LEADER IN ME

Secondary

Prepare students for tomorrow’s world today.

Download the Secondary Overview

Leadership and learning, for life.

Leader in Me Secondary provides a comprehensive system to prepare students for life beyond high school—whether they choose employment, enrollment, or enlistment. With aligned curriculum and professional learning, schools create environments where every student can lead and every adult is empowered to support them.

Explore the Curriculum

"We only get one chance to prepare our students for a future that none of us can possibly predict."

— Muriel Summers

Why It Matters

Today’s graduates are stepping into a world that values communication, collaboration, and character as much as academic achievement. Yet many schools face challenges bridging that gap.

Leader in Me Secondary responds with a scalable, student-centered model that builds transferable skills, enhances school culture, and prepares students for success—while in school and every day after.

Life-Ready Leadership Curriculum & Credentials for Secondary Schools

Equip Your Students with Career-Critical Skills

The Leader in Me curriculum helps students develop the habits, mindsets, and skills that set the stage for personal growth and academic ownership—all aligned to the Student Leadership Portrait. Through relevant, real-world learning experiences, we aim to cultivate the leadership abilities and character traits necessary for success both now and after graduation.

Student Curriculum (6-8)

Through collaborative, competency-based lessons, students in levels 6–8 learn to:

  • Practice self-leadership and take ownership of their choices and growth
  • Strengthen communication and interpersonal skills
  • Set goals and persevere through challenges
  • Apply leadership habits to develop responsible academic behaviors and stronger learning habits

Key Features

  • Curriculum is developmentally aligned across levels 6, 7, and 8
  • Lessons integrate The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens® and real-life application
  • Students take on leadership roles in the classroom and school
  • Implementation is flexible—ideal for advisory, core class integration, or stand-alone sessions

Students emerge more confident, connected, and prepared to lead—both now and in high school. The Grades 6–8 experience builds the essential leadership foundation that supports success in the Life-Ready Leadership Curriculum for Grades 9–12.

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Life-Ready Leadership Curriculum & Credentials

Student Curriculum (9-12)

The Life-Ready Leadership Curriculum engages students in interactive lessons, peer collaboration, and authentic, project-based learning. Students earn leadership micro-credentials by demonstrating essential skills—and leave with a portfolio of competencies that matter to colleges, careers, and communities.

Students learn to:

  • Cultivate essential skills for employment, enrollment, or enlistment
  • Develop the whole person through a focus on connection and positive well-being
  • Lead, collaborate and innovate

Key Features:

  • 8 modules with 16 interactive lessons each
  • Micro-credentials that validate leadership and life skills
  • Student-created Leadership Projects focused on real-world challenges
  • Peer-facilitated learning for ownership and engagement
  • Flexible delivery (advisory, embedded, or intensive formats)

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Professional Learning: Equip Your Educators

Professional learning supports every adult in creating a leadership-centered school. With flexible formats and modular design, our Core 1 workshops and 7 Habits of Highly Effective People® sessions provide practical tools aligned with staff roles and school goals.

Educator Learning Includes:

  • Core 1: Inspire Leadership (for full staff)
  • Launch Leader in Me (for stakeholder teams)
  • Lighthouse Team Training (for student and adult leaders)
  • The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
  • Modular options: Onsite, Live-Online, and On Demand

Personalize Your Learning Needs with Flexible Modules

15-minute modules are available to support educators’ busy schedules and lack of professional learning time in schools. The secondary solution also includes level-specific Leader in Me Weekly articles, videos, and podcasts created for secondary, as well as microlearning to continue and reinforce new learnings and coaching days. Modules can be delivered onsite, live-online, or on demand.

 

What leaders are saying

 

“The Life-Ready Leadership Curriculum and Credentials are a game changer…Our students are learning practical application of leadership principles through a project-based learning model.”

— McLain Schaefer, LIFT Director

 

What leaders are saying

“For twenty years, I have worked directly and indirectly on efforts that would address the missing soft and durable skills in our students and current workforce…I believe this can and will be transformative in the way we prepare our children for the future.”

— L. Dean Faile, President and CEO, York County Regional Chamber of Commerce

By investing in our students’ future today, we are setting the stage for their success tomorrow, ensuring they emerge as confident and capable leaders ready to navigate the complexities of the world.

Whole-School Transformation

Leader in Me helps schools build systems of support that extend leadership learning from the classroom to the culture and back again. Schools thrive across three interconnected areas: leadership, culture, and academics. Schools may choose to administer the Secondary Measurable Results Assessment (MRA) to track school-wide progress.

Leadership:

  • Students develop leadership competencies and apply them in meaningful ways.
  • Adults support growth through aligned instruction and mentoring.

Culture:

  • Peer facilitation and student voice build trust and belonging.
  • Shared ownership empowers the whole school community.

Academics:

  • Aligns with state and local graduation competency frameworks and readiness indicators.
  • Leadership skills are embedded into core content.
  • Achieving breakthrough results on the most important goals.
Learn about the MRA

Great Schools Start with Great Leaders.

Connect with a Leader in Me expert and discover how you can inspire lasting leadership at every level.

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Franklin Covey Education