Longacre Elementary School Earns Elite ‘Lighthouse’ Status

Farmington/Farmington Hills - Longacre Elementary School has been awarded the distinction and honor of being named a Leader in Me Lighthouse School. The school is one of five schools in the state of Michigan that has met the rigorous academic and depth of implementation criteria involved in receiving this honor.

Worldwide, there are a total of 94 Leader in Me LightHouse Schools and 1,702 schools in The Leader in Me Process.

Lighthouse recognition is awarded to a school based on the results a school attains in student achievement and its impact on staff, students, parents, and the school community. In late May, Longacre was involved in a Lighthouse review to determine if the school met the criteria for this distinction. The school’s performance was evaluated against 144 criteria embedded in nine categories and a determination was made that Longacre met the necessary requirements to be given this distinction.

The following nine categories, that include implementation of 144 criteria, was reviewed to achieve this status:

• A Lighthouse Team is in place, meets regularly, and oversees school-wide implementation.
• School environment reinforces the leadership model.
• Teachers are integrating leadership language into instruction and curriculum daily.
• Staff works together effectively to build a culture of leadership in classrooms and throughout the school.
• Students are provided with meaningful leadership roles and responsibilities.
• Parents are involved in activities that support the leadership model and have an understanding of the common language being used at the school.
• The school is holding events to share their leadership model with the community and other schools.
• A system is in place for setting and tracking goals at the student, classroom, and schoolwide level.
• The school is seeing improvements as a result of implementing the Leader in Me process.

The Leader in Me model emphasizes a culture of student empowerment and helps unleash each child's full potential.  The “Seven Habits” principles taken from Stephen Covey’s “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” are woven into daily lessons. Students are encouraged to be leaders and parents are urged to teach their children the habits at home.  Students are taught the essential leadership traits:

• Be Proactive – You’re in charge
• Begin with the End in Mind – Have a plan
• Put First Things First – Work first, then play
• Think Win-Win – Everyone can win
• Seek First to Understand, Then to be understood – Listen before you talk
• Synergize – Together is better
• Sharpen the Saw – Balance feels best

The results have been found to be both inspiring and practical, as these schools are reporting increases in students’ self-confidence, teamwork, problem-solving abilities, communication skills, and rising academic performance, as well as dramatic decreases in disciplinary issues.