North Cow Creek School District, a single school-district located in the countryside of Palo Cedro, which serves about 280 TK-8 students, wants to ensure every student is ready to lead.
CSBA Public Affairs and Community Engagement Representative Megan Wadden spoke to Superintendent-Principal Rob Effa about the school’s Leader in Me program, it’s Lighthouse certification and how students have thrived with their newfound sense of agency. CSBA is recognizing the exceptional work of small districts through the Small Schools, Big Ideas blog series.
The following conversation, which includes observations from Wadden’s student-led tour, has been edited for length and clarity.
Can you briefly explain how the initiative works and why it was started?
North Cow Creek School’s Leader in Me initiative is a schoolwide leadership and character development program that teaches students important life skills such as personal responsibility, teamwork, communication and, above all, leadership qualities. The school also created a Student Lighthouse Team made up of student leaders in grades 4–8 who help guide school initiatives and model positive behavior. The program was started to help students become confident leaders, improve school culture and create a kind, safe, supportive and inclusive environment for all.
Every student in the school is a part of the Leader in Me program, but only about a dozen are chosen for the Lighthouse program. These are students that are selected by staff for showing outstanding leadership qualities, and they are interviewed and must give a speech in front of the entire school before being accepted into the program. These students take their jobs on Lighthouse very seriously.
Every school tour that happens at North Cow Creek is facilitated primarily by the students with very little adult involvement. Each of the students in the Lighthouse program have a station to discuss and trade off throughout the tour, whether it’s the murals on the walls of the schools, a meet and greet with a classroom pet lizard, or a peek at their love wall where they can “fill their emotional bank accounts” with compliments from each other. These students are experts on their school and the culture.
What short- and long-term outcomes would North Cow Creek like to see among students who participate in the program?
In the short term, we hope students will build responsibility, teamwork, leadership and communication skills while making positive choices and supporting one another. The school also wants students to feel included, confident and engaged in their learning and school community. Long term, the goal is for students to become lifelong leaders who believe in themselves, work collaboratively with others and can persevere through challenges, setting them up for success in the future.
How has the district benefited from the initiative?
The program has helped create a positive school environment for both staff and students. Students actively participate in leadership activities such as recycling projects, with older students mentoring younger students, and helping with campus improvement ideas such as Little Free Libraries. (Per Wadden, the culture of positive reinforcement through recognition is evident on campus. The first stop on the student-led tour was the ticket buckets in which compliments and positive recognition notices are submitted by both staff and students about each other.)
According to Effa, “Now that we are the first school in the North State to achieve Lighthouse status, we are motivated to keep developing our school culture. We also anticipate getting visits from other schools and sharing our strategies and success in hopes of expanding the program to more schools in Northern California.”
