Martin Weiss Elementary School became a School of Leadership in Fall 2016 by implementing “The Leader in Me” curriculum, which aims to develop students’ intellectual, moral, social and emotional skills to prepare them to be leaders in a global society.
“The Leader in Me covers Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, and we call them ‘the seven habits of happy kids here,’ ” said Principal Shundra Brown. “On top of that, they have internships their fifth-grade year where they get to hold real jobs around the campus.” In addition, the school’s location in the community makes it easy to connect students to mentors from nearby churches and organizations in the community.
Students maintain a leadership portfolio, where they track how they implement leadership specific skills into their daily routines. Project-based learning provides tangible, hands-on assignments that allow students to find their own creative solutions to real-world problems.
