LEWIS AND CLARK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
C A SE S TUDY
Liberty, MO
A Model of:
Creating a Learner-Centered, 21st Century School
Dr. Kyle Palmer, Principal
BY THE NUMBERS
586 Students
88% White
6% Students with Disabilities
13% Free/Reduced Lunch
97% Attendance Rate
WHAT is our strategy?
Over the past several years, Lewis and Clark Elementary School
has focused on transforming a very traditional educational setting
into a future-ready school that places student engagement and
empowerment at the center of all we do. While we care about standards
and assessments, we also have the goal of increasing innovation,
creativity, and perseverance in our students. By working together as
a collaborative, mission-driven staff, we have created a new physical
environment, academic approach, and innovative culture to better
prepare our students for the futures they will face.
LETTING THE ‘4 C’s’ LEAD US
More than memorizing
facts and information,
we want students to
understand how they
learn and how to create,
question, and collaborate.
While the “21st Century Skills” movement is not new, the methods for
building these skills are still very much evolving. We have relied on the
“Four Cs” Framework to help our teachers become more purposeful and
clear about increasing critical thinking, collaboration, communication,
and creativity across our school. More than memorizing facts and
information, we want students to understand how they learn and how to
create, question, and collaborate.
HOW did we build this strategy?
BUILDING A SHARED VISION AND CULTURE AMONG STAFF
In order to lay the groundwork for our school’s transformation, we first
needed to build shared understanding and goals among the school
staff. We realized early on that in order to support student collaboration
and innovation, we needed to model effective teamwork, risk-taking, and
learning in our own lives and work.
Early on, our staff spent time reflecting on the future our students will
encounter, and discussing the kinds of educational experiences that
would ensure their success. We recognized that the traditional model of
LEWIS AND CLARK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Liberty, MO
classroom instruction was not designed to prepare students for a future
that requires creative solutions to challenging problems. This reflection
and discussion led us to a shared understanding of the work ahead,
and has been the driving force behind the changes we have made to
the physical classroom environment and our academic structures and
models.
Teachers at Lewis and Clark serve in a number of Professional Learning
Communities (PLCs). In addition to grade level teams and vertical
teams, staff members might participate in learning teams that focus on
leadership, instruction and assessment, or technology and innovation.
These teams meet regularly and engage in shared book studies and
discussions. Our school and district have also invited a number of
notable guest speakers to push teachers’ thinking and learn about
innovative practices around the country and the world.
Teachers at Lewis and Clark are part of a highly collaborative, sharing
and competent professional community. They have autonomy to try new
things when they have the research to back up their changes. They have
the chance to be leaders in their classrooms.
TRANSFORMING CLASSROOMS INTO LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS
In order to create the school we wanted for students, we knew we
needed to make changes to the physical environment of our late
1960s-era school building. Large classrooms filled with standard desks
that all faced the same direction did not match our vision of a futureready school.
To meet these needs, we built a new addition onto the school, creating
smaller classrooms that spill into a larger common area. The result is a
collaborative learning commons for 5th grade. This space contains lots
of flexible furniture, moveable tables, benches, and a big, wall-length
white board. We can fit 150 students into this space for everything from
small-group projects to grade-level meetings.
Transforming the classroom into a space that invites project-based
learning and collaboration encourages collective problem solving.
Flexible learning spaces allow students to have a voice and choice to
take care of themselves and their learning needs.
As we have embraced this new way of thinking, some teachers have
made changes to their classrooms, such as:
• Using lamps instead of overhead lights as some students with sensory
sensitivities learn better with lower, less harsh lighting.
• Removing all the desks and a lot of the chairs and replacing them with
furniture they got at yard sales or at IKEA, e.g., crates with cushions, circular
tables, bouncy exercise balls, and carpeted areas.
follow us:
@lcblazers
Flexible learning
spaces allow students
to have a voice and
choice to take care of
themselves and their
learning needs.
LEWIS AND CLARK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Liberty, MO
Throughout the process of changing our physical environments, we
have created space for feedback and discussion among staff. Some
teachers preferred to maintain their existing classroom setups based on
concerns about student stress or noise levels. Changes have been made
according to the comfort level of each teacher, creating opportunities for
students to learn in different types of spaces.
MAKING SPACE FOR A MAKERSPACE
Our school has fully embraced the Maker Movement, which involves
the creation of designated spaces (MakerSpaces) in which students
come together to explore interests like computers, technology, science,
woodworking, or electronics in a freeform way.
