Over the course of her career, Clare Struck has focused her professional work in at least six important project areas.  In short she has been particularly productive in sussing the developmental needs of MPLS students.  The project areas are listed below followed by illustrations of the many awards and programs in which she has participated. 

They are:

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1. Citizenship Education.  Structured around five themes the MPLS Citizenship program embraced the following elements: healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged.

   • The University of Northern Iowa's Malcolm Price Laboratory School MPLS in Cedar Falls, Iowa, was the winner of ASCD's first ever Vision in Action: The ASCD Whole Child Award. ASCD honored Price Laboratory School because of the intentional and specific steps its educators took to ensure that students at every level from preschoolers to high school junior and seniors are healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged.  Read more about the FIVE THEMES OF CITIZENSHIP and view a video on each. 

2. School Counseling Programs.  Clare has served as a model and consultant in setting up school counseling programs that effectively meet the whole needs of the child.  In this spirit, she has promoted programs that foster and develop an articulated, sequential kindergarten-through-grade 12 program that is comprehensive in scope, preventative in design, developmental in nature, driven by data, and integral to the school district’s curricula and instructional program. The program must be implemented by a qualified professional school counselor, appropriately licensed by the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners. This site provides information to guide and assist school counselors, administrators, teachers and parents in the implementation of a comprehensive and accountable K-12 school counseling program. Ultimately, by using these resources, these stakeholders will support all students in becoming college-, career- and citizen-ready.

3. Initiatives of the Iowa Department of Education.  The third edition of the ASCA National Model: A Framework for School Counseling Programs was released July 2013. Following its release, Iowa school counseling leaders worked on revising the Iowa School Counseling Framework to incorporate the changes in the ASCA  national Model. This framework is designed to help school counselors implement a K-12 school counseling program that is comprehensive in scope, preventive in design and developmental in nature.

4. Iowa School Counseling Association( ISCA).  ISCA maintains a vigorous program of government relations and advocacy for the school counseling profession in Iowa. The association believes that students benefit when counselors successfully advocate on state and federal legislative issues related to students and school counseling. Advocacy is a key component to being an effective school counselor. Not only is it critical for school counselors to serve as advocates for their students, it is also important that school counselors advocate for their own profession. This section of our site offers information and tips on local, state and federal advocacy efforts. 

5. Be a Buddy not a Bully.  Developed by Clare Struck, this program is supported and built upon the the values reinforced by the MPLS Citizenship Program.  The goal of this important program are to encourage children to extend a helping to other students and build community cohesiveness within the classroom and the school. 

6. Slovakia Project Orava—1996-1998—Reinforcing democratic principles, Project Orava features the University of Northern Iowa's Orava project directed by International Reading Association members. Restructuring of Slovak basic schools; Introduction of democratic instructional practices into university teacher preparation programs; Facilitation of the move toward classrooms that encourage free exchange of ideas between teachers and students.

 

 

THE MPLS CITIZENSHIP PROGRAM

VISION IN ACTION
An Overview of the MPLS Citizenship Program

Price Laboratory School Elementary Citizenship Program:
A Laboratory for Democracy
By
Clare Struck and Kim Miller
Cedar Falls IA
(ICSS Journal, Vol. 1 No.1, Fall 2006)

Edited by Lynn E. Nielsen
Former MPLS Elementary Principal

 

Introduction

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Character education has now become as familiar to many educators as reading and math.

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Character education is the fastest growing reform movement in Pre-K –12 education today (Williams, 2000).  Although there is much ongoing discussion and debate about the academic standards established in No Child Left Behind (2001), it is important to acknowledge that this legislation also calls for support of character education.  Character education has received increasing recognition among state governments, boards of education, and professional organizations (Milson, 2000).

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In the 2004 Iowa legislative session, legislation was proposed to ensure schools would implement character education efforts to counter the rising tide of bullying, harassment, and hazing in schools.  Although this legislation was not passed, Governor Thomas Vilsack and Lt. Governor Sally Pederson sent a letter to all public and private school Districts in May of 2004 in Iowa stating their concerns about this lack of respect, civility, and safety in Iowa schools.  Their letter contained these alarming statistics from the 2002 Iowa Youth Survey.

