CASE STUDY

Stapleton Elementary School

Alabama

Teachers seamlessly – and successfully – incorporate self-regulation and calming tools into their school culture to inspire students’ emotional well-being.

Situation

After years of working to develop a school culture around GRIT and a growth mindset, the principal at Stapleton Elementary School was looking for an effective curriculum to support their efforts.

Both the district and the elementary school are focused on educating the whole child. Yet, instilling a growth mindset and getting students to take ownership for their learning remained difficult. “I was trying to find a way to help kids develop belief in themselves — an ‘I can’ mentality. The ability to self-regulate, control one’s emotions and develop confidence is key to success in life.”

Stapleton Elementary is a K-6 rural elementary school in Alabama with limited resources, and teachers stretched too thin. The principal wanted to make things easier for his teachers while increasing student wellbeing, motivation, perseverance and self-regulation.

Partnership

School Goals: Implement techniques and lessons that help students self-regulate when faced with big feelings and provide a common language to inspire students to take ownership for their learning. 

Partnering with EmpowerU naturally aligned with the school culture, so it was an easy lift for teachers. Teacher-led, 20-minute lessons include videos with characters kids come to love, share-time, journals and self-reflective questions deepen learning.

“Just the name, EmpowerU, aligned with everything we want for our students in life: self-control, self-regulation, self-belief, self-efficacy.” Learning about calming, how to stamp out ANTs [automatic negative thoughts] and how to tackle things like procrastination — working through things they are trying to avoid. Understanding your inner coach and your inner critic — these are tools that students need to be successful every day in school and life. 

Wildly popular with both teachers and students, EmpowerU lessons and techniques, such as ’Take Charge,’ ‘Goal-Setting,’ ‘Self-Hug,’ and ‘Square Breathing’ teach universal strategies at age six or 60. To have children learn these essential skills at such a young age has made all the difference.

Results

 In their first year partnering with EmpowerU, Stapleton Elementary saw success beyond expectations. It’s been an easy lift and personally impactful for teachers as well.

In an EmpowerU course, students work towards goals in four areas — personal, emotional, social and academic. The school now has a common language, the principal reinforces the learning during assemblies and everyday conversations, and you hear students talking about taking charge of their thoughts and calming tools as they walk in the halls.

Pre- and Post-Surveys showed improvement in ‘Confidence and Friendships,’ ‘Emotional Regulation,’ ‘Controlling My Thoughts,’ and ‘Persistence and Problem-Solving.’ Students are demonstrating confidence. As teachers become more comfortable with the lessons, EmpowerU is strengthening the school culture.

Stapleton Student Outcomes Overall

%

of Stapleton teachers reported seeing an increase in student emotional regulation after EmpowerU

%

of Stapleton teachers reported that students were able to more effectively control their thoughts after EmpowerU

SOURCE:  Webinar: Jim Perry, Principal (July 2022)

TESTIMONIALS FROM STAPLETON

THE BEST TOOL FOR MY STUDENTS

As a self-contained classroom teacher, this has been the best tool for my students to take ownership of themselves and their behaviors. It has also helped me better understand how to acknowledge behaviors in a positive way.

TEACHER
Stapleton Elementary

BUILD SUSTAINED SUCCESS

What we achieved in year one is really extraordinary, but with time, as kids are exposed to these lessons year after year, it will become a bigger part of who they are as a person and really empower them to build sustained success.

JIM PERRY
Principal, Stapleton Elementary

A LESSON WE CAN ALL LEARN

“A kindergartener shared, after an EmpowerU lesson, that he wished he had used calming tools that morning instead of getting frustrated and angry with his mother. So we gave him time to call her to apologize. Imagine in kindergarten, taking charge of his thinking and asking for a restart, that’s a lesson we can all learn.”

TEACHER
Stapleton Elementary

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Contact

EmpowerU is powered by people, from our highly-trained coaches to our developers — and everyone in between. We partner with schools, and our online platform increases capacity of student services with proven Tier 2 targeted interventions and turnkey Tier 1 curriculum.

EmpowerU’s revolutionary approach to student success helps students increase resilience, persistence, motivation and success. As active participants in their wellness journey, students complete engaging, online lessons supported by daily 1:1 motivational coaching that fuel improved emotional wellbeing, school attendance, and grades. EmpowerU offers site-based licenses to schools and colleges, as well as access to the credit-bearing course through third-party online schools or direct from the company.