Lewis and Clark’s school librarian led the way in creating a MakerSpace
and production studio at the school. The MakerSpace originally began
as a Genius Hour in the library—a time in which students could follow
an interest-based passion while mastering core standards. Students
could build an app, design a Rube Goldberg machine, create a marble
maze or an imaginary insect, or craft an arcade game out of cardboard.
Students were so engaged in this hands-on learning that our librarian
decided to pursue the creation of a full-time MakerSpace at the school.
She applied for a grant from the Liberty School District Foundation and
was awarded $8,000. She also held a fundraising event, got the PTA
involved and asked for family donations. Teacher creativity also made
this a success. Teachers had noticed a significant decrease in the use of
our computer lab once our older students started using laptops, so we
moved computers out of the lab to make room for the MakerSpace. We
bought butcher block tables and people donated items, such as old TVs,
for students to take apart.
Students using this room are always engaged and focused. Library time
is spent in the MakerSpace so students get this hands-on experience
every four days for 50 minutes.
Over time, the MakerSpace model has grown at Lewis and Clark. In the
past year, we have begun to put mini-MakerSpaces in hallways and in
primary classrooms, so that a culture of creation and “making” infuses
our school at every grade level. We have also expanded the Genius
Hour program into K-2 classrooms, giving even our youngest students
the opportunity to explore their passions and interests.
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@lcblazers
LEWIS AND CLARK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Liberty, MO
BUILDING COMMUNITY THROUGH INNOVATION AND CELEBRATION
At the end of this school year, we will host our second annual Lewis
and Clark Innovation Week (#iWeekLC). During this week, students and
teachers focus on innovation and invention through challenges and
creative projects all week long. This week offers a wonderful opportunity
for professional learning and risk-taking on the part of the staff, who are
encouraged to experiment with projects and creative challenges. It also
emphasizes the importance of invention and creation for students, who
engage in hands-on challenges such as constructing mathematically
accurate roller coasters or taking on the role of chefs or puzzle
designers. For us, this week is a celebration of our students’ potential,
and a time to emphasize that what students need to be successful in life
has changed dramatically in the past decade.
We are excited to make Innovation Week bigger and better this year,
and value this week for its role in student engagement, challenge,
and community building. We are also working to build creative
community in other ways. For example, this year we are hosting more
evening events with parents, and are using our Spring conferences to
showcase students’ project-based learning work. During many of these
events, students take on the role of teachers and teach their parents,
showcasing what they are learning as well as their own understanding of
how they learn best.
PROJECT-BASED LEARNING
We are in our second year of implementing the Project Lead the Way
modules at all grade levels. Project Lead the Way focuses on projectbased learning (PBL) in STEM, and is serving as a lever to shift teacher
practices in all areas. Working with Project Lead the Way has shown us
how the level of hands-on learning and individual choice inherent in
PBL increases ownership in learning and the desire to collaborate and
research.
This year, we are implementing more projects, and teachers from our
school are training teachers across the district in implementing Project
Lead the Way and PBL. We’re excited to see what the future holds for
PBL in our school and our district.
[Innovation Week] is a celebration of our students’ potential, and a time
to emphasize that what students need to be successful in life has changed
dramatically in the past decade.
C A SE S TUDY
LEWIS AND CLARK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Liberty, MO
FOLLOWING UP on this strategy
RELEVANT RESOURCES
Visible Learning: A Synthesis of Over 800 Meta-Analyses Relating to Achievement
by John Hattie
Evidence-based research into what actually works in schools to improve learning
Cultures Built to Last: Systematic PLCs at Work
by Richard DuFour and Michael Fullan
A systematic approach to re-invigorating your professional learning communities while
sustaining growth
Creating Innovators. The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World
by Tony Wagner
A story of forward-thinking schools, colleges, and workplaces where cultures of innovation are
based on collaboration, interdisciplinary problem-solving, and intrinsic motivation
P21 Partnership for 21st Century Learning
Organization driven to catalyze 21st century learning by building collaborative partnerships
among educators, businesses, communities, and government leaders
Creating MakerSpaces in Schools
by Mary Beth Herz
Creating spaces for open-ended creativity, designing, tinkering and thinking in schools
#EdJourney: A Roadmap to the Future of Education
by Grant Lichtman
An optimistic review of the learning strategies that top schools are using to prepare students
for the future
The Innovator’s Mindset: Empower Learning, Unleash Talent, and Lead a Culture of Creativity
by George Couros
Includes practical suggestions for unleashing teachers’ own innovative capacity in the service
of creating relevant and powerful learning experiences for students
PBL in the Elementary Grades
by Sara Hallerman, John Larmer, and John Morgendoller
A practical guide to designing and implementing project-based learning, designed for
teachers of kindergarten through grade 5
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