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• 72% reported that class was stopped at some point in the last three weeks to deal with a major behavioral disruption

• 44% said students in their schools do not treat each other with respect

• 17% feel like there is no one at their school they can turn to in a time of need

• 17% do not feel safe at school

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In 2005,the Iowa State Department of Education developed and began implementing the  Learning Supports for Iowa Students initiative in response to these concerns.  This plan supports schools in creating learning environments that are safe, supportive, and  conducive to learning for Iowa’s children and youth (Vilsack & Pederson, 2002).

A Long Term Model of Character Education

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In 1993, the elementary faculty and elementary principal at Price Laboratory School (MPLS) at the University of Northern Iowa expressed concerns about students not transferring the level of respect they demonstrated in the classrooms to the more unstructured areas such as recess, lunchtime, and before and after school.  They decided to move forward with a proactive response to these civility concerns.  This school-wide character education initiative was titled the PLS Elementary Citizenship Program.  This program is rooted in a strong developmental and preventative philosophy.  Its main goal is to develop and maintain a cohesive community  of learners who value and respect each other.

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Two staples of this sustained character education program were the monthly citizenship themes and the monthly all-school assemblies held on the last Friday of each month.  The monthly themes are determined each year with student, teacher, and parent input.  At each citizenship assembly that particular month’s theme is reviewed and the next month’s theme is introduced.  Music, drama, and other creative approaches are incorporated into these assemblies that makes them an invigorating and learning experience for all participants. 

Another constant at these assemblies is the leadership role the PLS Elementary Student Council members take by leading the Pledge of Allegiance and the PLS Pledge and reporting on the service-learning project they worked on during that particular month.  The Elementary Student Council met with the Elementary Principal and other staff members to plan for the monthly assemblies.  Also, teachers incorporated the monthly citizenship themes in their classrooms by creating and teaching lessons about the particular themes and designing and displaying bulletin boards and other visuals about the particular themes.

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During this program’s existence, it partnered with the College of Education at the University of Northern Iowa, the Iowa State Department of Education, and the Institute for Character Development at Drake University in grant writing, conference planning, and consultation about character education.  Price Laboratory School received a 2005 Iowa Character Award from the Institute for Character Development for its integration of the Six Pillars of Character Counts! (Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring, Citizenship) into its Elementary Citizenship Program (Character Counts! Coalition, 1999). (Read complete article.....)
 

SCHOLARSHIP RELATED TO CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION AND MPLS
 

Nielsen, L., Finkelstein, J., Schmidt, A., Duncan, A. (2008). Citizenship education: Engaging children in building community. Social Studies and the Young Learner, 21(1), 19-23.

Miller, K. Struck, C. (2006).  Price Laboratory School Elementary Citizenship Program:  A Laboratory for Democracy. 1 (1), 15-18.

Nielsen, L.(1998). New study shows states returning to character education. Character Educator, 6(1), 9.

Nielsen, L. (1997). Research summary: the status of character education from the perspective of state departments of education. Social Studies Review, 37(1), 20-22.

Miller, K. Struck, C. (1996). Character education: Price Laboratory School Citizenship Program, 1 (1), 12-15.

Nielsen, L., Fraser, P. (1995).The status of character education from the perspective of state departments of education .  National Association of Laboratory Schools Journal,  XX(1), 14-17.

Nielsen, L., Finkelstein, J. (1988). Citizenship education: looking at government. Social Studies and the Young Learner, 1(1), 10-13.

 

MPLS CITIZEHSHIP PROGRAM AWARDS AND RECOGNITION
2005 First Amendment (FAS) Program
2005 First Amendment (FAS) Assemblies, Awards and Programs
2007 Iowa School of Character and National Schools of Character Finalist
2008 National Schools of Character Application Narrative
2008 CEP Finalist Award
2008 Schools of Character Award Banner
2008 Schools of Character Award Press Release
2008 National Schools of Character Award Presentation
2010 ASCD Whole Child Award Banner
2010 Vision in Action: The Whole Child Award Recipient