College, Career, and Life Readiness

Create a social-emotional environment that helps every middle school student build confidence and discover their true potential.

Middle school students experience a phase of self-discovery as they learn to develop relationships with peers and make responsible decisions. Leader in Me Schools establish a culture of social-emotional learning that helps every middle school student build self confidence and discover their true potential while pursuing academic excellence.

Secondary school offers students the opportunity to cultivate their personal independence, ambitions, opinions, beliefs, and how they see the world around them. However, some students struggle to feel a sense of belonging, purpose, and direction in their life. Leader in Me Schools create an inclusive culture created and led by students who are encouraged to find their voice and develop critical skills through a series of leadership courses that will help them successfully navigate college, career, and life.

LaSalle Springs

LaSalle Springs

Created by Educators, for Educators

Leader in Me continues to evolve and improve, based on feedback from a global community of educators dedicated to unleashing human potential.

In 1999, Principal Muriel Summers was dedicated to improving her failing school. In her quest to transform A.B. Combs Elementary, Principal Summers integrated Baldridge quality tools, the 7 Habits®, and several other educational best practices to implement a leadership model. Within a few years, A.B. Combs was named the #1 Magnet School in America—twice. Thanks to the success of A.B. Combs and other schools that followed its example, Leader in Me has become a model and process that continues to improve, based on feedback from educators throughout the world and the evolving needs facing education today.

Transform School Culture

Leader in Me is a Framework that helps schools achieve results by influencing behaviors and paradigms.

More than just another program, Leader in Me serves as the foundational operating system that integrates seamlessly into each school’s unique priorities, initiatives, and culture. When implemented with excellence, Leader in Me redefines what it means to be a high-performing school in the 21st century. This new definition of educational greatness is represented in three main categories: leadership, culture, and academics.

What is Leader in Me? Topics of Impact

Student Development – Middle Schools

Students “find their voice” in the classroom and through school leadership roles by learning and applying life-ready leadership skills.

Leader in Me School students take the lead in creating a safe, accepting, and uplifting school culture. This culture transformation starts by encouraging staff to help students take control by empowering them to be leaders. Leader in Me provides a vital role for secondary schools with leadership courses that not only prepare students for further education and a career, but a principle-centered life.

Topics of Impact

Learn more about key topics in education and discover how Leader in Me addresses these common challenges and key initiatives.

✓ Social-Emotional Learning

✓ College and Career Readiness

✓ Bullying

✓ Equity for All Students

✓ Building Student Resilience

✓ Self-Directed Learning

✓ Positive and Safe School Culture

✓ Restorative Practices

✓ Mental Health

✓ Positive Behavioural Supports

✓ Teacher Bias

✓ Celebrating Diversity

✓ Parent Engagement

✓ Attendance

✓ Staff Engagement

✓ Data-Driven Performance

✓ Professional Development

Professional Development

Provide training opportunities for both administrators and staff to learn effective skills.

Whole-Child Education

See each child from perspectives outside academics to help nurture their growing minds and bodies.

Leader in Me is the ideal blueprint for every school to change the world through education.

– Erin Gruwell, Founder of the Freedom Writers

Staff Development

Both staff and school leaders participate in training workshops for personal improvement and professional learning opportunities.

School leaders, teachers, and other supporting staff members need opportunities for meaningful professional development as they strive to impact students. Leader in Me focuses on helping staff build character, explore new paradigms, and develop highly effective practices based on timeless principles of success and transformation.

Family Development

Training workshops and other resources are available to help parents or guardians develop life-ready leadership skills at home.

Families work with Leader in Me Schools to ensure teens are challenged with additional responsibilities in order to learn how to collaborate with others, cultivate work ethic, and nurture a goal-centric mindset. During middle and secondary school, teens continue tracking academic performance, accepting leadership roles at school, and begin with the end in mind as they prepare for further education, career, and life beyond academics.

Annual Membership

Become a Leader in Me School

Schools begin Leader in Me implementation with the annual membership license and installation process that provides training, coaching, and access to online resources.

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Experience Leader in Me

Learn how thousands of schools in over 50 countries worldwide are discovering answers to some of the most challenging issues educators face today.

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