program with input from the school staffs after researching programs that could address the problems for businesses and improve a school's environment.

The Leader in Me stood out because the program happens "within the curriculum instead of on top of the curriculum," meaning it doesn't require extra classroom time, McGowan said.

"It's really a different philosophy of showing kids that it is their school, and they have a voice, and provides them with leadership opportunities," McGowan said.

Staff are trained to teach the habits to students by a certified trainer during the first year. Students are often taught the habits beginning in the second year. Schools individually choose in which grades they want to use the program.

Scott City Middle School principal Mike Umfleet said seventh- and eighth-grade students are spending one-fourth of their yearlong life skills classes focused on building leadership and the habits from The Leader in Me. The habits include being proactive, planning, putting work before play, thinking positively, understanding in order to be understood, working together and finding balance. In other grades, teaching of the habits is blended into the curriculum.

Umfleet said the The Leader in Me, the district's recently implemented dress code policy and the use of truancy court have resulted in a great positive change in the environment of the school and has increased attendance and engagement of students.

At Meadow Heights, Bristow said the elementary school is in its first year of teaching the habits to students and she is excited with the results so far. Since the habits have given the school a common language, she said she can use the same words whether she is talking to a kindergartner or a sixth-grader.

"The students are buying into the concept that they are in charge of themselves and their behaviors," she said.

Bristow said the staff hopes that students' self-confidence and interpersonal skill increase, that student learning and achievement increase and that schoolwide discipline problems decrease.

McGowan said every school that has used the program has seen success.

According to a September news release from Franklin Covey, the company that sells the training service and materials needed to implement the process, 650 schools in 20 countries have adopted The Leader in Me.

The P-20 Council hopes to grow the number of schools using the program in Southeast Missouri, but the training comes at a cost and grant money is running out, McGowan said. As a way to expand the process to other schools at no expense, the company granted permission for certified school staff to train people at other schools or other districts.

Meadow Heights and Scott City have signed off on training staff in two other school districts over the next six years, McGowan said.

"While we would love to see this just explode, change comes slowly," he said.

eragan@semissourian.com

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