While the clean-lined new building for the upper students at Leadership Preparatory School catches the eye of drivers passing by Elevate Life Church on Teel Parkway, most don’t realize that the school has been in our community for seven years and boasts an enrollment of 1100 with 1300 students on a wait list.
Leadership Prep School is a charter school which means that it is subject to the same guidelines, curriculum standards, and accountability measures as public schools. However, as a charter school, it also has a great deal of flexibility to take a unique approach to learning.
The teachers and administration are proud of the school’s unique approach to instilling leadership qualities and integrating technology into the curriculum. The entire school’s leadership curriculum revolves around Stephen Covey’s “7 Habits of Highly Effective People.”
From kindergarten through the highest grade (10th currently, and Leadership Prep is excited to have a graduating class in two years!), students learn how to apply leadership principles to real-life relationships and challenges.
The acronym P.L.A.C.E. summarizes the five key areas that have been selected as the focus of Leadership Prep’s vision:
- Parent partnership
- Leadership development
- Academics
- Creativity
- Excellence
The school is proud of its computer immersion… all students and all subjects are integrated with computer use. Each student is assigned a computer and even the kindergartners learn coding and programming!
Students in the 5th grade begin intensive project-based learning curriculum in which they face a real-life challenge or problem and solve it in groups. For example, government students learning about the fall of the Roman Empire are doing a comparison of Rome and modern-day America. While the 8th-grade classes had a visit from F.E.M.A. Emergency Management who discussed safety in natural disasters such as floods, tornadoes, and fires.
The excitement about the curriculum is evident as administrator Sheacy Thompson describes it:
The team-based learning teaches the kids collaboration and critical thinking that they’ll need to use in the real world later. I loved the curriculum so much when my daughters began attending that I jumped on board and joined the staff!”
The school partners with an advisory council made up of local business leaders and professionals who talk to the staff about workforce issues, future job market outlooks, and strategies for preparing students for tomorrow’s workforce. Teachers engage in intense “externships” so that they’re fully equipped to provide their students with the best guidance.
Several students have participated in the Frisco Chamber of Commerce’s Young Entrepreneurs Academy, which provides budding entrepreneurs with coaching and insight from attorneys, accountants, more experienced entrepreneurs, and investors.
For instance, one young lady began an organic egg business through a collaboration with a nearby farm and is now working with the farm to improve their social media reach.
It’s no secret that a diverse array of school options is part of the fabric of Frisco and Leadership Preparatory School is doing its part to cultivate a rich tapestry of talent and innovation in today’s students who will be tomorrow’s leaders.
